What is a crypto heatmap and how do liquidation heatmaps work?

A crypto heatmap is a chart that uses color to show where something is concentrated. The name is used for two quite different tools. One is a market heatmap that shows how many coins are moving at once. The other is a liquidation heatmap that estimates price levels where leveraged traders could be forced out of their positions.

What is a crypto heatmap on TradingView?

A market heatmap is a grid of tiles, one per coin. TradingView's help pages say each tile's size shows its weight, based on a chosen metric such as market cap, fully diluted market cap or volume. Color shows performance, such as price change, volume change or volatility. A Mono Size setting makes all tiles equal so only color matters.

The Crypto Coins Heatmap can be filtered to all coins, coins excluding Bitcoin, coins excluding stablecoins, or DeFi tokens. Unlike stock heatmaps, which group companies by sector, TradingView shows crypto on a single level with no grouping. A heatmap gives a quick picture of a whole market, but it is a snapshot. It does not explain why prices moved. Our guide to market cap explains the most common sizing metric.

What is a crypto liquidation heatmap?

A liquidation heatmap plots price on one axis and uses color to show where liquidations might cluster. It applies to futures and leveraged trading, where positions are closed automatically if losses eat through the trader's margin. CoinGlass, one well-known provider, uses a scale from purple to yellow, with yellow marking the levels where the most liquidations are predicted.

Bitsgap explains that no exchange publishes individual traders' liquidation prices, so these tools estimate them. A typical model starts with open interest, the total value of open futures contracts, then assumes how that is split across leverage levels and entry prices. For example, a 20x long position is liquidated after roughly a 5% move against it, so the model adds part of the open interest to the price about 5% below the entry.

What is a Bitcoin liquidation heatmap used for?

A Bitcoin liquidation heatmap applies this model to BTC futures, often across several exchanges. Traders use it to see which price zones hold large estimated exposure, since a cascade of forced closes can push the price further.

The limits are important. CoinGlass says the map shows where liquidations might be triggered, not how many will happen, and that actual liquidations are often lower than the colors suggest. It advises reading intensity as relative between price levels. Bitsgap adds that different tools use different assumptions and can show different hot zones for the same coin. Zones also shift as positions open and close. A bright band is not a forecast that the price will get there.