The size still comes from the stop
position size = (balance × risk%) ÷ |entry − stop|
Identical arithmetic to any other market: decide the money you are willing to lose, divide by the distance to the level that proves you wrong, and the size falls out. A $5,000 account risking 1% with a stop $1,500 below a $60,000 entry gets 0.0333 BTC.
Notice what leverage did not do there: nothing. The risk is set by the stop and the size. Leverage only decides how much margin is locked up to hold it.
The part that is only true in crypto
Leverage on a perpetual creates a second exit — the liquidation price — and the exchange controls it.
If your stop sits further from entry than the liquidation does, the stop will never execute. The position is closed by the exchange first, at its price, with a liquidation fee attached, and usually for more than the loss you had planned.
The rule of thumb is simple enough to hold in your head:
| Leverage | Liquidation is roughly |
|---|---|
| 3x | 33% away |
| 5x | 20% away |
| 10x | 10% away |
| 20x | 5% away |
| 50x | 2% away |
A 2.5% stop is fine at 10x and impossible at 50x. The calculator checks this and says so rather than returning a size that cannot be traded. The exact level, including the maintenance margin rate, is on the liquidation price calculator.
Why the answer is often "use less leverage"
When the margin required exceeds the account, the temptation is to raise leverage until it fits. That reads as solving the problem and is actually inverting it.
Leverage does not change the risk — the stop does. Raising it to fit a position means the liquidation moves closer, and past a certain point it moves inside the stop, at which point you have swapped your exit for the exchange's. The honest answer when a correctly sized position does not fit is that the trade is not available at this account size, at this stop.
Two crypto-specific costs that move the level
Both push liquidation nearer than the arithmetic suggests, and both are easy to forget on a multi-day hold:
- Funding is deducted from margin every eight hours on most venues. Held through a stretch of elevated rates, it can meaningfully shift the level — see the funding calculator.
- Fees are charged on notional, not on margin, so a 10x position pays ten times the fee of an unleveraged one of the same margin.