Liquidation Price Calculator

How the calculator works

In a perpetual futures contract on isolated margin, you post a fixed amount of margin for one position, and the most you can lose on that position is that margin. Leverage of 10x means the margin is one tenth of the position value. A fall in price of 10 percent therefore uses up all of it on a long. The exchange does not wait for that: it closes the position when the remaining margin falls to the maintenance margin, a small safety slice.

A worked example

Take a made-up long position entered at $50,000 with 10x leverage and a maintenance margin rate of 0.5 percent. The buffer is 1/10 - 0.005 = 0.095, so liquidation is at 50,000 x (1 - 0.095) = $45,250, a fall of 9.5 percent. The price that would wipe out the whole margin is $45,000, a fall of 10 percent. The 0.5 percent gap between them is the maintenance margin.

At 20x the buffer is 0.05 - 0.005 = 0.045, so liquidation is at $47,750, only 4.5 percent below the entry. A short at 10x is liquidated at 50,000 x (1 + 0.095) = $54,750, a rise of 9.5 percent. Calculated by us on 27 Oct 2026, exact arithmetic on made-up inputs.

What this model leaves out

Be clear about the limits. Real exchanges differ, and this is an approximation to learn the shape. They typically add some or all of the following, and each moves the real number:

• Fees. Opening and closing fees reduce the margin that is left to absorb the move.
• Funding. Perpetual contracts exchange a funding payment between longs and shorts on a schedule. Paid funding eats margin over time.
• Cross margin. If the whole account backs the position, as opposed to isolated margin, the liquidation price depends on every other position and on the balance.
• Tiered maintenance rates. Bigger positions often face a higher maintenance margin rate, so the liquidation price comes closer as the position grows.
• Insurance and liquidation mechanics. Some positions are closed in steps, some at a mark price rather than the last trade, and a fast move can close the position beyond the liquidation price.

Futures grid bots and liquidation

A futures grid bot places buy and sell orders at set price levels on a leveraged contract. Each fill adds to the position, so the average entry and the size change as price moves. A long grid that keeps buying on the way down has a bigger position at lower prices, and the liquidation price moves closer to the current price with every fill, not further away. The leverage setting on the bot is therefore only the start of the story. The effective leverage grows as the grid fills.

That is why a grid can look calm through a small range and then be liquidated in a move to its bottom edge. If the lowest grid level sits above the liquidation price, the grid can finish its range intact. If it sits below, the position is closed at the exchange before the grid gets there. The page on futures grid liquidation works through a grid with real arithmetic.

It is the same mechanism as a margin call on a forex account, with one difference. On futures the position is closed automatically at liquidation, while a forex broker may warn first. The margin call guide covers the forex version and the margin calculator works it out for a position.

Checks before using leverage on a bot

• Find the exchange's own liquidation price for the biggest position the bot can build, not the first order.
• Check where the bot's lowest (or highest) level sits against that price.
• Read the exchange's maintenance margin tiers for your position size.
• Leave extra margin as a buffer if the bot allows it, and know what happens when funding is negative for you.