Liquidation Map

A liquidation map estimates where leveraged futures positions would be force-closed if the price moved there. Each bar is a price range; its height is the estimated value of open positions whose liquidation price falls inside that range. It is a model built from open interest and prices, not a record of liquidations that have happened.

For every 5-minute interval in the selected time range, FMchart measures how open interest changed on each exchange. Open interest counts one side of each contract (every long has a matching short), so when open interest rises both the long side and the short side grow by that amount (plus whatever that side just lost to liquidations); the new positions are placed at that interval's price and spread across an assumed mix of effective leverage. Within one hour, open interest cannot change by more than the volume traded in that hour; where an exchange reports larger swings (Gate), the change used to place new positions is scaled down to that hour's volume. Each position gets a liquidation price of entry × (1 − 1/leverage + maintenance margin) for longs and entry × (1 + 1/leverage − maintenance margin) for shorts. When the price later touches a level, that level is removed; when open interest falls without a liquidation, remaining positions are reduced in proportion. Levels are smoothed slightly because cross-margin accounts are liquidated over a wider range than a single price.

Open interest and mark prices in 5-minute intervals from the public APIs of Binance, Bybit, Bitget, Gate, Hyperliquid, Lighter, Kraken and dYdX, plus other exchanges that FMchart collects and includes in the totals without showing them individually. Only positions opened inside the selected time range appear, because the entry price of older positions is unknown.

The colours split each bar by the effective leverage assumed for those positions: 1x–5x, 5x–10x, 10x–25x, 25x–50x and 50x+. Exchanges do not publish how much leverage traders use, so the split comes from a fixed assumption based on exchange leverage limits and published research, applied the same way to every coin in a class. It shows where higher-leverage positions would sit, not a measured breakdown.

The current price is the median of the latest 5-minute mark price of each included contract. It divides the chart: estimated long liquidations sit below it and short liquidations above it, and every distance in the tables is measured from it.

A long position loses money when the price falls, so its liquidation price is below the price it was opened at. A short position loses money when the price rises, so its liquidation price is above. Levels that the price has already crossed are removed from the map.

The liquidation map shows the estimated exposure at each price right now for positions opened in the selected period. A liquidation heatmap shows how those estimated levels changed over time. For liquidations that actually happened, use the Liquidation Tracker, which records orders reported by exchanges.

They answer different questions. The Liquidation Map counts only positions opened inside the time range you select (24H, 7D…), so a longer range adds more levels. The Liquidation Heatmap and Liquidation Levels build the same model from a fixed starting point about 37 days back, so the latest column is the same whichever range you view, and Levels decides that a level was touched using the median price across exchanges (the map removes a level exchange by exchange), which can move totals by a few percent. All three are estimates; recorded liquidations are on the Liquidation Tracker.

Large clusters show prices where many leveraged positions could be closed at once, which can speed up a move when the price reaches them. Compare clusters above and below the price and check whether they persist across time ranges. Treat the map as context alongside price action, volume and open interest, not as a signal on its own.

It is an estimate. The leverage mix is an assumption, hedged positions and accounts with spare margin are counted even though they may never be liquidated at the shown level, positions opened before the selected range are not included, and exchanges with a shorter data history contribute only from when collection started. Exact positions are not available because exchanges do not publish position-level data, so only an estimated view is offered.

Coins with perpetual futures open interest on the included exchanges, listed by open interest in the coin selector. Exchanges shown by name: Binance, Bybit, Bitget, Gate, Hyperliquid, Lighter, Kraken and dYdX. Other exchanges collected by FMchart are included in the "All Exchanges" totals.