Can a 0.97% dip liquidate an ETH long?

[Current events] Example first: you buy ETH on Bitunix at the 2,314.43 mark price with 100x leverage. ETH's 24h low on the same page is 2,292.01. That is only 0.97% below your entry, and a 100x long has roughly 1% of room before maintenance margin is taken out. If today's low repeats, that position is very likely gone.

The image is Bitunix's live ETHUSDT perpetual page at about 10:29 AM ET: last 2,313.95 (-0.69%), mark 2,314.43, index 2,315.25, 24h high 2,364.36, 24h low 2,292.01, 24h volume 471.39K ETH (1.09B USDT), and funding 0.0072% with 1:30:37 left on the 8h countdown.

Why this week: CoinDesk reported ETH fell about 3% to just above 2,300 in Monday's Asian session as traders de-risked ahead of Wednesday's Fed meeting, with BTC slipping under 80,000, XRP down about 3% to 1.28, SOL barely holding 100 and DOGE among the 1-2% decliners. Most economists expect a hold, but traders want to hear whether Chair Kevin Warsh leaves the door open to a December hike. Thursday brings the ECB, Friday the BoJ plus a large monthly BTC options expiry. That is three central bank days in a row, so wider-than-usual ranges are a fair thing to plan for.

Step 1. Measure today's room

• Distance from mark to 24h low: 2,314.43 - 2,292.01 = 22.42, which is 0.97%
• Distance from mark to 24h high: 2,364.36 - 2,314.43 = 49.93, which is 2.16%
• Full 24h range: 72.35, which is 3.16% of the low

Step 2. Rough liquidation price for an isolated long at 2,314.43

This uses entry x (1 - 1/leverage) and ignores maintenance margin and fees, so the real level is always a bit closer to your entry.

• 10x: about 2,082.99 (10% away)
• 25x: about 2,221.85 (4% away)
• 50x: about 2,268.14 (2% away)
• 100x: about 2,291.29 (1% away), which is already below today's low of 2,292.01 by less than one dollar

Step 3. Compare against the range

Today's 3.16% range is wider than the rough 50x buffer (2%) and the 100x buffer (1%), so a long opened at the wrong end of the range would have been liquidated at either leverage, and earlier once maintenance margin is added. 25x (4%) survives a repeat of today, but not a range much wider. 10x leaves room for a swing about three times today's.

Step 4. Size the margin

0.5 ETH at 2,314.43 is 1,157.22 USDT notional. At 50x that is 23.14 USDT of margin; at 10x it is 115.72 USDT. Same exposure, five times the margin, roughly five times the distance to liquidation.

Step 5. Turn the range into a leverage ceiling

Take the 0.97% distance to today's low and flip it: 1 / 0.0097 is about 103x. That is the most leverage a long at the 2,314.43 mark could have used and still survived a repeat of the low on the rough formula, so 100x sits right on the edge and anything above it does not. Shorts face the other side. The distance to the 24h high is 2.16%, which flips to about 46x. A 50x short has a rough liquidation of 2,314.43 x 1.02 = about 2,360.72, which is below the 2,364.36 high, so today's high would have taken it out.

Why the rough number is optimistic

The formula treats your whole margin as usable, but the exchange needs a maintenance margin cushion left over, and fees come out of the same pot. The exact maintenance rate depends on your position tier and is shown in the contract details, so I am not guessing it here. The practical rule: treat the rough figure as the best case and leave yourself extra room.

Common mistakes

• Picking leverage first and the stop second. Reverse the order: place the stop where the idea is wrong, then choose the leverage that keeps liquidation well beyond it.
• Reading the 24h low as a floor. It is only where price has been, not where it must stop.
• Ignoring direction. A level that is safe for a long can be fatal for a short at the same leverage.
• Opening at the wrong end of the range. The same 100x entry made 0.97% above the low is a very different trade from one made in the middle.

Funding is a small but steady cost: at 0.0072% per 8h, the 1,157.22 USDT notional pays about 0.08 USDT per settlement if it is a long.

Pre-Fed checklist

• Find today's 24h high and low on the contract page
• Work out the rough liquidation price for your leverage, then assume the real one is closer
• If that price sits inside today's range, cut leverage or size before Wednesday
• Remember funding (0.0072% per 8h here) keeps running while you wait