How liquidation price is calculated
A leveraged position is liquidated when the loss has eaten the margin down to the maintenance margin the exchange requires. For an isolated long, the bankruptcy price is the entry minus the whole margin per coin, and liquidation sits a little above it by the maintenance margin rate. Higher leverage means less margin per coin and therefore less room. At 10x a long has about 9.5% of room; at 100x it has about half a percent.
Isolated versus cross margin
Isolated margin risks only what you posted to that position. Adding margin to an isolated position lowers the effective leverage and pushes the liquidation price further away, which the calculator shows when you enter extra margin. Cross margin uses your whole available balance as collateral, so the liquidation price is further away but a liquidation takes the balance with it. The liquidations guide covers what happens when many positions share the same level, and the position size calculator works the problem from the risk side.
Maintenance margin tiers
Exchanges raise the maintenance margin rate as position size grows, in tiers. The presets here are typical tier-one rates for the largest markets, which is where most retail positions fall. Large positions and thin altcoin markets carry higher rates and liquidate earlier, and venues change their tiers, so the rate is editable. Funding payments and fees also shift the real figure slightly closer to entry; the funding cost calculator shows how much funding costs over a holding period.
Frequently Asked Questions
The guides behind this calculator
- Liquidations as a signal Why liquidation clusters move price, and how to read the heatmaps.
- Position sizing Sizing so the stop, not the liquidation, is the risk.
- Funding rates The carrying cost that erodes margin while you wait.
- Open interest How much leverage is in the market before a flush.
More calculators
Formulas last reviewed 2026-09-11. Educational tool, not financial advice. Results depend entirely on the numbers you enter.