Liquidation Price Calculator
Estimate your liquidation mark price before you open a position.
Position
Standard model — flat maintenance margin rate.
Cross margin is backed by the whole account, so it needs your account state:
Assumptions (all editable)
Fee defaults come with the exchange you pick. The maintenance margin rate is one flat assumption; set it to the tier your position size falls in for a closer figure.
Result
E3 · Modelled Estimate0.00% from entry
Calculation and assumptions
Educational tool, not investment advice.
A worked example
A long on BTC at 10x, isolated margin, with the generic assumptions the tool ships with. The point of the example is the gap between what 10x sounds like and where liquidation actually sits.
What goes in
- Side
- Long, isolated
- Entry price
- $60,000
- Quantity
- 0.1 BTC
- Leverage
- 10x
- Maintenance margin rate
- 0.5% (generic assumption)
- Taker fee
- 0.05%, closing fee included
What comes out
- Liquidation mark price
- $54,298.65
- Distance from entry
- −9.50%
- Position notional
- $6,000.00
- Initial margin
- $600.00
- Maintenance margin at liquidation
- $27.14
Ten times leverage does not mean a 10% move against you. It means your margin is a tenth of the position, and the exchange takes the position away slightly before that margin is gone — it needs the maintenance margin left over, and it will charge a closing fee on the way out. Both come out of the buffer, which is why liquidation lands at −9.50% rather than −10%.
The number is quoted in mark-price terms. Exchanges liquidate on their own mark price, an averaged reference that deliberately resists the wicks on any single book, so a candle that briefly prints below this level on the chart has not necessarily hit it — and a mark price that drifts can hit it while the last traded price looks fine.
Raising leverage to 20x moves liquidation to roughly −4.5%, and to 50x roughly −1.5%. That last one is inside a normal hour on BTC.
What each field means
- Entry price
- The average price your position is actually on. If you got filled across several orders, use the weighted average — the Average Entry tool works it out.
- Quantity
- Position size in coin units, not in dollars. 0.1 BTC, not $6,000. The notional is shown beside the result.
- Leverage
- What the position was opened at. In isolated margin this decides how much margin is locked to the position, which is what liquidation is measured against.
- Added margin
- Margin you deposited into the position on top of the initial amount. It pushes liquidation further away without changing the position size.
- Maintenance margin rate
- The fraction of the notional the exchange insists stays in the position. Exchanges raise this as the position grows. The model uses one flat rate, so set it to the tier your position actually falls in for a closer figure.
- Taker fee rate
- Used to estimate the closing fee the exchange sets aside. Switching it off moves the liquidation price further away than it really is — the conservative choice is to leave it on.
- Cross-margin fields
- Wallet balance, other positions' maintenance margin and unrealised PnL, and margin locked by open orders. Cross margin is backed by the whole account, so without these there is no honest answer.
Common questions
Why isn't a 10x position liquidated at exactly −10%?
Because the exchange closes you before your margin reaches zero. It keeps back the maintenance margin — a small fraction of the notional that has to remain in the position — and it also expects to charge a fee to close it. Both eat into the buffer, so a 10x position liquidates a little before a 10% move, not at it.
Why does my exchange show a different liquidation price?
Most often one of five things: it applies a tiered maintenance margin based on your position size rather than one flat rate; you have added or removed margin; you are in cross margin, where other positions change the answer; the fee assumptions differ; or its rounding differs. This model uses one flat maintenance margin rate, so on a large position the exchange's figure will sit closer than this one. Setting the rate to the tier your size falls in closes most of that gap.
What is the mark price, and why does it matter here?
The mark price is a reference price the exchange calculates — typically from an index of several venues plus a funding basis — rather than the last trade on its own book. Liquidations are triggered on it precisely so that a single thin book cannot wick people out. It is the reason a chart candle that dips past your liquidation level does not always liquidate you, and the reason a quiet-looking book can.
Why won't the tool calculate cross margin without more information?
In cross margin the whole account backs the position: your wallet balance, the unrealised profit and loss on every other position, their maintenance requirements, and margin locked up by open orders all move the answer. Guessing any of them produces a number that looks precise and is not. Enter them and the tool solves it; leave them out and it says so instead.
Does adding margin move the liquidation price?
Yes, and it is the only thing that moves it without changing the position. Adding margin increases the equity backing the position, so the price can travel further before equity falls to the maintenance requirement. Adding to the position itself does something different — see the Average Entry tool.