Liquidations

Liquidations track the forced closure of leveraged positions across crypto derivatives markets. When a trader's margin balance falls below the exchange's maintenance requirement, the position is automatically closed — often at a loss. On StratBase.ai, the Liquidations indicator pulls real-time and historical liquidation data aggregated across major exchanges, giving you a measurable signal for market stress, momentum, and potential reversals.

Every leveraged position has a liquidation price. When the market moves against a position and unrealized losses consume the available margin, the exchange forcibly closes it. This forced buying or selling adds real volume to the market — and when it happens at scale, it accelerates the price move, triggering further liquidations in a cascade.

StratBase.ai exposes five liquidation metrics:

| Indicator | Description | |-----------|-------------| | LiqLong | USD value of liquidated long positions | | LiqShort | USD value of liquidated short positions | | LiqTotal | Combined liquidation value (Long + Short) | | LiqVolPct | LiqTotal as a percentage of trading volume | | LiqRatio | LiqLong divided by LiqShort |

LiqVolPct normalizes raw liquidation size against market activity, making it comparable across different time periods and assets. LiqRatio reveals directional pressure — whether longs or shorts are being squeezed harder.

1. Open the Strategy Builder and navigate to the Indicators panel.
2. Search for Liquidations and add it to your indicator list.
3. Select the output metric you want to use: LiqLong, LiqShort, LiqTotal, LiqVolPct, or LiqRatio.
4. In your condition editor, choose the metric as the left-hand operand.
5. Set a threshold or compare it against another indicator value.
6. Assign the condition to an Entry, Exit, or Filter rule.

Liquidation data is available on crypto pairs only. It is not applicable to forex or stock instruments on the platform.

Cascade detection — LiqTotal and LiqVolPct A sudden spike in LiqTotal signals forced buying or selling is entering the market. When LiqVolPct exceeds 5%, liquidations are generating more than 5% of all trading volume — a historically rare and high-volatility condition. Values below 1% indicate a calm, low-leverage environment.

Directional squeeze — LiqRatio

• LiqRatio > 2.0 — longs are being liquidated at more than twice the rate of shorts. Price is falling fast enough to wipe out leveraged buyers. Bearish momentum is feeding itself.
• LiqRatio < 0.5 — shorts are being crushed. A sharp upward move is forcing sellers out. Bullish squeeze conditions.
• LiqRatio ≈ 1.0 — liquidations are balanced. No dominant directional pressure from forced closes.

Exhaustion and reversal — LiqTotal trend A large LiqTotal spike followed by declining values over subsequent candles often marks capitulation. The leveraged positions causing the cascade have been cleared. After this, price can stabilize or reverse because the forced selling pressure is spent.

| Condition | Interpretation | |-----------|----------------| | LiqVolPct > 5 | Extreme liquidation event — over 5% of volume is forced closes | | LiqRatio > 2 | Long squeeze in progress — bearish cascade likely continuing | | LiqRatio < 0.5 | Short squeeze in progress — bullish momentum being amplified | | LiqTotal > 2000000 | Over $2M liquidated — significant market stress signal | | LiqShort > LiqLong | More shorts being closed than longs — upward pressure |

Concrete example: BTC/USDT drops 4% in one 15-minute candle. LiqLong reads $8.4M, LiqShort reads $1.1M, giving a LiqRatio of 7.6 and LiqVolPct of 9.2%. This confirms a long cascade — not organic selling. A contrarian entry strategy might wait for LiqVolPct to drop back below 2% before entering long, signaling the cascade has exhausted itself.

• Combine with Open Interest. Falling OI alongside high LiqTotal confirms positions are being forcibly closed, not voluntarily reduced. This is a stronger signal than either metric alone.
• Use LiqVolPct over raw values. A $5M liquidation event means something very different on BTC than on a small-cap altcoin. Normalizing against volume makes comparisons meaningful.
• Cascades are self-reinforcing until they stop. Don't fade a liquidation spike mid-event. Wait for LiqTotal to visibly decline before considering counter-trend entries.
• LiqRatio spikes precede price exhaustion. Extremely high or low ratios (above 5 or below 0.2) historically coincide with short-term local extremes where the dominant side has been fully cleaned out.
• Filter noise with minimum thresholds. On lower-volume pairs, set a minimum LiqTotal threshold in your conditions to avoid acting on liquidation signals that represent only a handful of positions.