What is leverage in crypto trading?

Borrowed exposure: with 10× leverage a $1,000 margin opens a $10,000 position, multiplying both profit and loss.

Leverage is the ratio of position size to the margin backing it. It lets you hold a large position with little capital, but every price move is multiplied too, and the liquidation price moves closer.

On Hyperliquid the maximum leverage depends on the coin: higher for the largest markets, lower for small ones. Margin can be shared across positions (cross margin) or locked to one (isolated margin).

The leverage you set and the effective leverage are different things: effective leverage is the total position size divided by the account balance, and that is what decides how much the account can lose.

On HyperScan

For every whale HyperScan shows both the leverage setting of a position and the effective leverage of the whole account.