Guide
Ethereum liquidation heatmap explained
An Ethereum liquidation heatmap shows the prices where leveraged ETH futures positions would be closed by force. Bright bands below the price are longs, bright bands above are shorts. None of it is observed directly: every liquidation heatmap is a model built on open interest and an assumption about leverage. This guide shows how that model works for ETH, what the numbers looked like on 20 October 2026, and why ETH behaves differently from Bitcoin.
What the map shows
Traders on ETH perpetual futures can hold positions far larger than their margin. If price moves against them by roughly one divided by their leverage, the exchange closes the position with a market order: a liquidation. A long is closed by selling, a short by buying. A liquidation heatmap estimates where those forced orders would sit:
- Below the price (green on our map): longs that would be sold if ETH falls there.
- Above the price (violet): shorts that would be bought back if ETH rises there.
- Brightness: the estimated dollar value at that price. Brighter means more.
Where ETH positions get liquidated
The distance to a liquidation depends almost only on leverage. For a position opened at 2,400 USD:
| Leverage | Move that liquidates | Long opened at 2,400 | Short opened at 2,400 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5× | 19.5 % | 1,932 | 2,868 |
| 10× | 9.5 % | 2,172 | 2,628 |
| 25× | 3.5 % | 2,316 | 2,484 |
| 50× | 1.5 % | 2,364 | 2,436 |
| 100× | 0.5 % | 2,388 | 2,412 |
Simplified: entry × (1 − 1/leverage + maintenance margin) for a long, entry × (1 + 1/leverage − maintenance margin) for a short, with a 0.5 % maintenance margin and no fees or added margin. Exchanges use tiered margins, so real prices differ slightly.
That is why the bands nearest the price come from high leverage and the distant ones from low leverage. A 100× position lives inside a 12-dollar range; a 5× position survives a move of almost 500 dollars. Because ETH regularly moves 3-5 % in a day, the 25× to 100× bands near the price are created and wiped out again all the time.
How our ETH heatmap is built
- Every 5 minutes we add up open interest in the ETH USDT perpetuals on Binance, Bybit and OKX.
- When open interest rises, new positions were opened at that window's average price. We split them into longs and shorts by the share of aggressive buying and selling on Binance in the same window.
- Each new position is spread over the leverage mix in the FAQ below, and gets a liquidation price for each leverage.
- When open interest falls, all open levels shrink by the same share. When price trades through a level, it is removed.
- The model runs over the last 7 days, so older positions are included; the map shows the last three days, with a price step of 1 dollar.
Every step is an assumption: some traders add margin, some are hedged elsewhere, and the leverage mix is a guess. That is why we check the result against the real ETH liquidations and print the score on the page.
ETH compared with Bitcoin
The same model runs for both coins, which makes them easy to compare. A snapshot from 20 October 2026:
| Ethereum | Bitcoin | |
|---|---|---|
| Open interest, Binance + Bybit + OKX (USDT perpetuals) | $8.9B | $15.3B |
| Estimated liquidation levels on the map | $2.3B (26 % of OI) | $4.3B (28 % of OI) |
| … of which within 5 % of price | $0.84B (9 % of OI) | $2.23B (15 % of OI) |
| Real liquidations, last 24 hours | $12.3M (1,684 orders) | $10.0M (959 orders) |
| Real liquidations per dollar of open interest | 0.14 % | 0.07 % |
| Model check, longs / shorts (rank correlation) | 0.73 / 0.70 | 0.66 / 0.53 |
| Price movement alone, longs / shorts | 0.43 / 0.38 | 0.36 / 0.26 |
| Price step on the map | $1 | $50 |
Snapshot of 20 October 2026, about 13:00 UTC, with ETH at 2,392 and BTC at 81,385. The model check covers the previous 27 hours in 5-minute windows. All numbers change every 5 minutes on the live pages.
- ETH liquidated more per dollar of positions. With about 58 % of Bitcoin's open interest, ETH had more liquidated in dollars over the same 24 hours, and almost twice as many liquidation orders. Per dollar of open interest that is roughly twice as much as Bitcoin.
- Less of ETH's estimated levels sat close to the price. 9 % of open interest within 5 % of price, against 15 % for Bitcoin. ETH's larger daily moves keep clearing the levels nearest to it.
- The model lined up better on ETH that day (0.73 and 0.70 against 0.66 and 0.53), and in both coins clearly better than price movement alone. One day is a small sample; the live check on each heatmap page is recomputed every 5 minutes.
How to read it
- Bands are estimates, not orders. Nothing sits in the order book at a liquidation level until it is triggered. To see orders that are really there, use the ETH order book heatmap; the difference is explained in liquidation heatmap vs order book heatmap.
- Look at the real liquidations next to it. The map can draw the real liquidations on top, so you can see which bands were actually hit.
- Check funding and open interest. Rising open interest with high funding means many new leveraged longs, which is what fills the bands below the price: ETH funding and open interest.
- Options are a different thing. Option positions are not liquidated; their pressure points are described by ETH max pain and the gamma levels in Swiftedge Options.
See where ETH liquidations sit right now.The ETH liquidation heatmap updates every 5 minutes and is checked against real liquidations. Free, no sign-up.
Open the ETH liquidation heatmapCommon questions
Is there a free Ethereum liquidation heatmap?
Yes. The Swiftedge ETH liquidation heatmap is free, needs no sign-up and updates every 5 minutes from open interest on Binance, Bybit and OKX.
How accurate is an ETH liquidation heatmap?
It is an estimate. Exchanges do not publish where each position would be liquidated. We measure how well the map lines up with the liquidations that really happened; on 20 October 2026 the rank correlation was 0.73 for longs and 0.70 for shorts, against 0.43 and 0.38 for price movement alone. The live number is on the heatmap page.
What leverage does the map assume?
5x (10 %), 10x (25 %), 25x (30 %), 50x (25 %) and 100x (10 %) of new positions, with a 0.5 % maintenance margin. Real leverage is not public, so this is an assumption, shown openly.
Why do bands disappear?
When price trades through a band, the positions there would have been liquidated, so the band is removed. When open interest falls, all bands shrink by the same share, because positions were closed.
Does ETH move to the brightest band?
The map shows where forced orders could appear, not where price will go. We do not claim bands act as magnets, and nothing on this page is a forecast or advice.
Where can I see real ETH liquidations?
On Ethereum liquidations today, and live on the chart in Swiftedge Depth for ETH with the Liquidations indicator.