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Crypto Liquidation Price Calculator
Calculate the exact price where your leveraged crypto position gets liquidated. Long or short, 1x to 125x, isolated margin, with maintenance margin adjustment. Built for BTC, ETH, and any USDT-margined perpetual.
Advanced settings
Default 0.5% matches BTC and ETH at low position size on most major exchanges. Higher position sizes and altcoins get larger maintenance margin rates.
$58,538.50
Distance to liquidation -9.94%
Position size $10,000
Quantity 0.1538
Max loss -$1,000
Educational tool. Real exchanges use additional inputs (funding rate, insurance fund deductions, position tier maintenance margin). Use for planning, verify on the exchange before entering a trade.
How crypto liquidation works
When you trade futures with leverage, you only post a fraction of the position size as collateral (the margin). If price moves against you, your unrealized loss eats into that margin. When the loss reaches a threshold, the exchange auto-closes your position to protect itself from going negative. That is liquidation.
The higher your leverage, the smaller the price move needed to wipe the margin. At 10x leverage, a 10 percent adverse move liquidates the position. At 50x, a 2 percent move does it. Crypto routinely moves 2 to 5 percent in an hour during news events.
The formula
Long: Liquidation = Entry × (1 - 1/Leverage + MMR)
Short: Liquidation = Entry × (1 + 1/Leverage - MMR)Maintenance margin rate (MMR) is the minimum margin you must keep relative to position size. As soon as your equity drops to that level, the exchange triggers liquidation. Different exchanges and different position sizes use different MMRs. The default 0.5 percent matches the small-position tier for BTC and ETH on Bybit, BingX, Bitget, and OKX.
How to avoid getting liquidated
- Use lower leverage. 2x to 5x for beginners. 10x is already aggressive in crypto. Above 10x is gambling against funding rates and volatility.
- Set a stop loss BEFORE you enter, not after. The stop should be tighter than the liquidation price by at least 2 to 3 percent so slippage or wicks do not catch you.
- Use isolated margin instead of cross. Isolated caps your loss to one position. Cross can wipe your entire futures wallet if one trade goes bad.
- Watch funding rates on perpetuals. If you hold a position long enough through high funding, the funding payments alone can liquidate you even without price movement.
Frequently asked questions
Is this calculator accurate?
Within 0.1 to 0.3 percent of the actual liquidation price for isolated margin on major exchanges at low position size. Real exchange formulas factor in tiered maintenance margin (larger positions get higher MMR), funding accrued, and insurance-fund deductions. For most retail traders posting under $50K, the formula here matches reality closely.
Does this work for cross margin?
Not directly. Cross margin shares collateral across all positions, so liquidation depends on your total wallet balance, all open positions, and their combined unrealized PnL. This calculator covers isolated margin where the math is clean. For cross margin, check the calculator inside your exchange (Bybit, BingX, OKX all expose live cross-margin liquidation prices on the order panel).
What MMR should I use for altcoins?
Major altcoins (SOL, XRP, DOGE) typically use 1.0 to 1.5 percent MMR at low position sizes. Smaller altcoins can hit 2 to 5 percent. As position size grows, MMR steps up in tiers (the higher tiers can hit 10 to 25 percent for extreme sizes). Check the exchange's perpetual contract specifications page for exact MMR by tier.
Why does my exchange show a different liquidation price?
Exchanges show real-time liquidation prices that adjust for accrued funding, fees paid, and partial closes. The formula here assumes a fresh position with no funding accrued. After holding overnight or paying funding, your liquidation price drifts (closer for longs in positive funding regimes, farther for shorts).
Where to apply this
If you trade futures, the venues most retail traders use in 2026 are Bybit, BingX, Bitget, and OKX. All four expose live liquidation price on the order entry panel. Use this calculator before placing the trade to sanity-check the leverage you are about to apply.
Reminder: liquidation calculators help you plan. They do not stop liquidation. The single best risk-management habit in crypto futures is using lower leverage than you think you need. Most retail blow-ups happen above 10x.