Liquidation price calculator
Find the price at which a leveraged long or short would be liquidated, and how close that is to your entry at 2x to 100x leverage.
With 10x leverage, a 10% move against you can erase your whole margin, and in fast markets positions are often liquidated before you can react. On October 10, 2025, about $19 billion of leveraged crypto positions were liquidated in a single day. Many offshore exchanges offering high leverage don't accept US customers, and if an exchange fails, customers may get little or nothing back. Read crypto futures explained first.
The formula
Isolated margin, linear (USDT- or USD-margined) contracts. With leverage L, your margin is 1/L of the position's value. You're liquidated when losses eat the margin down to the maintenance margin.
- Long: liquidation price = entry × (1 − 1/L) ÷ (1 − MMR − liquidation fee)
- Short: liquidation price = entry × (1 + 1/L) ÷ (1 + MMR + liquidation fee)
- Without maintenance margin (the simplest version, where you lose exactly your margin): long = entry × (1 − 1/L); short = entry × (1 + 1/L).
MMR is the maintenance margin rate, set by the exchange by position size (often 0.4%–1% for bitcoin on smaller positions). This is the formula KuCoin publishes; Binance's is similar. Other exchanges calculate the maintenance margin on the entry value instead (long: entry × (1 − 1/L + MMR)), use the mark price rather than the last trade, include funding payments, or add tiers for large positions. Your exchange's liquidation price is the one that counts.
Worked example
KuCoin's own example: a long with an entry value of 30,000 USDT at 50x leverage (600 USDT margin), a 0.4% maintenance margin rate and a 0.06% liquidation fee. Liquidation price = 30,000 × (1 − 1/50) ÷ (1 − 0.004 − 0.0006) = 29,400 ÷ 0.9954 = 29,535.9. Without the maintenance margin and fee it would be 29,400, a 2% fall. Enter 30000, 50, 0.4 and 0.06 above to check.
What the numbers mean
At 2x, the price has to roughly halve to liquidate a long. At 10x, about a 10% fall does it; at 100x, under 1%, which bitcoin can move in minutes. The maintenance margin always pulls the liquidation price a little closer to your entry than the simple formula suggests.
Limitations
- Cross margin works differently: your whole account balance supports the position, so the liquidation price depends on your other positions too.
- Exchanges use the mark price and may liquidate in stages. Large positions have higher maintenance margins.
- Funding and fees reduce your margin over time and move the liquidation price closer.
Related: leverage calculator and position size calculator.
Sources
- How to calculate futures liquidation price (KuCoin)
- Leveraged investing strategies: know the risks (SEC investor bulletin)
- Exercise caution with crypto asset securities (SEC investor alert)
Questions
How is liquidation price calculated?
For an isolated long: entry × (1 − 1/leverage) ÷ (1 − maintenance margin rate − liquidation fee). For a short: entry × (1 + 1/leverage) ÷ (1 + maintenance margin rate + liquidation fee). Exchanges differ in the details.
Why is my exchange's liquidation price different?
It may use a different formula, the mark price, tiered maintenance margins, or include fees and funding already paid. Always trust the figure your exchange shows for an open position.
Does a stop-loss prevent liquidation?
A stop placed well before the liquidation price usually closes the trade first, but in a fast market the price can jump past it.
Every result is worked out in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere. Results are estimates for learning and planning, not financial or tax advice. Last reviewed November 4, 2026.