v3.20.1

Commitments and Contingencies (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	Mar. 31, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019
Related party mortgage originator (with flow mortgage loan purchase and sale agreement) [Member] | Non-Exchange Traded Equity Investment in Mortgage Originators [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Maximum guarantees	$ 25.0
Drawn down amount being guaranteed	2.1	$ 0.4
Residential mortgage loans
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Unfunded commitment	4.7	5.2
Corporate loan [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Unfunded commitment	$ 1.9	$ 1.9

X

- Definition

Amount of borrowings outstanding under related party's MRA for which the Company has guaranteed repayment.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	efc_Drawndownamountbeingguaranteed
Namespace Prefix:	efc_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

X

- Definition

Amount of unfunded commitment at period end.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	efc_Unfundedcommitment
Namespace Prefix:	efc_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

X

- Definition

Maximum potential amount of future payments (undiscounted) the guarantor could be required to make under the guarantee or each group of similar guarantees before reduction for potential recoveries under recourse or collateralization provisions.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 460
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (b)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118943654&loc=d3e12069-110248

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_GuaranteeObligationsMaximumExposure
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

X

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_OtherCommitmentsLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RelatedPartyTransactionsByRelatedPartyAxis=efc_RelatedpartymortgageoriginatorwithflowmortgageloanpurchaseandsaleagreementMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_InvestmentTypeAxis=efc_NonExchangeTradedEquityInvestmentinMortgageOriginatorsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_ResidentialMortgageMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=efc_CorporateloanMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: