Leverage.Trading analyzed 5,963 crypto futures contracts across 15 major derivatives exchanges and found that only 6.7% offer leverage of 100x or more, despite advertised exchange limits reaching as high as 500x.
The data shows how much leverage is actually available to retail traders in the derivatives markets behind crypto’s largest waves of forced liquidations.
The median leverage across all contracts is 50x. The study also found that one exchange accounts for nearly 90% of contracts offering 200x or more, while 100x leverage is almost 10 times as common on Bitcoin and Ethereum contracts as on contracts for other altocoins.
The main findings are explained below. Expand the research notes for additional statistics on leverage distribution, exchange listings and cryptocurrency coverage.
Each distinct contract counts separately. Multiple contracts may track the same underlying cryptocurrency.
Just 401 of the 5,963 contracts analyzed offer leverage of 100x or more. The other 5,562 contracts, or 93.3%, have lower limits.
The median leverage is 50x. It is also the single most common limit, appearing on 2,128 contracts, or 35.7% of the dataset.
The 500x headline shows what is possible at the extreme. But across the contracts we studied, 50x is much more common. When comparing exchanges, it is worth checking the leverage available on individual markets, not just the highest number advertised.
Leverage above 100x is less common. Only 76 contracts offer 200x or more, and just two reach 500x.
| Maximum leverage | Contracts | Share of dataset |
|---|---|---|
| 100x or more | 401 | 6.7% |
| 200x or more | 76 | 1.3% |
| 500x | 2 | 0.03% |
These figures show why an exchange’s highest advertised leverage does not describe what is available across most of its contracts.
The median leverage across all 5,963 contracts is 50x.
This helps explain why liquidation cascades can get so large in crypto. The bigger story is not the rare 500x limit, but how widely available leverage like 50x actually is. That widespread access to high leverage creates the conditions for large numbers of highly leveraged positions to build up. When those positions are concentrated on the same side of the market, even a relatively small price move can trigger waves of forced liquidations.
Binance and Bybit both reach 150x, but their median contract limits differ: 50x on Binance and 25x on Bybit.
Hyperliquid reaches 40x, while its median contract limit is 3x.
| Leverage limit | Contracts | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 20x or less | 1,974 | 33.1% |
| 50x or more | 3,197 | 53.6% |
| 100x or more | 401 | 6.7% |
| 200x or more | 76 | 1.3% |
The median is the middle value when all contract limits are ordered from lowest to highest. Each contract counts once, so exchanges with more listings have a greater effect on the overall median.
More than half of Bitcoin and Ethereum contracts offer at least 100x leverage. That compares with fewer than 6% of contracts for other cryptocurrencies.
Of the 127 Bitcoin and Ethereum contracts studied, 70 reach 100x (55.1%). Among the remaining 5,836 contracts, only 331 reach that level (5.7%).
| Asset group | Contracts | Offering 100x+ | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin and Ethereum | 127 | 70 | 55.1% |
| Other cryptocurrencies | 5,836 | 331 | 5.7% |
| Total | 5,963 | 401 | 6.7% |
Bitcoin and Ethereum each have a median leverage of 100x. Solana’s median is 66.67x.
Exchanges do not offer the same leverage on every coin. Bitcoin and Ethereum contracts are nearly 10 times as likely to offer 100x or more than other crypto contracts. Across the dataset, high leverage is much more concentrated in Bitcoin and Ethereum than in other cryptocurrencies.
That puts some of the highest available leverage in the same Bitcoin and Ethereum markets that are often at the center of major crypto liquidation events.
The three cryptocurrencies also differ in how often their contracts reach 100x:
| Cryptocurrency | Contracts | Offering 100x+ | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin | 64 | 37 | 57.8% |
| Ethereum | 63 | 33 | 52.4% |
| Solana | 39 | 16 | 41.0% |
Only four of the 15 exchanges have eligible contracts offering at least 200x leverage.
MEXC lists 68 of the 76 qualifying contracts, accounting for 89.5% of the total. HTX lists four, while Bitunix and Gate each list two.
| Exchange | Contracts offering 200x+ |
|---|---|
| MEXC | 68 |
| HTX | 4 |
| Bitunix | 2 |
| Gate | 2 |
| Other 11 exchanges | 0 |
| Total | 76 |
MEXC also accounts for every contract offering more than 200x in the study. Sixteen of its contracts reach 300x, while two reach 500x: its Bitcoin and Ethereum USDT contracts.
MEXC changes the high-leverage picture quite a bit. Across the full dataset, 6.7% of contracts offer 100x or more. Remove MEXC, and that falls to just 2.3%.
Even on MEXC, 500x is rare. Only two of its 716 eligible contracts reach that limit. Its median leverage is 50x.
Perpetual futures make up 5,753 of the 5,963 contracts analyzed, or 96.5%. The remaining 210 are dated futures with fixed expiry dates.
Perpetuals have a median leverage of 50x, compared with 20x for dated futures.
| Contract type | Contracts | Median leverage | Highest observed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perpetual futures | 5,753 | 50x | 500x |
| Dated futures | 210 | 20x | 100x |
All 76 contracts offering 200x or more are perpetuals.
This puts the most extreme leverage in perpetual futures: every contract offering 200x or more in our study was a perpetual.
The dated-futures sample is concentrated on two exchanges. OKX contributes 153 contracts and Bybit contributes 42. Together, they account for 92.9% of dated futures in the dataset.
USDT is the dominant settlement currency in the dataset, accounting for 4,903 contracts, or 82.2%. USDC accounts for 541 contracts, or 9.1%, while USD accounts for 430, or 7.2%.
| Settlement currency | Contracts | Share |
|---|---|---|
| USDT | 4,903 | 82.2% |
| USDC | 541 | 9.1% |
| USD | 430 | 7.2% |
The highest observed leverage was 500x for USDT contracts, 200x for USDC contracts and 125x for USD contracts.
MEXC offers up to 500x leverage, but only two of its 716 eligible crypto contracts reach that limit.
Binance offers 150x on two of its 567 contracts. Bybit reaches 150x on two of its 642 contracts.
Coinbase International shows a different pattern: 77 of its 97 contracts offer its highest limit of 50x.
The headline number does not always tell you what you will find across an exchange. Hyperliquid reaches 40x, but its median is just 3x. Coinbase International reaches 50x, and most of its contracts offer that limit.
Bitcoin has a median leverage of 100x, compared with 50x across the full dataset.
Of the 64 Bitcoin contracts studied, 37 offer at least 100x.
| Asset | Contracts | Median limit | 100x+ |
| BTC | 64 | 100x | 37 (57.8%) |
| ETH | 63 | 100x | 33 (52.4%) |
| SOL | 39 | 66.67x | 16 (41.0%) |
Distinct contracts are counted separately, including perpetuals and dated futures.
Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana are available on all 15 exchanges.
Bitcoin and Ethereum reach 500x on MEXC, while Solana reaches 300x.
More than half of the Bitcoin and Ethereum contracts offer at least 100x, compared with 6.7% across the full dataset.
Only two of the 5,963 contracts offer 500x leverage, or 0.03% of the dataset.
| Exchange | Contract | Maximum leverage |
|---|---|---|
| MEXC | BTC_USDT | 500x |
| MEXC | ETH_USDT | 500x |
No other exchange in the study has an eligible crypto contract reaching 500x.
At 500x, a trader needs just $2 in initial margin for a $1,000 position. A 0.2% move against the trade creates a $2 loss, before fees and other margin requirements. In practice, liquidation can happen even sooner because exchanges require maintenance margin.
The table compares each exchange’s highest observed leverage with the most common leverage across its eligible contracts.
| Exchange | Contracts | Highest leverage | Median leverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| MEXC | 716 | 500x | 50x |
| Gate | 576 | 200x | 25x |
| Bitunix | 560 | 200x | 50x |
| HTX | 122 | 200x | 20x |
| Binance | 567 | 150x | 50x |
| Bybit | 642 | 150x | 25x |
| Bitget | 525 | 150x | 50x |
| BloFin | 400 | 150x | 50x |
| Phemex | 57 | 150x | 50x |
| KuCoin | 525 | 125x | 30x |
| OKX | 447 | 100x | 20x |
| WhiteBIT | 304 | 100x | 50x |
| Crypto.com | 250 | 100x | 50x |
| Coinbase International | 97 | 50x | 50x |
| Hyperliquid | 175 | 40x | 3x |
| Total | 5,963 | 500x | 50x |
Leverage.Trading collected data from 15 major crypto derivatives exchanges from August 25 to September 25 2026.
Exchange selection was based on average derivatives trading volume over a 30-day observation period from August 25 to September 25, 2026. Leverage.Trading recorded daily trading volume from CoinMarketCap throughout the period and calculated the average for each exchange. The highest-volume exchanges were selected, excluding exchanges where reported trading activity could not be reliably verified.
The final dataset contains 5,963 active crypto contracts: 5,753 perpetuals and 210 dated futures. Each distinct contract counts separately, including contracts that share the same underlying coin.
Contract and leverage data were collected from official exchange APIs and data sources. Maximum leverage was recorded directly where available or calculated from published margin requirements. Official data sources for each exchange are listed below.
For media: Data and charts may be cited or reproduced with attribution to Leverage.Trading and a link to this research.
This report is published under Leverage.Trading’s Risk-First Education Framework , an independent learning system built to help traders quantify and manage risk before trading.
