Free calculator
Leverage calculator
Enter the margin you post, your leverage, your entry and your stop. See the position that controls, what each 1% move is worth, roughly where you get liquidated, and the most leverage your stop can take.
Leverage calculator
EstimateThe example is $1,000 of margin at ten times, long Bitcoin from $60,000 with the stop at $58,800. Change any number.
Fix the highlighted field to see the result.
The same margin at other leverage
| Leverage | Position | Liquidation move | Stop costs you |
|---|
Liquidation move: how far price can go against you before the position is closed. Stop costs you: the loss at your stop, as a share of the margin.
Rough figures for isolated margin with a 0.5% maintenance margin, before fees and funding. The numbers your exchange shows are the ones that count. Practise on paper first.
How it works
Leverage multiplies the margin you post into a bigger position, and every price move is worked out on the whole position. With $1,000 of margin at 10x you control $10,000 of Bitcoin, so a 1% move is worth $100: 10% of your margin, in either direction.
Example: a long from $60,000 with the stop at $58,800, 2% below. One divided by (2% + 0.5%) is 40, so at 40x the liquidation price lands right on the stop. At 10x the stop costs $200, which is 20% of the margin, and liquidation sits about 9.5% away, well past the stop.
Leverage sets the margin, the stop sets the risk
Keep the margin the same and raise the leverage, and the position grows, so the loss at the stop grows with it. That is the trap this calculator shows in the table: the same $1,000 at 50x is a $50,000 position, and a 2% stop is liquidated before it is ever reached.
The safer order is the other way round. Decide what you are willing to lose, size the position from your stop with the position size calculator, and only then pick leverage. Done that way, leverage changes only the margin you post and how close liquidation sits, never the loss at the stop.
Common questions
How much leverage should I use?
Less than the exchange offers. Many exchanges allow 100x or more, but that number only tells you how close liquidation can get. Size the position from your stop and the share of the account you are willing to lose, then make sure liquidation sits well beyond the stop.
Is 10x leverage risky?
At 10x, a move of roughly 9.5% against you closes the position on isolated margin. Crypto can move that far in a single day. With a stop well inside that distance and a sensible position size, the stop decides the loss. Without one, the exchange does.
Isolated or cross margin?
Isolated margin puts only the margin you assign at stake, which is what this calculator assumes. Cross margin uses your whole balance as the buffer: liquidation sits further away, but a bad trade can take the whole balance with it.