Mark Price vs Last Price: Why Your Liquidation Uses the Mark

Mark price vs last price is the difference between a fair-value estimate and the most recent trade. The last price is the price of the latest fill on that exchange. The mark price is a reference price built from a spot index and futures data. Binance and Bybit both state that liquidation is triggered by the mark price, so a wick on your chart does not liquidate you unless the mark price reaches your liquidation price too.

The rest of this guide shows how each price is built, what each one controls, and how to put the mark price on your chart. Everything below comes from the exchanges' own help pages, checked on 13 Oct 2026.

What the last price is

The last price is the price of the most recent trade on the exchange's own order book. It drives the default chart, your fills and your realized PnL. Binance's liquidation FAQ says last price is only used to calculate realized PnL.

Because it comes from one order book, a large market order into thin liquidity can print a spike. That spike is real for anyone who got filled there, but it says little about where the asset trades elsewhere.

What the mark price is

The mark price is the exchange's estimate of fair value, built to resist single-book spikes. Binance says it exists to prevent unnecessary liquidations, discourage manipulation and calculate unrealized PnL. Both exchanges build it from a price index, which is a weighted spot price across major exchanges, plus a funding adjustment and a short-window average of the order-book basis.

For Binance USDⓈ-M perpetuals, the formula in the help center is the median of three values:

1. Price 1 is the index price scaled by the last funding rate and the time left until the next funding.
2. Price 2 is the index price plus a moving average of the gap between the mid of bid and ask and the index, over 30 one-second data points.
3. Contract price is the contract's own traded price.

A median ignores one outlier. If the contract price spikes while the other two stay near spot, the middle value stays near spot as well. Binance's page notes that its TradFi perpetuals use a 60-second window instead of 30 seconds.

Bybit publishes the same median structure for perpetual contracts: Price 1 is the index price scaled by the last funding rate, Price 2 is the index price plus a moving average of the bid-ask basis over 2.5 minutes, and the third value is Bybit's last traded price. Bybit adds that it falls back to its own last traded price if the index price is abnormal or if there is not enough data for the average. Expiry contracts and pre-market contracts use different formulas on Bybit.

Why liquidation uses the mark price

Bybit's mark price article says manipulation on a futures exchange can push its market price far from the spot price and cause mass liquidations, and that its dual-price mechanism exists to prevent that. The mark price is harder to push around because it leans on spot prices from several venues.

Binance puts it directly: liquidation occurs when the mark price hits the liquidation price of a position. Bybit says the same, and warns that the liquidation price may not be visible on the default candlestick chart because that chart shows last traded price.

The figure is an illustration with made-up prices. The long position has a liquidation price of 90. (1) The last price wicks down to 88 for one candle. (2) The mark price stays near 95.5 during that wick, so the position stays open.

Read it with care. The protection covers a spike that exists only in one order book. If spot prices fall and drag the index down, the mark price follows and the position is liquidated even if you never see a violent wick. The reverse also holds: the mark price can reach your liquidation price while the last price looks calm.

Which price does what

• Liquidation: triggered by the mark price on both exchanges.
• Unrealized PnL: calculated from the mark price. Bybit notes that this does not change your actual profit and loss, only what the position displays before you close it.
• Realized PnL and fills: based on the prices at which your orders trade.
• Stop and take-profit triggers: on Binance you can pick the mark price or the last price as the trigger for conditional orders and limit TP/SL orders. Check which trigger your order uses before you rely on it.

Putting the mark price on your chart

• Bybit: tap the Last Traded Price dropdown on the chart and choose Mark Price, or turn on the Mark indicator line. The order book also shows the mark price in yellow below the last traded price in full view. Bybit's guide describes both.
• Binance: the help pages we fetched do not describe a mark-price chart setting, so check the live interface. Binance's liquidation FAQ explains the calculation, and you can estimate your level with the liquidation price calculator before you open the trade.

Then size the trade so your stop sits well before the liquidation price. The position size calculator turns your account size, risk and stop distance into a position size. The risk-reward ratio and break-even post shows how fees and win rate set the break-even point.

Common mistakes

• Reading the liquidation level off a last-price chart and assuming a wick through it means you were liquidated, or that a wick short of it means you were safe.
• Setting a stop-limit order on the last price trigger and leaving the liquidation price on the mark price. Know which is which.
• Ignoring fast gaps. Binance's own example is a short with a 17,006 USDT liquidation price that was liquidated at 17,100 USDT after a fast jump.
• Treating the formula as fixed. Binance shortened its averaging window in April 2024, and the current help page lists 30 one-second points. Exchanges can change inputs without notice, so read the live page.

For fees and liquidation steps side by side, see Binance vs Bybit for futures. To place your first order, follow the step-by-step Binance futures guide. More guides sit in the Trader's Handbook.

FAQ

Does Binance liquidate on the mark price or the last price? On the mark price. Binance's help center says liquidation occurs when the mark price hits the liquidation price, and that last price is used only for realized PnL.

Does Bybit liquidate on the last price? No. Bybit states that liquidation is triggered by the mark price, not the last traded price, and that the liquidation price may not show on the default last-price chart.

Why is the mark price different from the price on my chart? The chart shows the last traded price from one order book. The mark price is built from a spot price index, funding data and a short moving average, so the two diverge when the book spikes or when funding and basis move.

Can the mark price liquidate me even if the last price never touches my liquidation level? Yes. Liquidation depends on the mark price reaching your liquidation price. If the index falls enough, the mark price can get there while the last price on your chart looks different.

Sources: Binance mark price FAQ, Binance liquidation protocols, Binance order types, Binance 2024 mark price update, Bybit mark price, Bybit liquidation process, Bybit futures guide.