Liquidation Price Calculator — Crypto Leverage Risk Tool
Calculate the liquidation price for leveraged crypto futures and perpetual contracts. Enter your entry price, leverage, and trade direction to instantly see your liquidation level, distance to liquidation, and margin required.
Leverage: 10×
Liquidation Price
$45,000.00
Distance to Liquidation
10.00%
Margin Required
$100.00
| Max Acceptable Drawdown | Recommended Max Leverage |
|---|---|
| 5% price move | 20x |
| 10% price move | 10x |
| 15% price move | 6x |
| 20% price move | 5x |
| 25% price move | 4x |
| 30% price move | 3x |
| 50% price move | 2x |
* Simplified calculation — does not account for exchange fees, funding rates, or partial liquidation. Use for estimation only.
Last reviewed · How we check our calculators
How to Use the Liquidation Price Calculator
Enter your entry price — the price at which you opened (or plan to open) the leveraged position. Select your direction: Long if you are buying (expecting the price to rise) or Short if you are selling (expecting the price to fall). Enter your position size in USD, which is the total notional value of the trade (not your margin).
Use the leverage slider to set your leverage multiplier from 1× to 125×. The calculator shows your liquidation price — the price level at which the exchange will forcibly close your position — the percentage distance from your entry to liquidation, and the margin required (your actual collateral = position size / leverage).
A high-leverage warning appears above 20× to remind you that a small price move can liquidate your entire position. This calculator uses a simplified model without exchange fees or funding rates — always verify with your exchange's own liquidation calculator before trading.
The Formula
The simplified liquidation price formulas for a cross-margin account without fees:
- Long liquidation price = Entry Price × (1 − 1 / Leverage)
- Short liquidation price = Entry Price × (1 + 1 / Leverage)
- Distance to liquidation (%) = |Liquidation Price − Entry Price| / Entry Price × 100
- Margin required = Position Size / Leverage
For example, a long at $50,000 with 10× leverage: liquidation price = $50,000 × (1 − 1/10) = $50,000 × 0.9 = $45,000. The distance is 10% — a 10% drop from entry triggers liquidation and wipes out your margin. At 50× leverage, that distance shrinks to just 2%.
Real exchanges also deduct a maintenance margin and liquidation fee, so actual liquidation prices are typically slightly closer to the entry price than this simplified formula shows.
Practical Examples
Example 1 — BTC Long at 10× Leverage
- Entry: $60,000 | Leverage: 10× | Position: $10,000
- Liquidation Price: $54,000
- Distance: 10%
- Margin Required: $1,000
A 10% drop in BTC from $60,000 to $54,000 would liquidate this position, losing the full $1,000 margin. With BTC's typical daily volatility of 3–5%, a 10× leveraged long can be liquidated within hours in a volatile market.
Example 2 — ETH Short at 25× Leverage
- Entry: $3,000 | Leverage: 25× | Direction: Short | Position: $5,000
- Liquidation Price: $3,120
- Distance: 4%
- Margin Required: $200
A short at 25× is liquidated if ETH rises just 4%. With ETH capable of moving 5–10% in a single day, this position carries extreme risk. Even a temporary wick upward on the chart can trigger liquidation before the price resumes a downtrend.
Cross Margin vs Isolated Margin
Isolated margin limits your loss to the margin allocated to that specific position. If liquidated, you only lose that margin — the rest of your account is safe. Cross margin uses your entire account balance as collateral, which gives you a lower liquidation price (more buffer) but risks your entire account if multiple positions go against you simultaneously. Beginners should use isolated margin to cap their maximum loss per trade.
Multiple Positions on One Account
This calculator prices one position at a time. If you have multiple positions on the same account, your overall liquidation price depends on your total margin balance and combined exposure. Use your exchange's built-in risk engine for precise multi-position liquidation — each exchange (Binance, Bybit, dYdX) uses different formulas.
Frequently Asked Questions
The liquidation price is the price level at which your exchange automatically closes your leveraged position because your margin has been fully consumed by losses. When a leveraged long position is liquidated, the exchange sells your position to cover the loss, and you lose your entire margin (initial collateral). Liquidation protects the exchange from trader defaults, since leveraged losses can exceed the initial margin.
With isolated margin, only the margin you specifically allocated to a position is at risk. If liquidated, you lose that margin and the position closes, but the rest of your account balance is unaffected. With cross margin, your entire account balance backs all open positions. Cross margin gives each position a lower liquidation price (more buffer), but a single bad trade can drain your entire account. Most risk-conscious traders use isolated margin for speculative trades.
Key strategies to avoid liquidation: (1) Use lower leverage — at 5× or less, you need a 20%+ adverse move to be liquidated; (2) Set a stop-loss well above (short) or below (long) your liquidation price; (3) Use isolated margin to cap your maximum loss; (4) Monitor funding rates — high negative funding on shorts can accelerate margin erosion; (5) Keep additional funds in your account as a buffer. The safest approach is to treat leverage as a tool for capital efficiency, not for amplifying speculation.
With isolated margin, your liquidation price is fixed when you open the position (assuming no additional margin is added). You can raise the liquidation price buffer by adding more margin to the position. With cross margin, the liquidation price fluctuates as your account balance changes from other open P&L. Some exchanges also apply daily funding rate payments that slowly drain or credit margin, which can shift the effective liquidation threshold over time.
Most professional crypto traders use 2×–5× leverage at most. At 5× leverage, you need a 20% adverse move to be liquidated — still very possible in crypto, but it gives you time to manage the position. Leverage above 20× is considered highly speculative: even a 5% adverse move can trigger liquidation in a volatile market. Many exchanges that offer 100× leverage see the majority of high-leverage positions liquidated within hours. New traders should start with 1×–2× leverage until they understand market dynamics.
Sources
- Margin (finance) (Wikipedia)
- Perpetual futures (funding rate mechanism) (Wikipedia)
- John C. Hull, Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives (11th ed.) (Pearson, 2021)
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