{"id":538255,"date":"2026-06-11T08:36:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T07:36:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/?post_type=crypto_guide&#038;p=538255"},"modified":"2026-06-19T19:36:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T18:36:07","slug":"what-is-a-margin-call-forced-selling-leverage-risk","status":"publish","type":"crypto_guide","link":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/guides\/what-is-a-margin-call-forced-selling-leverage-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is a Margin Call? A Beginner&#8217;s Guide to Forced Selling and Leverage Risk"},"author":1645,"featured_media":538452,"template":"","guide_category":[82565],"guide_series":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.9 (Yoast SEO v21.9.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What Is a Margin Call in Trading? A Beginner\u2019s Guide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A margin call means your account has too little collateral for borrowed exposure. In simple terms, learn how it works, how to calculate it, and how crypto liquidations differ from stock broker calls.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/guides\/what-is-a-margin-call-forced-selling-leverage-risk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Is a Margin Call? A Beginner&#039;s Guide to Forced Selling and Leverage Risk | CryptoSlate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A margin call means your account has too little collateral for borrowed exposure. In simple terms, learn how it works, how to calculate it, and how crypto liquidations differ from stock broker calls.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/guides\/what-is-a-margin-call-forced-selling-leverage-risk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CryptoSlate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-19T18:36:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/margin-call-trading.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cryptoslate\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"TechArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/guides\/what-is-a-margin-call-forced-selling-leverage-risk\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/guides\/what-is-a-margin-call-forced-selling-leverage-risk\/\"},\"author\":{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/author\/yousra-anwar\/#person\",\"name\":\"Yousra Anwar Ahmed\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/author\/yousra-anwar\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/author\/yousra-anwar\/\"},\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/author\/yousra-anwar\/#authorimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yousra-anwar-profile-300x300.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yousra-anwar-profile-300x300.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Yousra Anwar Ahmed\"},\"jobTitle\":\"Content Lead\",\"description\":\"Yousra got into crypto back when Bitcoin was around $1,000. What started as a hobby morphed into a full-blown obsession as she watched crypto slowly take ove...\",\"worksFor\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#organization\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/YousraAASheikh\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/yousra-anwar\"]},\"headline\":\"What Is a Margin Call? A Beginner&#8217;s Guide to Forced Selling and Leverage Risk\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-11T07:36:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-19T18:36:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/guides\/what-is-a-margin-call-forced-selling-leverage-risk\/\"},\"wordCount\":15,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/guides\/what-is-a-margin-call-forced-selling-leverage-risk\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/guides\/what-is-a-margin-call-forced-selling-leverage-risk\/\",\"name\":\"What Is a Margin Call in Trading? A Beginner\u2019s Guide\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-11T07:36:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-19T18:36:07+00:00\",\"description\":\"A margin call means your account has too little collateral for borrowed exposure. In simple terms, learn how it works, how to calculate it, and how crypto liquidations differ from stock broker calls.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/guides\/what-is-a-margin-call-forced-selling-leverage-risk\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/guides\/what-is-a-margin-call-forced-selling-leverage-risk\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/guides\/what-is-a-margin-call-forced-selling-leverage-risk\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Guides\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/guides\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"What Is a Margin Call? A Beginner&#8217;s Guide to Forced Selling and Leverage Risk\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/\",\"name\":\"CryptoSlate\",\"description\":\"Cryptocurrency News and Real-time Coin Data\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"NewsMediaOrganization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"CryptoSlate\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/c-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/c-logo.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":1000,\"caption\":\"CryptoSlate\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cryptoslate\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/cryptoslate\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/cryptoslate\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/cryptoslate\",\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.substack.com\",\"https:\/\/t.me\/cryptoslatenews\",\"https:\/\/www.crunchbase.com\/organization\/cryptoslate\",\"https:\/\/iq.wiki\/wiki\/cryptoslate\",\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKggKIiRDQklTRlFnTWFoRUtEMk55ZVhCMGIzTnNZWFJsTG1OdmJTZ0FQAQ\",\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/media-outlet\/cryptoslate\",\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@cryptoslatenews\"],\"publishingPrinciples\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/editorial-policy\/#editorial-principles\",\"ownershipFundingInfo\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/disclaimers\/how-cryptoslate-makes-and-spends-money\/\",\"correctionsPolicy\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/editorial-policy\/#corrections-feedback\",\"ethicsPolicy\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/editorial-policy\/#editorial-principles\",\"foundingDate\":\"2017-08-04\",\"founder\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Nate Whitehill\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Matthew Blancarte\"}],\"contactPoint\":[{\"@type\":\"ContactPoint\",\"contactType\":\"customer support\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/contact\/\",\"availableLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ContactPoint\",\"contactType\":\"sales\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/advertising\/\",\"availableLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ContactPoint\",\"contactType\":\"newsroom\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/editorial-policy\/#corrections-feedback\",\"email\":\"tips@cryptoslate.com\",\"availableLanguage\":\"en-US\"}],\"masthead\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/about\/#masthead\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#\/schema\/person\/036fdab905cf80f4a93286bfb295375e\",\"name\":\"Yousra Anwar Ahmed\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yousra-anwar-profile-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yousra-anwar-profile-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Yousra Anwar Ahmed\"},\"description\":\"Yousra got into crypto back when Bitcoin was around $1,000. What started as a hobby morphed into a full-blown obsession as she watched crypto slowly take over the world. Though her accounting degree came in handy for analyzing charts and trends, producing content about this technology proved far more fulfilling than crunching numbers. At CoinMarketCap, Yousra led content end to end, managing everything from long-form articles and X threads to explainers and infographics. She was known for spotting trends early and aggressively using AI to scale output without compromising quality or losing the human touch. At CryptoSlate, Yousra is the founding content lead, focused on building systems, standards, and workflows that make high-volume crypto content both readable and reliable.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/author\/yousra-anwar\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Is a Margin Call in Trading? A Beginner\u2019s Guide","description":"A margin call means your account has too little collateral for borrowed exposure. In simple terms, learn how it works, how to calculate it, and how crypto liquidations differ from stock broker calls.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/guides\/what-is-a-margin-call-forced-selling-leverage-risk\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What Is a Margin Call? A Beginner's Guide to Forced Selling and Leverage Risk | CryptoSlate","og_description":"A margin call means your account has too little collateral for borrowed exposure. In simple terms, learn how it works, how to calculate it, and how crypto liquidations differ from stock broker calls.","og_url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/guides\/what-is-a-margin-call-forced-selling-leverage-risk\/","og_site_name":"CryptoSlate","article_modified_time":"2026-06-19T18:36:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/margin-call-trading.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@cryptoslate","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"TechArticle","@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/guides\/what-is-a-margin-call-forced-selling-leverage-risk\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/guides\/what-is-a-margin-call-forced-selling-leverage-risk\/"},"author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/author\/yousra-anwar\/#person","name":"Yousra Anwar Ahmed","url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/author\/yousra-anwar\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/author\/yousra-anwar\/"},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/author\/yousra-anwar\/#authorimage","url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yousra-anwar-profile-300x300.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yousra-anwar-profile-300x300.jpg","caption":"Yousra Anwar Ahmed"},"jobTitle":"Content Lead","description":"Yousra got into crypto back when Bitcoin was around $1,000. What started as a hobby morphed into a full-blown obsession as she watched crypto slowly take ove...","worksFor":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#organization"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/YousraAASheikh","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/yousra-anwar"]},"headline":"What Is a Margin Call? A Beginner&#8217;s Guide to Forced Selling and Leverage Risk","datePublished":"2026-06-11T07:36:51+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-19T18:36:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/guides\/what-is-a-margin-call-forced-selling-leverage-risk\/"},"wordCount":15,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/guides\/what-is-a-margin-call-forced-selling-leverage-risk\/","url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/guides\/what-is-a-margin-call-forced-selling-leverage-risk\/","name":"What Is a Margin Call in Trading? A Beginner\u2019s Guide","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-06-11T07:36:51+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-19T18:36:07+00:00","description":"A margin call means your account has too little collateral for borrowed exposure. In simple terms, learn how it works, how to calculate it, and how crypto liquidations differ from stock broker calls.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/guides\/what-is-a-margin-call-forced-selling-leverage-risk\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/guides\/what-is-a-margin-call-forced-selling-leverage-risk\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/guides\/what-is-a-margin-call-forced-selling-leverage-risk\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Guides","item":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/guides\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"What Is a Margin Call? A Beginner&#8217;s Guide to Forced Selling and Leverage Risk"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/","name":"CryptoSlate","description":"Cryptocurrency News and Real-time Coin Data","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#organization","name":"CryptoSlate","url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/c-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/c-logo.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"caption":"CryptoSlate"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/cryptoslate","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/cryptoslate","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/cryptoslate","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/cryptoslate","https:\/\/cryptoslate.substack.com","https:\/\/t.me\/cryptoslatenews","https:\/\/www.crunchbase.com\/organization\/cryptoslate","https:\/\/iq.wiki\/wiki\/cryptoslate","https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKggKIiRDQklTRlFnTWFoRUtEMk55ZVhCMGIzTnNZWFJsTG1OdmJTZ0FQAQ","https:\/\/muckrack.com\/media-outlet\/cryptoslate","https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@cryptoslatenews"],"publishingPrinciples":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/editorial-policy\/#editorial-principles","ownershipFundingInfo":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/disclaimers\/how-cryptoslate-makes-and-spends-money\/","correctionsPolicy":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/editorial-policy\/#corrections-feedback","ethicsPolicy":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/editorial-policy\/#editorial-principles","foundingDate":"2017-08-04","founder":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nate Whitehill"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Matthew Blancarte"}],"contactPoint":[{"@type":"ContactPoint","contactType":"customer support","url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/contact\/","availableLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ContactPoint","contactType":"sales","url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/advertising\/","availableLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ContactPoint","contactType":"newsroom","url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/editorial-policy\/#corrections-feedback","email":"tips@cryptoslate.com","availableLanguage":"en-US"}],"masthead":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/about\/#masthead"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#\/schema\/person\/036fdab905cf80f4a93286bfb295375e","name":"Yousra Anwar Ahmed","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yousra-anwar-profile-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yousra-anwar-profile-150x150.jpg","caption":"Yousra Anwar Ahmed"},"description":"Yousra got into crypto back when Bitcoin was around $1,000. What started as a hobby morphed into a full-blown obsession as she watched crypto slowly take over the world. Though her accounting degree came in handy for analyzing charts and trends, producing content about this technology proved far more fulfilling than crunching numbers. At CoinMarketCap, Yousra led content end to end, managing everything from long-form articles and X threads to explainers and infographics. She was known for spotting trends early and aggressively using AI to scale output without compromising quality or losing the human touch. At CryptoSlate, Yousra is the founding content lead, focused on building systems, standards, and workflows that make high-volume crypto content both readable and reliable.","url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/author\/yousra-anwar\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/crypto_guide\/538255"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/crypto_guide"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/crypto_guide"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1645"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/crypto_guide\/538255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":542915,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/crypto_guide\/538255\/revisions\/542915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"guide_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/guide_category?post=538255"},{"taxonomy":"guide_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/guide_series?post=538255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}