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Exposure & Leverage Ratio Calculator
Your real leverage is often higher than you think. Add each holding at its market value and leverage multiple, subtract your debt, and see the true ratio.
Holdings
Enter each position at its current market value, then set its leverage multiple (1× for ordinary stocks/ETFs, 2× or 3× for leveraged ETFs).
×The fund's daily leverage: 1× for plain stocks/ETFs, 2× for a 2× ETF (e.g. 00631L), 3× for a 3× ETF (e.g. TQQQ). A 100,000 position in a 2× ETF carries 200,000 of market exposure.
×The fund's daily leverage: 1× for plain stocks/ETFs, 2× for a 2× ETF (e.g. 00631L), 3× for a 3× ETF (e.g. TQQQ). A 100,000 position in a 2× ETF carries 200,000 of market exposure.
Cash & debt
Your exposure
Leverage ratio
3.00×Extreme
300K ÷ 100K
Your capital 100KLeverage on top 200K
Your investment exposure is 300K — 3.00× your net assets of 100K. Every move in the market hits you as if you held 3.00× your own money.
Total assetsThe market value of all your holdings plus cash and non-market assets — everything you own, before subtracting debt.200K
Total liabilitiesThe sum of all your debts: mortgage, credit/personal loan, margin/pledged loan and other. Borrowed money you've invested still counts here.−100K
Net assetsTotal assets minus total debt — your real net worth, and the base the leverage ratio is measured against.100K
Investment exposureThe total value exposed to market moves: each holding's market value times its leverage multiple. A 2× ETF counts double, so exposure can exceed your total assets.300K
Stress test
Applies a one-off market drop to your full exposure. Loss = exposure × drop. Because exposure is bigger than your net assets, the percentage hit to your net worth is amplified.If the market falls−30%
You would lose
−90K
90% of net assets
Net assets after
10K
A leverage ratio above 1× means a market fall costs you more, in percentage terms, than the fall itself. Borrowing plus leveraged ETFs stacks the effect.
Rebalancing plan
The leverage ratio you want to bring your portfolio down to. 1× means fully invested with no leverage; below 1× means holding a cash buffer.Target leverage1.0×
To bring your leverage from 3.00× down to 1.0×, take either path (or mix the two):
Trim positions
−133K
Sell about 133K of your portfolio at the current mix, cutting 200K of exposure. The more you sell from your highest-leverage holdings, the less you need to sell.
Add capital / repay debt
+200K
Add about 200K of fresh cash to repay debt (or borrow less). Exposure stays the same but net assets rise, hitting the same target.
Selling at market value doesn't change your net worth — it just swaps one asset for another (or pays down debt). What actually lowers risk is shrinking your exposure.
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Exposure & leverage — frequently asked
- What is investment exposure?
- Exposure is the total amount of money exposed to market moves. For a plain stock or 1× ETF it equals what you hold. For a leveraged ETF you multiply: a 100,000 position in a 2× ETF gives 200,000 of exposure, because it's built to move twice as much as its index each day. Exposure is the sum across all your holdings.
- How is the leverage ratio calculated?
- Leverage ratio = investment exposure ÷ net assets, where net assets = total assets − total debt. If your exposure is 3M and your net assets are 1M, your leverage is 3×: the market moves your wealth as if you'd invested three times your own money.
- Does borrowing to invest count as leverage?
- Yes. Borrowing raises the market value you hold without raising your net assets, so the ratio climbs. A mortgage cash-out, personal loan or margin loan that ends up invested all increase exposure while your own capital stays the same — that's leverage even if you never touch a leveraged ETF.
- What is "leverage on leverage" (槓上加槓)?
- It's combining borrowed money with leveraged products. Borrow 1M to put alongside 1M of your own, then buy a 2× ETF with it, and a 2× fund on 2× borrowed capital becomes roughly 4× exposure on your net assets. The two leverage sources multiply, so the real ratio is far higher than most people assume.
- What leverage ratio is "safe"?
- There's no universal number, but below 1× means you're holding a cash buffer, around 1× is fully invested with no leverage, and above ~2× a normal bear market (−30% to −50%) can erase most or all of your net worth. The stress test shows the dollar damage for your own figures — more useful than a label.
- Why is the percentage loss bigger than the market drop?
- Because your exposure is larger than your net assets. If you have 3× leverage and the market falls 20%, you lose 20% of your exposure — which is 60% of your net assets. Leverage amplifies losses the same way it amplifies gains, and a forced sale near the bottom locks them in.
References
- Leverage (finance) — Wikipedia — How borrowing and derivatives multiply both gains and losses relative to your own capital.
- Margin (finance) — Wikipedia — Buying on margin, maintenance requirements, and how a margin call forces selling at the worst time.
- SEC: Leveraged & Inverse ETFs — Why daily-reset leveraged ETFs amplify exposure and aren't designed for long holding periods.
Built by indigo.la.ringo · AppicLab ·
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The Exposure & Leverage Ratio Calculator answers a question most investors never actually run the numbers on: when you add up borrowed money and leveraged ETFs, how much market risk are you really carrying? Exposure is the total value moving with the market — a plain ETF counts once, a 2× fund counts double — while your leverage ratio divides that exposure by your net assets (everything you own minus what you owe). Borrowing to invest raises the first number without raising the second, and stacking a leveraged ETF on top of a loan multiplies the two together, so the true ratio is routinely higher than people guess. Enter each holding with its leverage multiple, add your cash and debts, and the tool shows your exposure, your real leverage, and a stress test that turns the ratio into a concrete loss when the market drops.
About the Author
indigo.la.ringo
A software engineer chasing the slash-career dream. Was trying to figure out my relationship with the world — now being forced to figure out my relationship with AI. Lately, obsessed with figuring out the relationship between people and money. Either way, whatever answer I land on, it's fine.