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Crypto leverage trading explained: how often 10x, 25x and 100x get liquidated
Leverage lets you open a futures position bigger than your money: at 10x, $1,000 controls $10,000. Gains and losses grow by the same factor, and a move of roughly 1 / leverage against you wipes out the margin. On real data the numbers are blunt: a 100x BTC long held for a day would have been liquidated in 69% of periods, a 25x SOL long in 19%.
Test it yourself: pick a coin, side, leverage and holding time in How fast would you get liquidated? - 20 seconds, real hourly data for 20 coins.
How leverage works
On a perpetual futures exchange you post margin and choose a leverage. The exchange lets you hold a position worth margin × leverage. Profit and loss are calculated on the whole position, but they land on your margin.
Margin: initial and maintenance
- Initial margin - what you put up to open: position size divided by leverage.
- Maintenance margin - the minimum equity the position must keep. When losses push equity below it, the exchange liquidates. On major exchanges it is a fraction of a percent of the position for small positions (we use 0.4%) and rises for large ones.
Isolated vs cross margin
Liquidation price
For an isolated position, ignoring fees: long = entry × (1 − 1/leverage + maintenance), short = entry × (1 + 1/leverage − maintenance). With 0.4% maintenance the move that liquidates you is:
| Leverage | Move against you that liquidates |
|---|---|
| 3x | 32.9% |
| 5x | 19.6% |
| 10x | 9.6% |
| 20x | 4.6% |
| 25x | 3.6% |
| 50x | 1.6% |
| 100x | 0.6% |
Your exact level depends on the exchange's maintenance tiers and fees - calculate it in the liquidation price calculator.
How often would you get liquidated?
We took hourly candles of Binance futures from 2026-04-14 to 2026-10-20, opened an imaginary long at every hourly close, held it for 24 hours and checked whether price ever went against it by more than the liquidation distance.
| Leverage | BTC | ETH | SOL | DOGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3x | <1% | <1% | <1% | <1% |
| 5x | <1% | <1% | <1% | <1% |
| 10x | <1% | <1% | <1% | <1% |
| 20x | 3% | 8% | 11% | 15% |
| 25x | 6% | 15% | 19% | 23% |
| 50x | 34% | 46% | 51% | 55% |
| 100x | 69% | 75% | 80% | 83% |
Shorts came out within a few percentage points of longs over this period (BTC 100x: 72% for a short vs 69% for a long; SOL 25x: 19% both). Fees and funding are not included - they only make it worse. This is a description of past volatility, not a forecast; a calm or wild month changes the numbers. Try any coin, side and holding time.
Fees and funding at leverage
Costs are charged on the position, not on your margin, so leverage multiplies them too. With a 0.05% taker fee, opening and closing a 10x position costs 0.1% of the position - 1% of your margin. A funding rate of 0.01% per 8 hours on a 10x position takes about 0.3% of margin a day. See live rates on funding rates and the funding calculator.
Leverage trading vs margin trading
The terms overlap. Margin trading often means borrowing to buy or short on a spot exchange, paying interest on the loan; leverage trading in crypto usually means perpetual futures, where you pay funding instead of interest. Both end the same way when the move goes against you: forced liquidation.
Common mistakes
- Choosing leverage by how big the profit could be. Choose it by how far price can move against you before you are out.
- Ignoring wicks. Liquidation triggers on the mark price touching your level, not on the daily close.
- Forgetting costs. Fees and funding are charged on the full position.
- Cross margin by default. It can turn one bad trade into an empty account.
FAQ
What is leverage trading in crypto?
Opening a futures position larger than your money: at 10x, $1,000 controls $10,000 and every 1% move is 10% of your margin.
How much does price need to move to liquidate me?
About 1/leverage minus maintenance: 9.6% at 10x, 3.6% at 25x, 1.6% at 50x, 0.6% at 100x (0.4% maintenance, before fees).
How often does 100x leverage get liquidated?
A 100x long held a day: about 69% of periods on BTC, 80% on SOL in our data.
Isolated or cross margin?
Isolated risks only the position's margin; cross risks the whole balance in exchange for a more distant liquidation price.