Leverage is why futures traders can control large positions with modest balances — and why beginners blow up accounts. This article uses BitBreakout's actual contest parameters throughout: 100,000 USDT starting balance, 10x maximum leverage, 0.8% maintenance margin.
Leverage lets you open a position whose notional value exceeds your balance. At 10x, your 100,000 USDT account can control up to 1,000,000 USDT of positions — in the terminal this is your buying power ("Power"). The multiplication is symmetric and merciless:
Crypto routinely moves 3% in a day. At 10x, an ordinary day can be a third of your stake. That is not a flaw in leverage — it is what leverage is.
Margin is the collateral backing your positions. Two thresholds govern every account, shown as the IM and MM meters at the top of the terminal:
Two definitions used above: equity = wallet balance + unrealised PnL of open positions; gross notional = the absolute notional of every position added together.
BitBreakout uses a standard margin model: your single balance backs all positions, but each position is margined on its own notional. There is no hedging discount. A long in one market and a short in another do not cancel — their notionals add:
The leverage slider sets your maximum. What determines your risk is effective leverage: gross notional ÷ equity. The single-position example above is 6x effective (600k ÷ 100k) even with the slider at 10x. Professionals think in effective leverage; the slider is just a cap.
IM decides what you may open; MM decides what you may keep; spare equity is the distance between you and liquidation. Keep effective leverage well below the cap and the next article stays theoretical.