Margin Call Distance Calculator

Leverage does not change whether you are right. It changes how far price can move against you before someone else closes the trade for you. Enter your numbers and read the two that matter.

Cash you actually put up
Gross exposure ÷ equity
Broker's floor. Reg-T retail ≈ 25%, prime brokerage ≈ 10–15%
Gross exposure
Move to margin call
Below this, the exit decision is no longer yours.
Move to zero equity
Mathematically −1 ÷ leverage. Nothing left.
Your survivable range
zero
call
−50%−25%0%
The formulas. Equity after a price move r is E × (1 + L·r), so equity hits zero at r = −1/L. The margin call fires earlier, at r = (m·L − 1) ÷ (L · (1 − m)), where m is the maintenance requirement. At 4× with a 15% floor the call lands near −11.8% — less than half the distance to ruin. That gap is the whole story of July 2026: the fund was liquidated long before its thesis was disproved.