Why was my position liquidated when the price never reached my level?
Because liquidation uses a mark price from several venues, not the last trade on yours.
Liquidation happens when your collateral no longer covers the position, and the price used for that calculation is not the last trade on your exchange. It is a mark price derived from several markets.
The reason is defensive: if the last trade decided it, a large participant could push one venue briefly and liquidate everybody. Deriving the number from a wider set makes that expensive.
The consequence for you is that the level shown in the interface is an estimate, and the fill is usually worse than the theoretical level — the closing trade is a market order into a moving price, and most venues add a liquidation fee on top.
The general lesson is about size rather than luck. A position small enough to survive an ordinary move does not visit this question at all.
Leverage and liquidation, and position size for the arithmetic of losing.
Last checked 19 Oct 2026.