Liquidation map
Where liquidation levels would sit if positions were opened the way the assumptions below describe — and, the part that matters, where price has already cleared them. The dark corridor the price path carves through the field is not empty space; it is the levels the market has already taken out. This is a model, and it is labelled as one inside the picture, not only underneath it.
Hourly candles to 17:00 UTC, refreshed every 2 hours and drawn here in 4-hour steps. The dashed line is the live mark, $74.92, from a snapshot 5 minutes old. Two different ages, so neither is allowed to stand for the other.
The assumptions, in full
| # | Assumption | Value used | Observed or assumed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Total notional modelled | Equal to current open interest, $377.92M | observed |
| 2 | When positions were opened | Spread over the bars of the window in proportion to each bar's traded volume | observed |
| 3 | Leverage mix | Balanced — Weight spread across the range, tilted slightly to the middle. A deliberately unopinionated default. | assumed |
| 4 | Direction | Half long, half short at every leverage | assumed |
| 5 | How long a position stays open | A bounded life of 14 days, decaying in four tranches. Removed earlier if price trades through its level. | assumed |
| 6 | Maintenance margin | 2.500% at tier 1, from the published table | observed |
| 7 | Positions before the window opens | 84 bars before the chart starts are modelled off-screen, so the first drawn column already holds a full position-life window of positions | assumed |
| 8 | Drawn price range | The traded range was quieter than the ±8% minimum, so the minimum set the axis — not the traded range. 52.20% of modelled notional liquidates further away than this and is not drawn. | observed |
Row 8 is the one most worth reading twice. Tying the axis to what actually traded is what gives the price path presence — the previous version spanned a third of the price to accommodate 2× levels half a market away, and flattened real movement into a squiggle. A minimum of ±8% stops a very quiet window from zooming into noise, and in a quiet window it is that minimum rather than the traded range that sets the axis. Either way the cost is that low-leverage levels fall off the picture. Here that is 2× and 5×.
Leverage mix used: Balanced
The exact weight vector behind the picture. Every other profile is one form submission away.
| Leverage | Share of notional | Modelled notional | Long liquidation, % from mark |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2× | 9.00% | $34.01M | −48.7% |
| 5× | 19.00% | $71.80M | −17.9% |
| 10× | 27.00% | $102.04M | −7.7% |
| 20× | 22.00% | $83.14M | −2.6% |
Where the model puts the biggest clusters
Price levels still carrying modelled notional at the right-hand edge of the chart, largest first — $36.45M across the ten listed. These are the numbers the bright bands stand for.
| Price | Distance from mark | Side closed | Modelled notional | Share of open interest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $70.39 | -6.82% | longs | $4.61M | 1.22% |
| $74.24 | -1.73% | longs | $4.32M | 1.14% |
| $70.05 | -7.27% | longs | $4.05M | 1.07% |
| $70.48 | -6.71% | longs | $3.76M | 0.99% |
| $70.31 | -6.93% | longs | $3.71M | 0.98% |
| $78.25 | +3.58% | shorts | $3.56M | 0.94% |
| $78.08 | +3.35% | shorts | $3.36M | 0.89% |
| $77.99 | +3.24% | shorts | $3.21M | 0.85% |
| $73.89 | -2.19% | longs | $2.98M | 0.79% |
| $70.14 | -7.16% | longs | $2.89M | 0.76% |
How far price can move before each leverage liquidates — derived, not modelled
No assumptions here. Given the tier table and a mark these prices are arithmetic: the upper cap is where a short is closed, the lower cap where a long is closed.
| Leverage | Initial margin | Long liquidation | Move down | Short liquidation | Move up | Corridor width |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20× · max | 5.00% | $72.995 | −2.56% | $76.743 | +2.44% | 5.00% |
| 15× | 6.67% | $71.714 | −4.27% | $77.961 | +4.07% | 8.34% |
| 12× | 8.33% | $70.434 | −5.98% | $79.180 | +5.69% | 11.67% |
| 10× | 10.00% | $69.153 | −7.69% | $80.398 | +7.32% | 15.01% |
| 8× | 12.50% | $67.232 | −10.26% | $82.225 | +9.76% | 20.01% |
| 6× | 16.67% | $64.031 | −14.53% | $85.270 | +13.82% | 28.35% |
| 5× | 20.00% | $61.470 | −17.95% | $87.707 | +17.07% | 35.02% |
Where SOL's margin tiers step down
Maintenance margin is set by the tier the notional falls in. Above $70.00M the corridor widens, because maintenance margin rises to 5.000%.
| Tier | Notional from | Max leverage | Maintenance margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 · charted | $0 | 20× | 2.500% |
| 2 | $70.00M | 10× | 5.000% |
What is deliberately absent
No liquidation totals and no cascade tracker. Those need an event feed, and every available one is throttled — Binance publishes at most one liquidation per symbol per second, so a sum over it understates by an unknown factor, worst exactly when the number is most quoted. The full reasoning →
The 5 February sweep, on real candles → · Leverage survival — nothing modelled → · SOL funding and margin tiers →