does Binance liquidate on mark price or last price

Binance uses mark price rather than the contract’s last traded price to determine liquidation on perpetual futures. Bybit does the same. Your displayed chart can therefore print through an estimated liq level without liquidation if that chart shows last price while mark remains outside the threshold. The reverse can also happen: mark can reach the threshold even though the last-price candle displayed on your chart does not.

the liquidation level itself remains an estimate because the venue computes it from live margin, maintenance requirements and accrued position costs. estimate — exchanges compute exact liq from live margin; always double-check on your venue. The decisive comparison is the venue’s mark against its live liquidation threshold, not a candle low or high viewed without confirming its price source.

mark-price liquidation is an anti-manipulation mechanism. A perpetual contract’s last price comes from taker fills on that venue’s own book, so a thin patch of liquidity can produce a sharp wick. Using that single print as the liquidation reference would allow an isolated dislocation to push positions into liq even when the broader underlying market had not moved by the same amount.

mark instead references an index across constituent spot venues and a funding-basis component. That construction is intended to keep the liquidation reference closer to broader price discovery than one local taker fill. Exact constituents, weights and update behaviour are venue-controlled parameters and should be checked in the venue documentation; they are not assumed here because those details can vary by product and change over time.

the mechanism reduces exposure to a venue-specific wick, but it does not make mark static or remove liquidation risk. If the broader index moves, or the basis component changes enough, mark can cross your threshold. The venue then evaluates the position using live margin and the applicable MMR bracket rather than waiting for last price to print the same level.

• last price records the latest matched trade on the contract book.
• mark price is the venue’s liquidation reference for Binance and Bybit perpetuals.
• index input reflects prices across constituent spot venues.
• funding basis keeps the perpetual reference connected to its relationship with the underlying index.

the usual cause is a price-source mismatch. If your chart is plotting last price, its low can fall below a long liq estimate while mark stays above it. That last-price wick is a real contract trade, but it is not the reference Binance or Bybit uses for liquidation. For a short, the equivalent mismatch is a last-price high above the displayed liq while mark remains below it.

the opposite complaint has the same root. A trader can be liquidated even though a displayed last-price candle appears not to touch the threshold, because mark reached the venue’s live threshold first. Candle aggregation, the selected price series and live margin changes can all separate the visible chart level from the liquidation engine’s decision. The relevant audit starts with mark, not an unlabelled candle.

consider the $10,000 Binance BTC example entered at $97,400. At 100x, the estimated long liq is $96,815.60, only $584.40 or 0.60% below entry. On Bybit, the matching estimate is $96,747.42, leaving $652.58 or 0.67%. In that range, a small divergence between mark and last can determine whether a chart appears to confirm the event.

if the stop is intended to act before liquidation, its trigger reference and the liquidation engine need to agree about price. A last-price stop and mark-price liq monitor different series. During a local wick, the last-price stop may trigger while mark remains clear of liq; during a mark-led move, liquidation can become relevant before a last-price condition is satisfied.

stop, take-profit and conditional-order trigger types are selectable and vary by product, account and interface. There is no universal venue default that should be assumed. Check the trigger price type on the actual order and account rather than relying on remembered UI behaviour. The order’s execution price can still differ from its trigger because a trigger releases the order into the book; it is not a taker-fill guarantee.

alignment does not remove the gap between an estimated liq and the venue’s live threshold. Funding accruals, fees and changes in live margin can shift that threshold after entry. Binance funding intervals and Bybit funding intervals are each 8 hours in the supplied venue parameters, while the exact funding amount depends on the position, rate and holding period.

1. confirm whether the chart is displaying mark price or last price.
2. confirm the conditional order’s selected trigger type on the account.
3. compare the stop trigger with the venue’s live liq estimate, not only an entry-time calculation.
4. account for execution slippage after the trigger releases the order into the book.

mark determines whether the threshold is crossed, but the MMR bracket helps determine where that threshold sits. For an isolated USDT-M approximation, long liq equals entry × (1 − 1/leverage + MMR), while short liq equals entry × (1 + 1/leverage − MMR). A higher MMR moves either estimated threshold closer to entry, reducing the mark-price distance available.

for the $10,000 Binance BTC example, the applicable MMR is 0.40%. At 20x, long liq is $97,400 × (1 − 1/20 + 0.004) = $92,919.60. The short estimate is $101,880.40. Both sit 4.60% from the $97,400 example entry under this approximation, although live fees, funding accruals and venue calculations can alter the exact number.

notional can move a position into a different bracket. Binance BTC rises from 0.40% MMR up to $300,000 notional to 0.50% up to $800,000, then 0.65% up to $3,000,000. Bybit BTC starts at 0.33% up to $300,000, then reaches 0.50% up to $2,000,000. Those bracket differences explain why identical entry and leverage inputs can produce different venue estimates.

no. A shared mark-price liquidation principle does not make venue thresholds identical. MMR schedules differ by venue and symbol, and each exchange computes exact liq from its own live margin state. In the $10,000 BTC example at 20x, Binance uses 0.40% MMR and estimates $92,919.60 for the long, while Bybit uses 0.33% and estimates $92,851.42.

symbol brackets matter as well. At $10,000 notional, Binance and Bybit SOL each use 0.50% MMR. From the $214 example entry at 20x, both produce a $204.37 long estimate and a $223.63 short estimate, each 4.50% from entry. For ETH at the $3,620 example entry, Binance’s 20x long estimate is $3,453.48, while Bybit’s is $3,450.95.

the approximation assumes isolated margin and ignores unrealised PnL on other positions. It also omits the exchange’s own fee and funding accruals since entry. Cross margin therefore cannot be reconstructed reliably from entry, leverage and a static bracket alone, because collateral and PnL elsewhere can move the live threshold.

start with the price series and margin state, not the visible candle alone. Confirm whether the chart was mark or last price, compare the venue’s mark around the event with the live liq shown for the position, and identify the applicable MMR bracket. A screenshot of a last-price wick does not establish whether Binance or Bybit’s liquidation reference crossed the threshold.

then check whether funding, fees, added or removed margin, notional changes or cross-position PnL altered the threshold after entry. A taker round trip is 0.10% of notional under the supplied Binance fee parameter and 0.11% under Bybit’s; exact account fees remain venue- and tier-dependent. At 20x, those supplied rates correspond to 2.00% and 2.20% of initial margin respectively.

a calculator can reconstruct an isolated estimate from entry, leverage, side and the verified MMR bracket, but it cannot reproduce every live ledger adjustment inside the exchange. liqsiren’s liquidation calculator uses the same isolated approximation shown here and carries the required disclosure: estimate — exchanges compute exact liq from live margin; always double-check on your venue.

• price source: mark, last or index series shown on the chart.
• margin mode: isolated or cross.
• live MMR bracket after any notional change.
• funding and fee accruals since entry.
• selected trigger type on any stop or conditional order.