Your liquidation price is the price where your losses have eaten almost all of your margin and the exchange force-closes your position. As a rule of thumb, price can move about 100 ÷ leverage percent against you before liquidation - and in practice a little less than that.
A quick mental calculator
Ignoring fees and maintenance margin, the rough distance looks like this:
| Leverage | Move against you before liquidation |
|---|---|
| 2x | ~50% |
| 5x | ~20% |
| 10x | ~10% |
| 20x | ~5% |
| 50x | ~2% |
| 100x | ~1% |
Example: you open a 10x long on Bitcoin at $100,000. Your liquidation price lands a bit above $90,000. A 10x short from the same price would be liquidated a bit below $110,000.
Why it's closer than the table says: maintenance margin
Exchanges don't wait until your margin hits zero. Every position has a maintenance margin - the minimum balance you must keep to hold it open. Once your losses push you below that line, you're liquidated. That's why the real liquidation price sits closer to your entry than the simple math suggests. Trading fees and funding payments chip away at your margin too, nudging it closer still.
Isolated vs cross margin
- Isolated margin uses only the margin you put into that one position. The numbers above are a decent approximation.
- Cross margin uses your whole account balance as backup. A larger balance pushes the liquidation price further away - but if it does get hit, you can lose much more.
Exact formulas differ by exchange and by position size (bigger positions often need more maintenance margin). Always check the estimated liquidation price shown on your order screen before you confirm. This is educational content, not financial advice.
Practical takeaways
- Decide your stop-loss first, then pick a leverage that keeps your liquidation price well beyond it.
- High leverage turns ordinary daily volatility into a liquidation risk.
- Adding margin to a losing position moves your liquidation price away, but it also increases what you can lose.
Check what's around your level on WhaleCue
Once you know your own liquidation price, see whether other big positions get liquidated nearby. The WhaleCue liquidation map groups the liquidation prices of whales holding large positions. If a big wall sits right next to your level, a cascade could carry price through it - a good reason to lower your leverage.