For what Marinade Borrow is and how the design works, start with the Marinade Borrow Overview. This article covers the mechanics of opening, watching, and closing a position.
Borrow is available to everyone. There is no waitlist, beta access, or approval step. If you have SOL, mSOL, or an existing staking position, you can open a position today.
Opening a Position
Go to app.marinade.finance and connect your wallet.
Open Borrow and enter how much you want to borrow, not how much to deposit. Marinade works backwards from the loan.
Review the collateral Marinade proposes to use. It draws first from your external stake accounts, then your Marinade Native position, then your idle SOL, and finally your idle mSOL. Only the amount needed is converted to mSOL.
Check the numbers shown before confirming: your starting LTV, the liquidation threshold, the borrow APY, and the venue your position will sit on.
Approve the transaction. Nothing moves until you do.
Borrow less than the maximum. Opening at the maximum LTV leaves no room for interest to accrue before you are at risk. The app shows a warning when you are opening a position with little margin.
Why More Collateral Was Used Than Expected
Solana stake accounts can't be split into arbitrarily small pieces: each side of a split must be at least 1 SOL. When Marinade splits a stake account for collateral, both the portion it takes and the portion left in your account have to clear that 1 SOL minimum.
Two different things can happen:
Your loan needs less than 1 SOL from the account: Marinade takes a full 1 SOL as collateral, slightly more than the loan strictly requires.
Taking exactly what's needed would leave less than 1 SOL behind: Marinade uses the entire stake account as collateral instead, which can be a larger jump than the first case. The app tells you when this applies.
In both cases, the extra stays yours, keeps earning as mSOL, and you can reclaim it once the loan is repaid.
Watching Your LTV
LTV is debt divided by collateral. It is the only number that decides whether you get liquidated.
Borrowing SOL against mSOL: the two move together in price, so LTV creeps up only through accrued interest. Checking every few weeks is enough.
Borrowing a stablecoin: a fall in SOL's price raises your LTV directly and quickly. Check often, and keep a wide buffer.
If Your LTV Is Getting Close to the Threshold
You have two levers, both in the app, and either works at any time:
Repay part of the debt. This lowers LTV immediately.
Add collateral. This lowers LTV without needing the borrowed funds back.
If your LTV is too high to borrow more, the app blocks the action and names these same two levers. Act before the threshold, not at it. If LTV crosses it, part of your collateral is sold to repay the debt, usually with a penalty, and that is not reversible.
Repaying or topping up requires SOL in your wallet for the transaction itself. If the wallet cannot fund it, the app will tell you rather than failing silently.
Closing a Position
Repay the full debt whenever you like. There is no schedule and no fixed term. Repaying reduces your debt, but it does not automatically return your collateral: once repaid, withdraw your collateral separately to get it back in your wallet as mSOL. Fully repaying and withdrawing closes the position.
Note that collateral comes back as mSOL even if you started from a Native position, so returning to Native staking is a separate step.
FAQ
Q: Do I need access or an invite?
A: No. Borrow is generally available to all users.
Q: Do I keep earning staking rewards?
A: Yes, for the entire time the loan is open. Your collateral is mSOL and it keeps earning.
Q: My position is slow to appear after opening it.
A: Positions are read from the chain across both lending venues, so rows fill in as each venue responds. A freshly opened position is recognised immediately, but give the full view a moment to load.
Q: Can I be liquidated if the price never moves?
A: Yes, eventually. Interest accrual alone raises LTV over time. It is slow when borrowing SOL against mSOL, but it is not zero.
Q: Can I borrow without touching my Native position?
A: Often yes, if you hold external stake or idle SOL/mSOL, since those get used before your Native position. But Native is drawn on before idle SOL or mSOL, so if you only hold a Native position plus a little idle SOL, expect the Native position to be touched first.
Q: Where do I see my exact parameters?
A: On your position screen in the app. LTV, liquidation threshold, and both APYs are shown live for your specific market.