Calculate your liquidation price for leveraged cryptocurrency positions. Know exactly when your position will be liquidated to manage risk effectively.
Liquidation occurs when your position's margin falls below the maintenance margin requirement. The exchange forcefully closes your position to prevent further losses.
Warning: When liquidated, you lose your entire margin. On some exchanges, you may also face additional liquidation fees.
// With $1,000 margin:
1x = $1,000 position, liq at ~0%
5x = $5,000 position, liq at ~20%
10x = $10,000 position, liq at ~10%
20x = $20,000 position, liq at ~5%
50x = $50,000 position, liq at ~2%
100x = $100,000 position, liq at ~1%
Higher leverage means larger position sizes but also means smaller price movements can liquidate your position. The leverage you choose should match your risk tolerance and the asset's volatility.
| Exchange | Max Leverage | Maintenance Margin | Liquidation Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Binance Futures | 125x | 0.4% - 5% | 0.5% | Tiered by position size |
| Bybit | 100x | 0.5% - 5% | 0.5% | Insurance fund covers shortfall |
| OKX | 125x | 0.4% - 2.5% | Varies | ADL system for extreme cases |
| Kraken Futures | 50x | 1% - 5% | 0.5% | More conservative limits |
* Maintenance margin rates increase with position size. Always check the exchange's current rates.
Getting liquidated means losing everything you put into a trade. Not some of it. All of it. Gone. It happens when your leveraged position moves against you so much that the exchange forcibly closes it before you go into debt to them. At 10x leverage, a 10% move wipes you out. At 50x, just 2% does it. Thousands of traders get liquidated every day because they didn't calculate their liquidation price beforehand. Don't be one of them. Before you enter any leveraged trade, you need to know exactly where your liquidation price sits and make sure you're comfortable with that risk.
Open a 10x leveraged position with $1,000 margin. You control $10,000 but only put up $1,000. The exchange lent you $9,000. They want that money back, so they watch your position constantly. As the trade moves against you, losses eat into your margin. When your remaining margin drops below the 'maintenance margin' requirement (usually 0.5-5% of position value), the exchange liquidates you. They close your position at market price, take whatever's left to cover losses and fees, and you get nothing. Zero. Your $1,000 is gone. In fast markets, sometimes positions go negative before liquidation hits. Insurance funds cover the gap so the exchange doesn't lose money. That's why they liquidate before you're technically underwater. They're protecting themselves, not you.
