Liquidation heatmap or real liquidations
A liquidation heatmap is built from open interest and assumptions about traders' leverage and entry prices. It shows zones where BTC liquidations would cluster if those assumptions hold, not real positions or orders. It is often confused with a liquidity heatmap, which plots limit orders that really are resting on the book.
Markov doesn't draw projected liquidation levels. Its BTC chart shows the measured liquidity heatmap under the candles and the liquidations that happened on top, each with the venue that reported it.
What Markov's BTC liquidations show
Each mark is a position on the Bitcoin perpetual that the exchange closed for its owner. A long liquidation is a forced sell, a short liquidation is a forced buy, so a cluster of them can push price further in the direction it was already going. On Markov's chart, long liquidations sit below the bar and short liquidations above it, sized by their dollar value. Bars where BTC liquidations add up to $100k or more get a label.
Bitcoin's perpetual futures carry more open interest than any other coin's, so BTC liquidations, funding and open interest tend to set the tone for the rest of the market. It is one of the two coins, with ETH, where Markov also models options dealer gamma.
Where Markov's BTC liquidations come from
Live in your browser, Markov reads Binance's USDⓈ-M forceOrder stream for BTCUSDT, Bybit's linear allLiquidation stream for BTCUSDT and OKX's liquidation-orders channel for BTC-USDT-SWAP. Binance sends at most one liquidation per symbol per second, so any Binance total is a floor, not a full count. Binance and Bybit refuse connections from some networks, including the US. OKX is usually reachable there, and the panel says which venues are live.
For recorded history, Markov's collector keeps Binance, Bybit and OKX liquidations of $10k and more, so paid plans see up to 30 days of them on 1h and 4h charts. The free chart builds from the moment it opens. Any stretch the collector did not record is marked "not recorded", never filled in.
How to read it
A burst of long liquidations into a level says leveraged longs were flushed there, and a burst of shorts says the opposite. It tells you where forced flow already hit, which is context for the next test of that level. It does not tell you where BTC goes next, and Markov never turns it into a buy or sell call.
Defined in the glossary: liquidation, liquidation heatmap. The methodology says how every number is made, with its limits. Markov provides research tools and education, not financial advice.