Tiered Margin Calculator
Work out margin under a tiered leverage schedule, where each slice of the position is charged at its own rate.
Venues reduce the leverage available as a position grows, because a large position is harder to liquidate without moving the market against itself. The schedule is published as tiers — high leverage on the first slice of notional, progressively lower on each slice above it — and this tiered margin calculator charges every slice at its own rate rather than the whole position at the last one.
Formula: margin = sum of each tier's slice divided by that tier's leverage
Your figures
Notional value of the position.
Optional — shows margin usage and the largest position you could hold.
Notional ceiling for the first tier. Illustrative — copy the ceilings from your venue's own risk-limit table.
Illustrative, not any venue's figure.
Must be larger than tier 1's ceiling. Illustrative, as above.
Illustrative, not any venue's figure.
Applies to everything above tier 2's ceiling. Illustrative, not any venue's figure.
Results
Margin required
US$7,000.00
across 3 tiers, at 42.86 : 1 effective
- Tier 1 — US$50,000.00 at 100x
- US$500.00
- Tier 2 — US$200,000.00 at 50x
- US$4,000.00
- Tier 3 — US$50,000.00 at 20x
- US$2,500.00
- Effective leverageNotional divided by the margin actually required.
- 42.86 : 1
- Marginal leverageThe headline rate of the highest tier this position reaches.
- 20.00 : 1
- Margin as a share of position value
- 2.333%
- If the whole position were charged at the top tierThe common error. Bracket pricing charges considerably less.
- US$15,000.00
- Margin used
- 35.00%
- Free capital
- US$13,000.00
- Largest position this balance supports
- US$560,000.00
What this means
A tiered schedule charges each slice of the position at its own tier's leverage, exactly like income tax bands. This position needs US$7,000.00 — not the US$15,000.00 you would get by dividing the whole notional by the top tier's 20x, because the earlier slices keep their higher leverage. The position is really running at 42.86 : 1, which is the figure to compare against any risk limit.
- Contract values, tier schedules and margin levels differ by venue and by account tier, and venues change them. Take every figure from your own venue's contract specification. No venue's schedule is preset here: the tiers and levels a field opens with are round illustrations, chosen for their shape rather than copied from anywhere.
- Venues raise margin requirements during volatile conditions, sometimes at short notice, which can force a position to be reduced at the worst moment.
- Some venues apply the tier schedule per position and others per symbol across the account. Which applies changes the answer when several positions are open.
Margin required: US$7,000.00
The link reopens this calculator with the same numbers. Nothing you enter is sent to a server.
Continue with these figures
About the Tiered Margin calculation
The near-universal mistake is to find the tier a position lands in and divide the whole notional by that tier's leverage. That overstates the requirement, often by a wide margin, because the earlier slices keep their own higher leverage.
Crypto margin tiers work exactly like income tax bands. Only the marginal slice is charged at the marginal rate, and the effective rate across the whole position is always better than the marginal one.
Tiered Margin formula
margin = Σ over tiers of (notional in that tier ÷ that tier's leverage)
tier 1 slice = min(notional, limit₁)
tier 2 slice = clamp(notional − limit₁, 0, limit₂ − limit₁)
tier 3 slice = max(notional − limit₂, 0)
effective leverage = notional ÷ total margin
marginal leverage = the leverage of the highest tier reached- tier limit
- The notional ceiling of that tier. The final tier is open-ended.
- marginal
- The rate applying to the next unit of notional added.
- effective
- What the position is actually running at, across all tiers.
The bracket structure means there is no cliff at a tier boundary. Adding one unit of notional that crosses a limit adds only that unit at the lower leverage, so the requirement rises smoothly rather than jumping. A leverage tier calculator that charged the whole position at the marginal rate would invent a step the published schedule does not have, and a schedule that really did jump would create an incentive to sit just below each boundary.
Two leverage figures matter and they are frequently confused. Marginal leverage is the headline number the venue shows for the tier you are in. Effective leverage is notional divided by the margin actually posted, and it is always higher — it is the number to compare against any risk limit you have set yourself.
Inverting the schedule answers the more useful question: given a balance, how large a position can it support? That is not simply balance × top-tier leverage, because the first slices are cheaper. The calculator works up through the tiers, consuming the balance slice by slice.
Tiered Margin: a worked example
A $300,000 position under a schedule of 100× up to $50,000, 50× up to $250,000, and 20× above that. The schedule is an illustration with round numbers, not any venue's — it is also what the page loads with, so the panel beside this reproduces every line below until you replace it with your own venue's risk-limit table.
- Tier 1 slice$50,000 at 100× = $500
- Tier 2 slice$200,000 at 50× = $4,000
- Tier 3 slice$50,000 at 20× = $2,500
- Total margin$7,000
- The common error300,000 ÷ 20 = $15,000
- Effective leverage300,000 ÷ 7,000 = 42.86 : 1
$7,000, not the $15,000 you get by charging everything at the top tier. The position is running at 42.86:1 effective, even though its marginal tier says 20×.
How to use the Tiered Margin calculator
- Take the schedule from your venue's own margin documentation. A margin tier calculator is only as good as the tiers you feed it, and they differ by venue, by symbol and by account tier.
- Enter each tier's notional ceiling and the leverage available within it. The final tier is open-ended.
- Enter the position's notional value, not the margin you expect to post.
- Add your account balance to see margin usage and the largest position the balance supports.
- Read the effective leverage figure last. Used as an effective leverage calculator, this is the number to compare against your own risk limit, because it describes the real exposure rather than the headline tier.
Limitations of the Tiered Margin calculator
Every calculation makes assumptions. These are the ones that matter here.
- Venues raise margin requirements during volatile conditions, sometimes at short notice. A position sized to the current schedule can become over-margined without trading at all.
- Some venues apply the schedule per position and others per symbol across the whole account. Which applies changes the answer materially when several positions are open.
- Does not model maintenance margin, which is a separate and lower schedule governing liquidation rather than opening.
- Assumes three tiers. Venues publishing more can be modelled by combining the closest tiers, at some loss of precision.
Frequently asked questions about Tiered Margin
Why is my margin lower than the tier I am in suggests?
Because only the slice of notional inside that tier is charged at its rate. Everything below keeps the higher leverage of the tiers it falls in. Dividing the whole position by the marginal rate is the most common error in tiered margin arithmetic and it always overstates the requirement.
What is the difference between effective and marginal leverage?
Marginal is the headline rate for the tier your position reaches. Effective is notional divided by the margin actually required, which is always higher because earlier slices were cheaper. Effective is the honest description of your exposure.
Does crossing a tier boundary cause a jump in margin?
No. Only the notional above the boundary is charged at the lower leverage, so the requirement rises continuously. One unit of notional past a limit adds one unit's worth of margin at the new rate, not a step change.
How does this relate to liquidation?
Indirectly but importantly. Tiered margin governs how much you must post to open and hold. Liquidation is governed by a separate maintenance schedule that is lower at every tier. A position sized to the limit of initial margin has very little room before maintenance is breached.
Why do venues reduce leverage on larger positions?
Because liquidating a large position moves the market against itself. The venue bears the risk that a forced close cannot be filled at the expected price, and lower leverage on large positions is how it limits that exposure.
Last reviewed . See our methodology and editorial policy.
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