Guide
Crude oil liquidation heatmap explained
A crude oil liquidation heatmap marks the prices where leveraged positions on the WTI oil perpetual would be closed by force: bright bands below the price are longs, bright bands above it are shorts. Ours is not a guess from open interest. It adds up the liquidation prices of real, public open positions. This guide explains how the map is built, how far each leverage sits from the entry, why the EIA report matters, and how to read the map next to the order book.
What the map shows
Oil perpetual futures let traders hold positions much larger than their margin. If the price moves against a position by roughly one divided by its leverage, the position is closed with a market order: a liquidation. A long is closed by selling, a short by buying back. The heatmap shows where those forced orders would hit the market:
- Below the price (green on our map): longs that would be sold if oil falls there.
- Above the price (violet): shorts that would be bought back if oil rises there.
- Brightness: the dollar value of the positions with a liquidation price at that level. Brighter means more.
Where oil positions get liquidated
The distance to a liquidation depends almost entirely on leverage. For a position opened at $80 a barrel:
| Leverage | Move that liquidates | Long opened at 80.00 | Short opened at 80.00 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3× | 32.8 % | 53.73 | 106.27 |
| 5× | 19.5 % | 64.40 | 95.60 |
| 10× | 9.5 % | 72.40 | 87.60 |
| 20× | 4.5 % | 76.40 | 83.60 |
| 25× | 3.5 % | 77.20 | 82.80 |
Simplified: entry × (1 − 1/leverage + maintenance margin) for a long, entry × (1 + 1/leverage − maintenance margin) for a short, with an assumed 0.5 % maintenance margin and no fees or added margin. Real liquidation prices differ a little, which is why the map uses the price reported for each position. $80 is a round example, not a price level.
Oil can move several percent on a single inventory report or supply headline, so the bands from high leverage near the price can be cleared in minutes, while the distant bands from low leverage need a real trend to be reached.
How our oil heatmap is built
- Swiftedge follows public open positions on on-chain oil perpetual futures, each with the liquidation price the exchange reports for it. Nothing is assumed about leverage: it is read from the positions.
- Every 5 minutes the positions are added up by liquidation price: longs below the price, shorts above.
- A position that is closed or liquidated leaves the map. One column is kept every 15 minutes, for up to seven days.
- The live page compares what the map had waiting at the prices the market reached with the liquidations that really happened, and prints the score next to a baseline, so you can judge the map yourself.
This is part of the market, not all of it: positions Swiftedge does not follow, and positions on other venues, are not on the map, so every total is a lower bound. The leverage mix of the positions on the map is printed on the live page and changes as traders open and close positions.
What is different about oil
- Scheduled shocks. The EIA weekly crude inventory report usually lands on Wednesday at 10:30 New York, and the API survey the evening before at 16:30. In weeks with a US holiday both come a day later. These are the moments when bands near the price are most often hit. Oil market hours in IST lists them for India.
- Day session and settlement. The oil day session opens at 09:00 New York and WTI settles at 14:30 New York, so volume and liquidations cluster in the US morning.
- A 24/7 perpetual on a weekday market. Oil futures close from Friday 17:00 to Sunday 18:00 New York and for a daily hour from 17:00. The perpetual keeps trading on thin volume, and weekend supply news can push it through bands before the futures reopen. Oil trading sessions lists every time, including holidays.
How to read it
- Bands are forced orders waiting to happen, not orders in the book. Nothing rests in the order book at a liquidation price until it is triggered. To see the orders that are really there, use the Oil order book heatmap; the difference is explained in liquidation heatmap vs order book heatmap.
- Watch the real liquidations next to it. The Liquidations indicator in Oil Depth draws every real liquidation on the live chart, so you can see which bands were hit.
- Check funding, open interest and positioning. Rising open interest with high funding means new leveraged longs, which is what fills the bands below the price: oil funding rate, oil open interest and Oil Positioning.
See where oil liquidations sit right now.The live map is rebuilt every 5 minutes from public open positions and checked against real liquidations. Free, no sign-up.
Open the oil liquidation heatmapCommon questions
Is there a free oil liquidation heatmap?
Yes. The Swiftedge oil liquidation heatmap is free, needs no sign-up and is rebuilt every 5 minutes from the liquidation prices of public open positions.
How accurate is the oil liquidation heatmap?
It shows real positions, but only part of the market, so the totals are a lower bound. The live page compares the map with the liquidations that really happened and prints the score next to a baseline.
Why do bands disappear?
A band shrinks or disappears when the positions behind it are closed, have margin added or are liquidated. When price trades through a band, the positions there are usually liquidated, so they leave the map.
Does oil move to the brightest band?
The map shows where forced orders could appear, not where the 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 oil liquidations?
Live on the chart in Oil Depth with the Liquidations indicator, next to the order book heatmap and the trades.
When are oil liquidations most likely?
Around scheduled news: the weekly EIA crude inventory report (usually Wednesday 10:30 New York, 21:00 IST in winter), the API survey the evening before, and the oil day session from 09:00 New York. Supply headlines can move oil at any hour.
I trade MCX crude oil. Is this useful?
MCX crude oil settles against the NYMEX WTI price, so forced buying and selling in the global oil market moves the price MCX follows. MCX crude oil order flow shows the global oil order book in rupees and IST.