Bitcoin Liquidation Heatmap
Leverage leaves a trail. This map estimates where liquidation orders are stacked above and below spot by combining live open interest, traded volume and the exchange leverage tiers — so you can see the price magnets before they get hit.
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BTC liquidation clusters
liveClusters above spot short squeeze fuel
If price rises into these levels, short positions get force-bought out of the market.
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Clusters below spot long flush fuel
If price falls into these levels, long positions get force-sold into the book.
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How to read the liquidation heatmap
The map answers one question: if price moves there, how much forced flow shows up? Bright bands are estimated concentrations of leveraged positions that would be closed automatically by the exchange at that price. Price does not have to reach them — but when it gets close, the forced orders waiting there change the character of the move, because they are market orders that must fill regardless of price.
Three patterns are worth learning:
- A dense cluster just above spot after a period of falling price usually means shorts have piled in near the lows. A push into it can cascade — each liquidation is a forced buy, which lifts price into the next cluster.
- A dense cluster just below spot after a rally is the mirror image: late longs stacked under the market, each stop-out a forced sell.
- A streak that ends abruptly marks the candle where price traded through that level. The liquidity is gone — levels that have already been swept stop acting as magnets.
How the model works
Every candle in the window is treated as a cohort of positions opened at that candle's typical price (high + low + close) / 3, sized by the volume traded in it. That cohort is split across four leverage tiers, and for each tier we solve for the price at which the position would be liquidated:
long liquidation = entry × (1 − (1/leverage − maintenance))short liquidation = entry × (1 + (1/leverage − maintenance))
The resulting level is added to the map from the candle it was created onward, and removed the moment a later candle's range contains it — that is the cluster being consumed. The maintenance margin is fixed at 0.4%, matching the smallest Binance USDⓈ-M bracket, and the tier shares are 10× (40%), 25× (30%), 50× (20%) and 100× (10%).
What this model cannot tell you
Be honest with yourself about the limits, because they are real:
- Volume is a proxy for position size. Candle volume includes churn and closing flow, not only new leveraged entries.
- Leverage shares are assumed, not observed. Nobody publishes the true distribution. In a euphoric market the real book is more levered than our tiers assume, which means clusters sit closer to spot than shown.
- Cross-margin and added collateral are invisible. A trader who tops up margin moves their own liquidation price, and the model never sees it.
- One venue. The map is built from Binance, the largest perpetual venue, but it is not the whole market.
Use it as a map of where liquidity probably sits, alongside open interest, funding rates and positioning. Any one of them alone will mislead you. The complete source list is on our methodology page.
Frequently asked questions
What is a liquidation heatmap?
A liquidation heatmap plots price on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis, then shades each cell by how much leveraged size is estimated to be liquidated if price reaches that level. Bright horizontal streaks are price levels where a lot of stop-outs would trigger at once. Traders watch them because price is often drawn toward large pockets of forced buying or selling — a cluster above spot is fuel for a short squeeze, a cluster below is fuel for a long flush.
Is this showing real liquidation orders?
No, and be sceptical of any free tool that claims otherwise. No exchange publishes the price at which each open position would be liquidated — that data does not exist in any public API. What every liquidation map you have seen actually does, including the paid ones, is model it. We model it from Binance futures candles: each candle becomes a cohort of positions opened at its typical price and sized by its volume, split across common leverage tiers, projected forward to its liquidation price, and removed from the map once price trades through it. The full formula is on our methodology page.
How do I read the colours?
Dark blue is little or no estimated exposure. Teal, then amber, then near-white indicate progressively denser clusters. The white line is spot price. Because clusters are removed once price passes through them, a streak that stops abruptly marks the moment that liquidity was consumed — those levels have already been cleared and are no longer magnets.
Which leverage levels does the model assume?
Four tiers, with fixed shares of open interest: 10× (40%), 25× (30%), 50× (20%) and 100× (10%), plus a 0.4% maintenance margin, which matches the smallest Binance USDⓈ-M bracket. Lower leverage produces clusters far from spot; 100× produces clusters roughly 1% away. These shares are an assumption, not a measurement — change them in your head if you think the market is more or less levered than usual.
Which pairs and timeframes are available?
BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, BNB, DOGE and a number of other liquid perpetual pairs, over a 24-hour, 7-day or 30-day window. Shorter windows use hourly candles and show near-term clusters in detail; the 30-day window uses 4-hour candles and shows the larger structural pockets.
Is the liquidation heatmap free?
Yes. No account, no email, no trial. The chart is computed in your browser from the public Binance API, so there is nothing for us to gate.