Binance futures to limit leverage to 20x for existing users

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, continues adopting new leverage trading restrictions on its futures platform in a move to expand consumer protection.

After introducing a 20x leverage limit for new users on July 19, Binance Futures is preparing to apply the same limit for existing users soon, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announced Sunday.

“We didn't want to make this a thingy,” the CEO said, noting that the new restrictions will be applied “over the next few weeks.”

Effective last Monday, new users with registered Binance Futures accounts of less than 30 days were prohibited from opening positions with leverage exceeding 20x. The new leverage limits will also apply to existing users with registered futures accounts of less than 30 days, according to Binance’s leverage trading page. “Leverage limits for new users will gradually increase only after one month from registration,” Binance noted.

Launched in July 2019, the Binance Futures trading platform initially allowed investors to open leverage positions at a maximum of 20 times, meaning that an investment of $1,000 could be turned into a bet of $20,000. The exchange subsequently increased maximum leverage and margin on Bitcoin (BTC) against Tether (USDT) contracts to 125x in October, noting that highly leveraged trading was introduced using a “sophisticated risk engine and liquidation model.”

“At 125x leverage, a 100 USDT collateral deposit on Binance Futures will allow users to hold 12,500 USDT in BTC,” the firm said at the time.

The latest trading restrictions echo the recent move by FTX, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. The company officially announced a reduction in maximum leverage from 101x to 20x on Sunday. “Again, this will hit a tiny fraction of activity on the platform, and while many users have expressed that they like having the option, very few use it,” FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried noted.

The new restrictions came after a Friday article in The New York Times alleged that risky trades offered on FTX and other crypto exchanges like Binance and BitMEX prompted a crypto market crash in May.