Every position starts underwater — this is the price where fees and funding are paid off and real profit begins.
Fees are charged on the whole position, so at high leverage they eat a startling share of your margin: a 0.11% round trip is 2.2% of margin at 20x and 11% at 100x — before the price has moved anywhere. Funding compounds the drag on positions held across 8-hour marks, which is why overnight scalps at max leverage quietly bleed.
Yes — maker fees are far lower (often 0.02% or even rebates) than taker fees. Entering and exiting with limit orders can cut the fee half of your break-even by two thirds or more, which matters enormously for high-frequency or high-leverage styles.
Yes. Funding flows between longs and shorts depending on the rate sign: positive rates mean longs pay shorts, negative rates mean shorts pay longs. Holding against the crowded side actually earns funding — enter a negative rate in the calculator to see it reduce your break-even.
The entry fee is deducted immediately and the mark price usually sits a spread away from your fill. That small instant drawdown is exactly the cost this calculator prices in — the position needs the break-even move before it is genuinely green.
Free, no signup, runs entirely in your browser. Educational tool — not financial advice. Practice the setup risk-free on the MarginPad paper-trading terminal before putting real money behind it.