Maker vs Taker Fees: Cut Your Crypto Trading Cost in Half
Understand maker vs taker fees at the order book level, why limit orders save you money, how volume fee tiers work, and how to verify what you actually pay.
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Quick read
Crypto exchanges divide trading fees into two categories: maker fees for orders that add liquidity to the order book, and taker fees for orders that remove liquidity immediately. Because maker orders help maintain an orderly market, exchanges charge lower fees for maker orders—often cutting your trading costs in half compared to market taker orders.
What to remember
- Maker orders rest on the order book and add liquidity; taker orders execute immediately and remove liquidity.
- Exchanges discount maker fees to incentivize liquidity providers—often saving you 50% or more compared to market taker orders.
- Placing resting limit orders with Post-Only enabled guarantees you pay the lower maker rate.
- Trading on pro order-book interfaces (Kraken Pro, Coinbase Advanced) avoids heavy 1.5%–4% spread markups found on simple Instant Buy screens.
When you place a trade on a centralized cryptocurrency exchange, the fee you pay is not fixed. Instead, exchanges charge different rates depending on whether your order makes or takes market liquidity.
Understanding the difference between maker and taker fees is one of the simplest ways to lower your execution costs without changing your trading strategy.
What are maker and taker fees at the order book level?
At the core of every centralized exchange is an —a real-time ledger listing all active buy (bid) and sell (ask) offers submitted by traders.
- Maker orders (Liquidity Providers): A maker order is a limit order placed at a price that cannot be matched immediately against existing offers in the order book. Your order sits in the book, waiting for another trader to accept it. By placing your order on the book, you add depth and to the market.
- Taker orders (Liquidity Removers): A taker order is an order that matches immediately with an existing offer already sitting on the order book. Because your order instantly removes liquidity from the book, you are classified as a market taker.
Exchanges actively incentivize traders to provide liquidity. Deep order books reduce price volatility and draw higher trading volume, which is why exchanges discount maker fees relative to taker fees:
Why limit orders are usually maker and market orders taker
The choice between a limit order and a market order directly determines whether you pay a maker or taker fee:
- Market orders are always taker orders: A market order instructs the exchange to execute your buy or sell request immediately at the best available price. It sweeps the top of the order book instantly, removing liquidity.
- Limit orders are usually maker orders: A limit order specifies the maximum price you are willing to pay or the minimum price you are willing to accept. If your limit price is set below the current ask (for a buy) or above the current bid (for a sell), it sits on the order book as a maker order.
Comparing fee impact on a $1,000 trade
Consider a representative crypto exchange charging a standard 0.10% maker fee and 0.25% taker fee:
| Order Type | Trade Amount | Fee Rate | Execution Cost | Liquidity Impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Market Order (Taker) | $1,000 | 0.25% | $2.50 | Removes liquidity immediately |
| Limit Order (Maker) | $1,000 | 0.10% | $1.00 | Adds liquidity to order book |
By switching from a market order to a resting limit order on a $1,000 trade, you instantly save $1.50 (a 60% fee reduction). For active traders executing dozens of trades per month, this fee gap compound into hundreds of dollars in saved capital.
Volume-based fee tiers and how discounts work
Most major crypto exchanges use a 30-day trailing volume tier model. As your cumulative trading volume increases over a 30-day window, your maker and taker fee percentages automatically decrease.
Typical spot trading fee schedule
Below is a standard fee tier structure used by leading spot trading platforms:
| 30-Day Volume Tier | Maker Fee | Taker Fee | Fee Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 ($0 - $10,000) | 0.10% | 0.20% | Base rate |
| Tier 2 ($10,000 - $50,000) | 0.08% | 0.15% | 20% - 25% lower |
| Tier 3 ($50,000 - $100,000) | 0.06% | 0.12% | 40% lower |
| Tier 4 ($100,000+) | 0.04% | 0.10% | Up to 60% lower |
In addition to volume tiers, many exchanges offer additional fee discounts if you pay trading fees using their native exchange utility token (such as BNB on Binance or KCS on KuCoin) or maintain a VIP status level.
Pro vs consumer interface fee markup
One of the most common pitfalls for beginner crypto investors is trading through an exchange's default "Instant Buy" or simple consumer mobile interface rather than its order book interface (such as Kraken Pro or Coinbase Advanced).
- Consumer "Instant Buy" widgets: Often charge flat spread markups ranging from 1.49% to 3.99% per trade, hidden inside the quoted purchase price.
- Pro order book interfaces: Give you direct access to the live order book with transparent maker/taker fees ranging from 0.05% to 0.40%.
How to verify which fee you are actually paying on your exchange
To ensure you are receiving maker fee pricing on your trades:
Steps
Check your order execution history
Open your exchange account's Trade History or Order Fills tab. Every filled order displays a breakdown showing whether it was filled as a Maker or Taker along with the exact fee deducted.
Use Post-Only limit orders
When placing a limit order on a pro trading interface, select the Post-Only checkbox. Post-Only guarantees that your order will only enter the order book as a maker order. If market conditions change and your order would match immediately as a taker order, the system automatically cancels it instead of charging a higher fee.
Review your 30-day volume progress
Check your exchange profile dashboard monthly to monitor your 30-day trailing trade volume and ensure you are assigned to the correct fee tier.
Frequently Asked Questions
If your limit order price was set at or above the lowest ask price (for a buy) or at or below the highest bid price (for a sell) when submitted, it executed immediately against existing orders. Because it removed liquidity instantly without resting on the book, the exchange charged a taker fee. Enable Post-Only to prevent this.
A Post-Only order is an advanced limit order setting that guarantees your trade will only enter the order book as a liquidity-providing maker order. If market price shifts would cause your limit order to match instantly upon submission (charging a taker fee), the exchange automatically cancels the order instead.
On traditional AMM DEXs (like Uniswap), traders pay a fixed pool swap fee (e.g., 0.30%) plus gas. However, modern order book DEXs (such as Hyperliquid or dYdX) use traditional maker/taker fee structures, often offering 0.00% maker fees or maker rebates to incentivize deep liquidity.
Yes. If you place a limit order that partially matches existing resting orders on the book, the filled portion is charged the taker fee rate. The remaining unfilled portion rests on the order book and, when filled by another trader later, is charged the lower maker fee rate.
Major centralized and decentralized exchanges offer additional fee discounts (typically 10% to 25%) on both maker and taker rates if you hold, pay fees with, or stake their native utility token (such as BNB on Binance, staking HYPE on Hyperliquid, or holding KCS on KuCoin).
Market orders instantly consume liquidity from the order book, which increases price volatility and widens market spreads. Exchanges charge higher taker fees on market orders to discourage liquidity depletion, using those revenues to subsidize lower rates and rebates for liquidity-providing makers.
Yes. On select high-liquidity pairs or for institutional market makers in top volume tiers, some exchanges offer 0.00% maker fees or negative maker fees (rebates), where the exchange pays you a small fee for providing liquidity.
Not always. A maker order carries execution risk—if the market moves quickly away from your limit price, your order may never fill. When immediate execution is critical (such as cutting losses or capturing a fast breakout), paying a higher taker fee for a market order can be worthwhile.
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