Home/Tools/Effective Leverage Calculator

Effective leverage calculator

See your true account-wide leverage across multiple positions — the number that actually determines your risk, not the leverage you set on any single trade. Enter your equity and each position’s value.

Result
Total exposure$35,000
Effective leverage3.50x

Moderate — keep an eye on combined exposure.

The formula

Effective leverage = (sum of all position notional values) ÷ account equity

Worked example

Suppose you have $10,000 of equity and two open positions worth $20,000 and $15,000 in notional value. Your total exposure is $35,000, so your effective leverage is 35,000 ÷ 10,000 = 3.5x — even if each individual position was opened at, say, 5x. Open a third position and that number climbs, bringing your liquidation thresholds closer without you changing any single leverage setting.

This is exactly the blind spot CryptoPatterns’ Risk X-Ray removes — it computes effective leverage across every bot and position automatically and models the order they’d liquidate in. Learn the concept in the glossary.

FAQ

Questions

What is effective leverage?

Effective leverage is your total position exposure (the sum of all position notional values) divided by your account equity. Unlike the leverage you set on a single trade, it captures your real, account-wide risk across every open position at once.

Why is my effective leverage higher than the leverage I set?

Because leverage settings are per-position. If you open several positions, each using leverage, their notional values stack up against the same equity — so your account-wide effective leverage can be much higher than any single position’s setting. This is a common way traders get unexpectedly liquidated.

What is a safe effective leverage?

There is no universal number, but lower is safer — many risk-conscious traders keep account-wide effective leverage in low single digits. The key is to know it: CryptoPatterns’ Risk X-Ray computes it automatically across all your bots and positions, alongside your liquidation-cascade risk.

See your real risk across every position

This tool covers one position. Risk X-Ray aggregates your whole book into true effective leverage and a liquidation-cascade map.

Start free