Margin & Leverage Calculator — Liquidation Distance

Leverage moves the liquidation price closer

Borrow $9,000 at 10× leverage against $1,000 of your own collateral to control a $10,000 position. That leverage cuts the price move that liquidates you from 100% to roughly 9.5%—close enough that a single volatile candle erases weeks of gains. At 100× leverage, that buffer shrinks to about 0.5%. Markets routinely swing that far in seconds.

The math: margin, distance, and ratio

This calculator shows three numbers. Required margin is what you must hold as collateral: divide position size by leverage. Liquidation distance is the percentage price move against you before your position force-closes: roughly (1 / leverage − maintenance margin) × 100. The position-to-margin ratio confirms the multiplier—at 10×, you control $10 for every $1 you put down. Maintenance margin (the tool defaults to 0.5%, typical of perpetual futures) is the minimum collateral required to keep the position open; it is lower than the initial margin you posted.

What happens between entry and liquidation

Losses compound at the leverage ratio. A 5% price move against a 10× position erases half your collateral; a 10% move wipes it out. The tool calculates where that point sits, not whether the market will reach it, and assumes static leverage with no fees.

Outside the scope

This calculator does not model entry and exit prices, slippage, funding rates, trading fees, or dynamic leverage adjustments. It assumes the position holds unchanged while the market moves. Use it to understand the arithmetic of a leverage ratio, not to forecast market behaviour or choose a leverage level.

See also the Average Down Calculator for how adding to a position shifts your cost basis, or the Kelly Criterion Calculator.