The formula
Real exchange formulas add fees, funding and tiered maintenance rates, so use your exchange's own calculator for the exact figure. The approximation is close enough to show how fast leverage pulls the price toward you.
A worked example
A BTC long at 60,000 on isolated margin with a 0.5% maintenance rate:
If your trade idea needs a stop at 57,000 (5% away), the 25x position is liquidated before the stop is ever reached. The fix is not a better stop. It is lower leverage: decide the stop first, size the position so the stop costs your planned risk, and make sure the liquidation price sits well beyond the stop.
Common mistakes
- Using leverage to set risk. Risk comes from size and stop distance. Leverage only decides how much margin you post.
- Cross margin surprises. On cross margin, the whole wallet backs the position, so a bad trade can take more than you meant to risk.
- Ignoring fees and funding. They eat margin and drag the liquidation price closer over time.
How the RB journal tracks it
The journal does not calculate liquidation prices. What it does is cost manual crypto trades honestly: a perp futures preset applies 0.055% per side taker fees plus 0.01% funding per 8 hours, or you set your own fee per side and funding rate. Your R then reflects what the trade really cost, and the position size calculator sizes from your stop.
See your own Liquidation from real trades
Log trades by hand, import a file, or live-sync MT4, MT5 and cTrader through the RBSync EA. The numbers on this page then come from your own history instead of examples.
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