Crypto trading fees, explained: maker, taker, funding — and what they really cost
Updated 2026-07-02 · 7 min read · by the fendfee research desk
The three fees every trader pays
Every crypto exchange makes money from three main charges. Trading fees (maker/taker) are taken on every order fill, as a percentage of the position's notional value. Funding payments flow between long and short positions on perpetual futures every few hours. Withdrawal fees are charged when you move coins off the exchange.
Of the three, trading fees are by far the largest cost for active traders — and the least visible, because they are deducted inside each fill rather than shown as a separate line item. You never 'send' the fee anywhere; your entry is just slightly worse than the market price. That invisibility is exactly why most traders dramatically underestimate what they pay.
Maker vs taker: the only distinction that matters
A taker order removes liquidity — a market order, or any order that fills immediately against the book. A maker order adds liquidity — a limit order that rests on the book until someone fills it. Exchanges want deep order books, so they price the two differently: takers usually pay 0.05%–0.10% on futures, while makers pay 0.01%–0.02% (a few venues even pay small maker rebates on specific pairs).
If you trade with market orders — which is most retail futures flow — you are a taker on effectively every fill, and the taker rate is the number that decides your annual fee bill.
The compounding math nobody runs
Fees scale with volume, not with profit. Trade $100,000 of monthly futures volume at a 0.06% taker rate and you pay $60 a month — $720 a year — whether you finish the year up or down. At $1M monthly volume it's $600 a month, $7,200 a year. A day trader turning over $5M a month pays $36,000 a year in taker fees alone.
Because leverage multiplies notional volume, futures traders hit these numbers far faster than they expect: a $2,000 position at 20x leverage is $40,000 of notional per side — $80,000 round-trip — so a single trade costs about $48 in taker fees at 0.06%. Twenty such trades a month is $960 in fees on a $2,000 account.
Where the fee actually goes
Here is the part most traders never learn: the exchange does not keep the whole fee. Every major exchange runs a referral/affiliate program that pays a large share of each user's fees — commonly 30–50% — to whoever referred that account, forever. If you signed up through a random link years ago, a stranger is still collecting a cut of every fee you pay today.
That referral split is what makes fee rebates possible: a rebate service registers you under its partner link, receives the referral share from the exchange, and passes most of it back to you in stablecoins. Nothing about your trading changes — the split that already existed is simply routed back to its source: you. You can estimate your own number with the fendfee fee calculator.
See your own number
Two minutes with the free calculator shows what your volume costs in fees — and what up to 40% of it back in USDT would mean for you.
Frequently asked
Which is cheaper, maker or taker orders?
Maker orders — usually 3–6x cheaper. On a typical futures schedule, makers pay 0.01–0.02% versus 0.05–0.10% for takers. If your strategy allows resting limit orders, the fee difference alone can double your net edge.
Do trading fees matter if I'm profitable?
More than you think. Fees are charged on volume, not profit, so they act as a constant drag on returns. A strategy that wins 2% a month on capital but turns over heavy volume can easily lose a third of its edge to taker fees.
Can I get my trading fees back?
Partially, yes. Exchanges pay 30–50% of your fees to a referral partner. A rebate platform routes that share back to you — fendfee pays up to 40% of taker fees back in USDT on Bitget, OKX, WEEX and BingX.