Types of crypto exchange fees
Cryptocurrency exchanges charge fees on different types of user behavior:
- Trading Fees — the primary source of revenue for exchanges. They are typically charged on both fiat-crypto trades as well as crypto-crypto trades.
- Deposit/Withdrawal Fees — some exchanges charge fees for deposits and/or withdrawals. Deposit fees vary based on the type of deposit but are less common than withdrawal fees since exchanges want to incentivize users to fund their account. For cryptocurrency withdrawals, many exchanges limit fees to any blockchain transaction costs (usually a flat fee regardless of the amount withdrawn), but some will take an additional fee based on your country or the type of withdrawal (crypto vs fiat)
- Interest/Borrowing/Liquidation Fees — some exchanges like Kraken, Poloniex, and Bitfinex offer crypto margin trading: the ability to borrow or synthetically borrow additional funds to increase your position and create leverage. These exchanges typically charge additional fees based on the amount borrowed on margin and an interest rate determined by the supply of funds available. Additionally, if your trade goes upside down and the position is liquidated you may be charged an additional fee.
Discounts
- Market Makers & Volume Discounts — many exchanges offer lower trading fees to “market makers”, traders placing limit orders instead of market orders, and high volume traders to incentivize exchange liquidity
- Exchange Token Discounts — an increasingly popular approach is to discount exchange fees for users who purchase an exchange’s own cryptocurrency token. Several non-US exchanges such as Binance, Huobi, and Bibox have adopted this system to help incentivize investment into their tokens. These exchanges have elected to decrease the amount of the discount each year until phasing it out entirely in after four to five years
Let’s take a closer look at fees across some of the top crypto exchanges.
Fees by Cryptocurrency Exchange
(assuming no discounts as of January 1, 2021)
Exchange | Trading Fees | Funding Fees | Discounts | ||||
Maker | Taker | Spread | Deposits | Withdrawals | Exchange Token Discount | Volume Discount | |
0.075% | 0.15% | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | |
0.1% | 0.1% | No | No | No | Yes – 25% | Yes | |
0.1% | 0.1% | No | No | Yes | Yes – 25% | Yes | |
0.1% | 0.2% | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | |
0.5% | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | ||
0.35% | 0.35% | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | |
0.025% | 0.075% | No | No | No | No | Yes | |
0.1% | 0.15% | No | No | No | No | Yes | |
No trading fees | No | Yes | No | N/A | |||
0.2% | 0.4% | No | No | No | No | Yes | |
0.05% | 0.2% | No | No | Yes (AUD Free) | No | Yes | |
-0.025% (Rebate) | 0.075% | No | No | No | No | No | |
Service fee + additional fee (Exact fees are not disclosed on the website) | |||||||
0.16% | 0.25% | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | |
N/A | The greater of flat fee ($1.49, $1.99 & $2.99) or 1.49% | ~0.50% fiat | No | No | No | Yes | |
0.5% | 0.5% | No | No | No | No | Yes | |
Buy: XBX Index average + 2% (standard deviation) Sell: XBX Index average + 2% (standard deviation) + 0.1% – 0.9% sell fee | No | No | |||||
0.1% | 0.1% | No | Yes | Yes (AUD Free) | No | No | |
0.1% | 0.16% | No | No | No | No | Yes | |
0% | HIgher of 0.3% or Gas cost | No | No | No | No | No | |
No trading fees | Yes – 0.75% | No | No | No | No | ||
0.02% | 0.07% | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | |
0.2% | 0.2% | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
The greater of flat fee ($0.99, $1.49, $1.99 & $2.99) or 1.49% | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
0.1% | 0.25% | No | No | No | No | Yes | |
0.2% | 0.2% | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | |
0.1% | 0.2% | No | No | No | No | No | |
Trade commission – 0.5% | Yes | Yes (AUD Free) | No | Yes | |||
0.16% | 0.26% | No | No | No | No | Yes | |
0.1% | 0.1% | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | |
0.29% | 0.29% | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
0% | 0.1% | No | No | No | No | Yes | |
0.1% | 0.15% | No | No | No | No | Yes | |
0.50 Fixed fee or variable rate of 2.3% | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | ||
0.125% | 0.125% | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | |
Buy & Sell: Fixed fee ($0.99 – $2.99) or (1.5% – 1.3%) | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | ||
No trading fees | No | N/A | No | No | |||
No | No | No | No | ||||
0.6% + spread | Yes – 0.41% | No | No | No | Yes | ||
0.3% for swaps | No | No | No | No | |||
N/A | N/A | Yes (0.8% – 1.2% for BTC, ETH & XRP) 0.2% for EUR, USD and GBP. | No | No | No | No | |
Crypto exchange fee summary
