What Is Leverage in Perpetual Trading?

Leverage lets you open a Crypto Futures position worth more than the capital you actually put up, using buying power extended against your margin rather than requiring you to pay the full position value upfront. A ratio such as 5x, 10x, or 20x shows the multiple applied to your capital — $100 in margin at 5x leverage controls a $500 position, and that same $100 at 20x controls a $2,000 position. Higher leverage means a larger position for the same capital outlay, so potential profit moves faster, but it also means a smaller adverse price move is needed to erode your margin and trigger liquidation, since your initial margin shrinks as leverage rises while the Maintenance Margin rate — set per contract from that contract's maximum leverage — stays the same whatever leverage you choose. Your leverage is set before you submit the order and applies per contract; it never reduces risk on its own, it only changes how much capital you need to control a given position size, while proportionally magnifying both gains and losses.

• Leverage multiplies your position size, not your margin — the $100 in the example above is still the only capital you're actually risking on that trade, but it now controls a much larger notional exposure.
• Capital you free up by using leverage, instead of paying the full position value, can be used to open other positions or held in reserve as a buffer against adverse moves.
• The trade-off: the higher the leverage, the smaller the adverse price move needed to erode your margin down to the fixed Maintenance Margin threshold and trigger liquidation.
• Leverage is set per contract, and available ranges can vary by contract — of Pluang's active Crypto Futures contracts, most support up to 25x while BAT, FIL, and ZRX are capped at a maximum of 10x.

Related questions:

Q: Does higher leverage increase my potential profit?
Yes, because it lets you control a larger position with the same margin, so a favorable price move produces a bigger dollar gain than it would on an unleveraged position. But leverage magnifies losses at exactly the same rate it magnifies gains, so it's not a way to improve your odds of profiting, only the size of the outcome either way.

Q: How does leverage affect my liquidation risk?
Higher leverage narrows the price movement needed to erase your margin down to the Maintenance Margin threshold, so highly leveraged positions get liquidated faster on a move against you than the identical position would at lower leverage. This is a direct, mechanical consequence of how margin and notional value interact, not a matter of chance.

Q: Can I use different leverage levels on different positions?
Yes. Leverage is set per contract, so you can run different levels on different Crypto Futures contracts at the same time — for example, a conservative 3x on one contract and a more aggressive 15x on another, based on how much risk you want on each individual trade, without one choice constraining the other.

Q: Is leverage itself a fee I pay?
No. Leverage is buying power extended against your margin, not a purchase or a service you're charged for directly — though standard Crypto Futures fees, such as trading fees, still apply to the trade itself regardless of the leverage level you choose, so factor those in separately when planning a position.

Q: Does my leverage change automatically as my position's value moves?
No. Market moves don't change your leverage setting automatically; what changes as the market moves is your unrealized profit or loss and your Margin Level, not the leverage multiple you set.