bitmex-recipe-emergency-flatten

name	bitmex-recipe-emergency-flatten
description	Cancel all orders and close all positions immediately.

Emergency Flatten

Use this when you need to exit all exposure as fast as possible — runaway loss, infra failure, or unexpected news. This workflow cancels every open order first, then closes each open position at market.

Prerequisites

• BITMEX_API_KEY and BITMEX_API_SECRET must be set.
• Confirm you intend to close real positions before proceeding.

Dead Man's Switch (optional but recommended)

Before starting any risky automated operation, arm a dead man's switch so positions close automatically if your process dies:

bitmex order cancel-after 60000 -o json

This instructs BitMEX to cancel all orders if no heartbeat is received within 60 seconds. Renew it regularly in your loop.

Steps

1. Cancel all open orders

bitmex order cancel-all --yes -o json

Verify the cancellation count in the response count field.

2. List remaining open positions

bitmex position list -o json \
  | jq '[.[] | select(.currentQty != 0) | {symbol, currentQty, avgEntryPrice, unrealisedPnl}]'

3. Close each open position at market

Repeat for every symbol returned above:

bitmex order close-position XBTUSD -o json
bitmex order close-position ETHUSD -o json

close-position sends a market order for the full open quantity on that symbol.

4. Verify all positions are flat

bitmex position list -o json \
  | jq '[.[] | select(.currentQty != 0)] | length'

Expected result: 0. If non-zero, the market order may still be in-flight — re-check after a few seconds and repeat step 3 for any remaining symbols.

Notes

• Market close orders consume taker fees. On thin markets the slippage can be significant.
• For large positions, consider splitting into two market orders to reduce impact.
• Always test this flow on --testnet first so it executes in under 10 seconds when needed.