What are maker and taker fees?
Fees look too small to matter: a fraction of a percent, printed in grey. Multiply them by the notional size of a leveraged position, by two sides per trade and by a hundred trades a year, and they become the largest fixed cost in most beginners' accounts — larger than any single losing trade.
What makes an order a maker or a taker?
Whether it waits. A market order is always a taker: it crosses the spread and fills against resting orders. A limit order that rests in the book — a buy below the current price, a sell above it — is a maker when it eventually fills. A limit order priced to fill immediately (a buy at or above the best ask) behaves like a market order and is charged as a taker. The label is decided by what your order did to the book, not by the button you pressed.
| Order | Fills | Adds or removes liquidity | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market buy | Now, at the best asks | Removes | Taker |
| Limit buy below price, filled later | When price comes to it | Adds | Maker |
| Limit buy at the ask | Now | Removes | Taker |
| Stop-loss that triggers | Now (as a market order) | Removes | Taker |
How much difference does it make?
Take an illustrative perpetual-futures schedule of 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker, and a trader who does 100 round trips a year at $10,000 notional. Every exchange publishes its own tiers; the point is the gap, not the exact numbers.
| Style | Fee per side | Per round trip ($10,000) | 100 round trips |
|---|---|---|---|
| Always taker | 0.05% | $10.00 | $1,000 |
| Always maker | 0.02% | $4.00 | $400 |
| Maker in, taker out (stop hit) | 0.02% + 0.05% | $7.00 | $700 |
Round trip = notional × (entry fee + exit fee). On a $10,000 account the always-taker trader pays 10% of the account in fees a year before any market risk.
Spot fees are typically higher per trade (often around 0.1% per side) but spot traders usually trade less often and without leverage, so the annual bill tends to be smaller. Where fees really bite is the combination of leverage and frequency.
Why does leverage multiply the fee?
Because fees are charged on notional, not on margin. Open a $10,000 position with $1,000 of margin at 10× and the taker fee is 0.05% of $10,000 = $5, which is 0.5% of your actual money, per side. A round trip costs 1% of the margin. At 50× leverage the same $1,000 controls $50,000, the fee is $25 per side and a round trip costs 5% of your capital — before the trade has moved a cent. Twenty flat trades at 50× would erase the whole stake in fees alone.
| Leverage | Notional on $1,000 margin | Taker fee per side (0.05%) | Round trip as % of margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1× (spot-like) | $1,000 | $0.50 | 0.10% |
| 10× | $10,000 | $5.00 | 1.00% |
| 25× | $25,000 | $12.50 | 2.50% |
| 50× | $50,000 | $25.00 | 5.00% |
How do I pay less without changing exchange?
Use limit orders when you can wait; that alone moves most of your volume to the maker rate. Trade less — the cheapest trade is the one you did not need. Check the fee tier you are on and whether paying fees in the exchange's own token or holding a balance changes it. And when comparing venues, compare the taker rate on the product you actually trade, at the tier you actually reach, not the headline maker rate on the front page. Our exchange comparison lists the published schedules and the date we last checked them.
FAQ
Is maker or taker fee cheaper? Maker. Resting limit orders add liquidity and are charged a lower rate — sometimes zero or a rebate — while market orders that remove liquidity pay the higher taker rate.
Is a stop-loss a maker or taker order? Taker. When a stop triggers it sends a market order (or an aggressive limit) that fills immediately, so it pays the taker fee.
Are fees charged on margin or on position size? On the full position (notional) size. At 10× leverage the fee is ten times larger relative to the money you actually put up.
How much do crypto trading fees cost per year? It depends entirely on frequency and leverage. A hundred round trips at $10,000 notional cost roughly $400–$1,000 a year at illustrative rates of 0.02–0.05% per side; frequent leveraged trading can cost far more than the account earns.
Compare the published fee schedules
Maker and taker rates, products and regions for the exchanges we cover, with the date each was checked.
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Fees are a tax on impatience and on leverage. Limit orders are how you pay the lower rate, leverage and margin explains why notional is what you are charged on, and the spread is the other fee nobody prints.