What's the difference between maker and taker orders?

A Maker refers to a trader who places an order that is added to the order book, either partially or fully. Subsequent trades resulting from this order are considered maker trades. These orders contribute to the volume and liquidity of the market, hence the term "maker." It's important to note that even a limit order, set as "good till canceled" (GTC), can act as both a maker and a taker, depending on the trading scenario. A Taker, on the other hand, is a trader who places an order that is executed immediately, before being added to the order book. Whether the order fulfills partially or completely, if it's executed immediately, it falls under the category of a taker. Market orders always fall under the taker category since they bypass the order book and execute immediately, thereby "taking" volume from the order book. Additionally, limit orders designated as "immediate or cancel" (IOC) or "fill or kill" (FOK) also operate as taker orders. To put it even more simply, say that there's a coin you want to buy which costs $10. You put in a limit order at $9, this is added to the order book, and will only fill is asset's price reaches $9. This is considered a limit order, and will take a maker fee. Instead, if an asset's price is $10 and you want to but it immediately for any market price, you can place a market order. This will be a taker order.

What are funding fees?

Funding fees are paid on a scheduled interval for all open positions in derivatives. Simply put, if there are more traders longing an asset, the funding is likely positive and they need to pay fees to traders who are short. In case there are more shorters and funding is negative, traders who opened long positions will receive funding fees instead of paying them. Funding fees are constantly changing, and depend on the ratio of shorts and longs. Most exchanges will take or distribute funding fees once every 8 hours. To reduce your funding fee costs you can sometimes use exchange's native token to pay for fees. Do note that maker and taker fees are charged when opening or closing a position. Funding fees are separate, and paid (typically) every 8 hours.

Are there exchanges with no fees?

Trading fees are every exchange's main source of income. This is why you will never find an exchange that has zero fees permanently and on all trades. However, many exchanges run promotions during prolonged bear markets with zero maker fees for both spot and futures. This is typically only temporary. A few exchanges have no maker fees for VIPs - high volume traders with millions in monthly volume. In addition to volume, this often requires a large amount of native tokens in the person's account.

Do I need to pay fees for holding spot positions?

A few exchanges do exist that will occasionally charge you dormant account fees. We do not list any of those on our website. Most of these exchanges are old-school payment processors such as Skrill and others. While these do allow you to buy crypto, they are not considered exchanges suitable for frequent trading. They are also likely to charge exorbitant trading fees as well, significantly higher than industry standard.

Do fees matter if I just want to invest long-term?

You will want to cash out eventually. If you buy $1,000 today, and your portfolio is worth $10,000 in a few years, you could be looking at a few hundred dollars difference for converting your crypto into fiat. It can be a large difference between paying 0.1% and 0.5% or higher fees. Don't forget you will pay fees when first buying your crypto, and then again when selling. Additionally, you will likely have to pay a small fee for withdrawal too. Finding an exchange with low fees is also important for recurring buys. Finding an excellent and reliable exchange does not mean you need to pay high trading fees - in fact it's often the opposite.

Low Fee Crypto Exchanges

Rating: 4.7/5

#1 OKX

One of the largest exchanges – Reliable and safe – Top tier Web3 wallet – Inscriptions & NFT marketplace – Good APY for flexible staking – Low fees – Up to $10,000 welcome rewards

: 300+

: 2017

: 91,050

: 20%

: $10,000

User Friendly

Bank transfer deposits

Bank card deposits

Fiat withdraw to bank account

Mobile App

Beginner friendly features: 5

Ease of buying and trading: 5

Interface and user experience: 4

Education and learning: 5

Customer support: 5

Features

Spot trading

Futures trading

Advanced trading options: 5

Staking and savings: 4

Airdrops and launchpools: 3

Additional financial services: 4

Other products and services: 5

Decentralized wallet: 5

Fees

Spot Maker Fee: 0.08%
Spot Taker Fee: 0.1%
Futures Maker Fee: 0.01%
Futures Taker Fee: 0.05%

Additional 20% fee discount when using our referral signup link.

Additional $10,000 signup bonus when using our referral signup link.

View More Fees

Safety

Exchange launched in 2017

Proof of Reserves

Regulatory compliance: 4

Reputation and reliability: 5

Asset safety and trust: 5

User account security: 5

Highly regulated

Considered very safe

Volume & Altcoins

Number of altcoin pairs: 300

Last 24h trade volume (in BTC): 91,050

Review

Rating: 4.6/5

#2 Bybit

Fiat deposits and withdrawals – Beginner friendly with quick purchase and convert – Solid amount of quality mid-cap altcoins – $30,000 in signup bonuses – Reliable and trusted since 2018

: 650+

: 2018

: 125,261

: 10%

: $30,000

User Friendly

Bank transfer deposits

Bank card deposits

Fiat withdraw to bank account

Mobile App

Beginner friendly features: 5

Ease of buying and trading: 5

Interface and user experience: 5

Education and learning: 4

Customer support: 5

Features

Spot trading

Futures trading

Advanced trading options: 5

Staking and savings: 3

Airdrops and launchpools: 4

Additional financial services: 5

Other products and services: 5

Decentralized wallet: 4

Fees

Spot Maker Fee: 0.1%
Spot Taker Fee: 0.1%
Futures Maker Fee: 0.02%
Futures Taker Fee: 0.055%

Additional 10% fee discount when using our referral signup link.

Additional $30,000 signup bonus when using our referral signup link.

View More Fees

Safety

Exchange launched in 2018

Number of users: 50 million

Proof of Reserves

Regulatory compliance: 3

Reputation and reliability: 5

Asset safety and trust: 5

User account security: 5

Highly regulated

Considered very safe

Volume & Altcoins

Number of altcoin pairs: 650

Last 24h trade volume (in BTC): 125,261

High trading volume

High liquidity

Review

Rating: 4.8/5

#3 Binance

World’s biggest exchange by volume – High liquidity on all trading pairs – Trading fee discounts with native token – Cheap fiat deposits – Reliable and trusted

: 400+

: 2017

: 479,501

: 10%

: $100

User Friendly

Bank transfer deposits

Bank card deposits

Fiat withdraw to bank account

Mobile App

Beginner friendly features: 5

Ease of buying and trading: 5

Interface and user experience: 5

Education and learning: 5

Customer support: 5

Features

Spot trading

Futures trading

Advanced trading options: 5

Staking and savings: 5

Airdrops and launchpools: 3

Additional financial services: 5

Other products and services: 5

Decentralized wallet: 5

Fees

Spot Maker Fee: 0.1%
Spot Taker Fee: 0.1%
Futures Maker Fee: 0.02%
Futures Taker Fee: 0.05%

Additional 10% fee discount when using our referral signup link.

Additional $100 signup bonus when using our referral signup link.

View More Fees

Safety

Exchange launched in 2017

Number of users: 240 million

Insurance fund: 1000 million

Proof of Reserves

Regulatory compliance: 5

Reputation and reliability: 5

Asset safety and trust: 5

User account security: 5

Highly regulated

Considered very safe

Volume & Altcoins

Number of altcoin pairs: 400

Last 24h trade volume (in BTC): 479,501

High trading volume

High liquidity

Review

Rating: 4.4/5

#4 KuCoin

Easy fiat deposits and withdrawals – Fee discounts for native token holders – Large selection of low-cap altcoins – beginner friendly interface – Savings & staking platform for earning interest on idle spot holdings

: 800+

: 2017

: 24,422

: 10%

: $8,201

User Friendly

Bank transfer deposits

Bank card deposits

Fiat withdraw to bank account

Mobile App

Beginner friendly features: 5

Ease of buying and trading: 5

Interface and user experience: 4

Education and learning: 4

Customer support: 4

Features

Spot trading

Futures trading

Advanced trading options: 4

Staking and savings: 5

Airdrops and launchpools: 2

Additional financial services: 4

Other products and services: 4

Decentralized wallet: 4

Fees

Spot Maker Fee: 0.1%
Spot Taker Fee: 0.1%
Futures Maker Fee: 0.02%
Futures Taker Fee: 0.06%

Additional 10% fee discount when using our referral signup link.

Additional $8,201 signup bonus when using our referral signup link.

View More Fees

Safety

Exchange launched in 2017

Number of users: 30 million

Proof of Reserves

Regulatory compliance: 4

Reputation and reliability: 5

Asset safety and trust: 5

User account security: 5

Volume & Altcoins

Number of altcoin pairs: 800

Last 24h trade volume (in BTC): 24,422

High trading volume

Review

Rating: 3.7/5

#5 XT.com

Average volume but good liquidity – Many fiat deposit gateways including cards, Google Pay, Apple Pay – Lots of good small market cap altcoins – Optional KYC – Good staking yields

: 900+

: 2018

: 50,970

: 10%

User Friendly

Bank transfer deposits

Bank card deposits

No fiat withdrawals

Mobile App

Beginner friendly features: 4

Ease of buying and trading: 4

Interface and user experience: 5

Education and learning: 3

Customer support: 3

Features

Spot trading

Futures trading

Advanced trading options: 4

Staking and savings: 5

Airdrops and launchpools: 2

Additional financial services: 4

Other products and services: 4

Fees

Spot Maker Fee: 0.2%
Spot Taker Fee: 0.2%
Futures Maker Fee: 0.04%
Futures Taker Fee: 0.06%

Additional 10% fee discount when using our referral signup link.

View More Fees

Safety

Exchange launched in 2018

Number of users: 3 million

Proof of Reserves

Regulatory compliance: 2

Reputation and reliability: 3

Asset safety and trust: 3

User account security: 4

Volume & Altcoins

Number of altcoin pairs: 900

Last 24h trade volume (in BTC): 50,970

Review

Rating: 3.7/5

#6 Bitfinex

Old and reliable – Aimed for professional traders more than beginner investors – Credit/debit card deposits – Bank transfer deposits and withdrawals – Basic staking

: 200+

: 2012

: 9,153

: 6%

User Friendly

Bank transfer deposits

Bank card deposits

Fiat withdraw to bank account

Mobile App

Beginner friendly features: 3

Ease of buying and trading: 4

Interface and user experience: 4

Education and learning: 3

Customer support: 5

Features

Spot trading

Futures trading

Advanced trading options: 3

Staking and savings: 2

Airdrops and launchpools: ×

Additional financial services: 4

Other products and services: 3

Fees

Spot Maker Fee: 0.1%
Spot Taker Fee: 0.2%
Futures Maker Fee: 0.02%
Futures Taker Fee: 0.065%

Additional 6% fee discount when using our referral signup link.

View More Fees

Safety

Exchange launched in 2012

Proof of Reserves

Regulatory compliance: 4

Reputation and reliability: 5

Asset safety and trust: 4

User account security: 4

Highly regulated

Considered very safe

Volume & Altcoins

Number of altcoin pairs: 200

Last 24h trade volume (in BTC): 9,153

Review

Rating: 3.9/5

#7 MEXC

Easy buys with cards or bank transfers – Up to $1,000 in signup bonuses – Frequent large trading competitions – Very low trading fees – No mandatory KYC – Massive selection of low-cap altcoins

: 2600+

: 2018

: 95,042

: $8,000

User Friendly

Bank transfer deposits

Bank card deposits

No fiat withdrawals

Mobile App

Beginner friendly features: 5

Ease of buying and trading: 5

Interface and user experience: 5

Education and learning: 4

Customer support: 4

Features

Spot trading

Futures trading

Advanced trading options: 5

Staking and savings: 1

Airdrops and launchpools: 5

Additional financial services: 5

Other products and services: 4

Fees

Spot Maker Fee: 0.05%
Spot Taker Fee: 0.05%
Futures Maker Fee: 0.01%
Futures Taker Fee: 0.04%

Additional $8,000 signup bonus when using our referral signup link.

View More Fees

Safety

Exchange launched in 2018

Number of users: 10 million

Insurance fund: 740 million

Proof of Reserves

Regulatory compliance: 1

Reputation and reliability: 2

Asset safety and trust: 3

User account security: 5

Volume & Altcoins

Number of altcoin pairs: 2600

Last 24h trade volume (in BTC): 95,042

Review

Rating: 4.0/5

#8 Bitget

Lots of interest-earning assets available for staking and savings – Up to $6,200 bonus for new users – Quick convert for beginner traders – Large amount of cheap altcoins not listed on other exchanges

: 800+

: 2018

: 85,877

: $6,200

User Friendly

No bank transfer deposits

Bank card deposits

No fiat withdrawals

Mobile App

Beginner friendly features: 4

Ease of buying and trading: 4

Interface and user experience: 5

Education and learning: 4

Customer support: 4

Features

Spot trading

Futures trading

Advanced trading options: 5

Staking and savings: 4

Airdrops and launchpools: 3

Additional financial services: 4

Other products and services: 3

Decentralized wallet: 5

Fees

Spot Maker Fee: 0.1%
Spot Taker Fee: 0.1%
Futures Maker Fee: 0.02%
Futures Taker Fee: 0.06%

Additional $6,200 signup bonus when using our referral signup link.

View More Fees

Safety

Exchange launched in 2018

Number of users: 45 million

Insurance fund: 300 million

Proof of Reserves

Regulatory compliance: 3

Reputation and reliability: 4

Asset safety and trust: 5

User account security: 5

Volume & Altcoins

Number of altcoin pairs: 800

Last 24h trade volume (in BTC): 85,877

Review

Rating: 3.8/5

#9 BingX

Over $5000 bonuses for new users – Trade Apple, Netflix, Microsoft, Tesla and other stocks – Trade SPX, NASDAQ, and other indexes – Trade commodities like gold or silver – No crypto withdrawal fees – Great selection of low-cap altcoins – No mandatory KYC

: 850+

: 2018

: 7,481

: 5%

: $5,125

User Friendly

Bank transfer deposits

Bank card deposits

Fiat withdraw to bank account

Mobile App

Beginner friendly features: 5

Ease of buying and trading: 4

Interface and user experience: 4

Education and learning: 3

Customer support: 4

Features

Spot trading

Futures trading

Advanced trading options: 5

Staking and savings: 4

Airdrops and launchpools: 3

Additional financial services: 4

Other products and services: 2

Fees

Spot Maker Fee: 0.1%
Spot Taker Fee: 0.1%
Futures Maker Fee: 0.02%
Futures Taker Fee: 0.05%

Additional 5% fee discount when using our referral signup link.

Additional $5,125 signup bonus when using our referral signup link.

View More Fees

Safety

Exchange launched in 2018

Number of users: 10 million

Proof of Reserves

Regulatory compliance: 3

Reputation and reliability: 4

Asset safety and trust: 4

User account security: 4

Volume & Altcoins

Number of altcoin pairs: 850

Last 24h trade volume (in BTC): 7,481

Review

Rating: 3.2/5

#10 CoinEx

Quick swap and recurring buys – Several fiat deposit gateways – Large amount of altcoins – Optional identity checks – Very low trading fees

: 1200+

: 2017

: 6,991

: 10%

: $100

User Friendly

Bank transfer deposits

Bank card deposits

No fiat withdrawals

Mobile App

Beginner friendly features: 4

Ease of buying and trading: 4

Interface and user experience: 4

Education and learning: 4

Customer support: 3

Features

Spot trading

Futures trading

Advanced trading options: 3

Staking and savings: 2

Airdrops and launchpools: 2

Additional financial services: 2

Other products and services: 2

Decentralized wallet: 3

Fees

Spot Maker Fee: 0.2%
Spot Taker Fee: 0.2%
Futures Maker Fee: 0.03%
Futures Taker Fee: 0.05%

Additional 10% fee discount when using our referral signup link.

Additional $100 signup bonus when using our referral signup link.

View More Fees

Safety

Exchange launched in 2017

Proof of Reserves

Regulatory compliance: 1

Reputation and reliability: 3

Asset safety and trust: 3

User account security: 4

Volume & Altcoins

Number of altcoin pairs: 1200

Last 24h trade volume (in BTC): 6,991

Review

Rating: 3.3/5

#11 LBank

Operating since 2015 – Good amount of altcoins – Easy card purchases through 7 different merchants – Deposits with bank transfers, Google Pay and Apple Pay

: 650+

: 2015

: 39,302

: 15%

: $75

User Friendly

Bank transfer deposits

Bank card deposits

No fiat withdrawals

Mobile App

Beginner friendly features: 3

Ease of buying and trading: 4

Interface and user experience: 4

Education and learning: 3

Customer support: 4

Features

Spot trading

Futures trading

Advanced trading options: 3

Staking and savings: 3

Airdrops and launchpools: 1

Additional financial services: 3

Other products and services: 3

Fees

Spot Maker Fee: 0.2%
Spot Taker Fee: 0.2%
Futures Maker Fee: 0.02%
Futures Taker Fee: 0.06%

Additional 15% fee discount when using our referral signup link.

Additional $75 signup bonus when using our referral signup link.

View More Fees

Safety

Exchange launched in 2015

No Proof of Reserves

Regulatory compliance: 2

Reputation and reliability: 3

Asset safety and trust: 3

User account security: 4

Volume & Altcoins

Number of altcoin pairs: 650

Last 24h trade volume (in BTC): 39,302

Review

Rating: 3.0/5

#12 CoinW

Prepaid virtual Visa available for nearly all countries – No fiat deposits or withdrawals – Non-mandatory KYC – Good number of altcoins on spot

: 400+

: 2017

: 61,562

: 20%

: $200

User Friendly

Bank transfer deposits

Bank card deposits

No fiat withdrawals

Mobile App

Beginner friendly features: 3

Ease of buying and trading: 4

Interface and user experience: 2

Education and learning: 2

Customer support: 3

Features

Spot trading

Futures trading

Advanced trading options: 3

Staking and savings: 3

Airdrops and launchpools: 1

Additional financial services: 3

Other products and services: 3

Fees

Spot Maker Fee: 0.2%
Spot Taker Fee: 0.2%
Futures Maker Fee: 0.04%
Futures Taker Fee: 0.06%

Additional 20% fee discount when using our referral signup link.

Additional $200 signup bonus when using our referral signup link.

View More Fees

Safety

Exchange launched in 2017

Number of users: 7 million

Proof of Reserves

Regulatory compliance: 2

Reputation and reliability: 3

Asset safety and trust: 3

User account security: 4

Volume & Altcoins

Number of altcoin pairs: 400

Last 24h trade volume (in BTC): 61,562

Review

Rating: 3.1/5

#13 Pionex

Zero fee bank transfer deposits for EUR, GBP, BRL – 40+ staking assets – Excellent trading interface – Good for beginners – 16 free trading bots – Low trading fees

: 350+

: 2019

: 72,305

: $2,126

User Friendly

Bank transfer deposits

Bank card deposits

No fiat withdrawals

Mobile App

Beginner friendly features: 5

Ease of buying and trading: 4

Interface and user experience: 5

Education and learning: 3

Customer support: 3

Features

No spot trading

Futures trading

Advanced trading options: 4

Staking and savings: 2

Airdrops and launchpools: ×

Other products and services: 1

Fees

Spot Maker Fee: 0.05%
Spot Taker Fee: 0.05%
Futures Maker Fee: 0.02%
Futures Taker Fee: 0.05%

Additional $2,126 signup bonus when using our referral signup link.

View More Fees

Safety

Exchange launched in 2019

Number of users: 5 million

No Proof of Reserves

Regulatory compliance: 1

Reputation and reliability: 2

Asset safety and trust: 2

User account security: 2

Volume & Altcoins

Number of altcoin pairs: 350

Last 24h trade volume (in BTC): 72,305

Review

Rating: 2.7/5

#14 Bitunix

Good for basic spot and futures trading – Over $5,000 in bonuses for new signups – No fiat deposits or withdrawals – Optional KYC

: 350+

: 2021

: 52,088

: 10%

: $5,300

User Friendly

No bank transfer deposits

No bank card deposits

No fiat withdrawals

Mobile App

Beginner friendly features: 1

Ease of buying and trading: 3

Interface and user experience: 2

Education and learning: 2

Customer support: 3

Features

Spot trading

Futures trading

Advanced trading options: 2

No staking and savings

Airdrops and launchpools: ×

Fees

Spot Maker Fee: 0.08%
Spot Taker Fee: 0.1%
Futures Maker Fee: 0.02%
Futures Taker Fee: 0.06%

Additional 10% fee discount when using our referral signup link.

Additional $5,300 signup bonus when using our referral signup link.

View More Fees

Safety

Exchange launched in 2021

Number of users: 0.6 million

Proof of Reserves

Regulatory compliance: 1

Reputation and reliability: 2

Asset safety and trust: 3

User account security: 4

Volume & Altcoins

Number of altcoin pairs: 350

Last 24h trade volume (in BTC): 52,088

Review

What's the difference between maker and taker orders?
A Maker refers to a trader who places an order that is added to the order book, either partially or fully. Subsequent trades resulting from this order are considered maker trades. These orders contribute to the volume and liquidity of the market, hence the term “maker.”

It’s important to note that even a limit order, set as “good till canceled” (GTC), can act as both a maker and a taker, depending on the trading scenario.

A Taker, on the other hand, is a trader who places an order that is executed immediately, before being added to the order book. Whether the order fulfills partially or completely, if it’s executed immediately, it falls under the category of a taker.

Market orders always fall under the taker category since they bypass the order book and execute immediately, thereby “taking” volume from the order book. Additionally, limit orders designated as “immediate or cancel” (IOC) or “fill or kill” (FOK) also operate as taker orders.

To put it even more simply, say that there’s a coin you want to buy which costs $10. You put in a limit order at $9, this is added to the order book, and will only fill is asset’s price reaches $9. This is considered a limit order, and will take a maker fee.

Instead, if an asset’s price is $10 and you want to but it immediately for any market price, you can place a market order. This will be a taker order.
What are funding fees?
Funding fees are paid on a scheduled interval for all open positions in derivatives. Simply put, if there are more traders longing an asset, the funding is likely positive and they need to pay fees to traders who are short. In case there are more shorters and funding is negative, traders who opened long positions will receive funding fees instead of paying them.

Funding fees are constantly changing, and depend on the ratio of shorts and longs. Most exchanges will take or distribute funding fees once every 8 hours. To reduce your funding fee costs you can sometimes use exchange’s native token to pay for fees.

Do note that maker and taker fees are charged when opening or closing a position. Funding fees are separate, and paid (typically) every 8 hours.
Are there exchanges with no fees?
Trading fees are every exchange’s main source of income. This is why you will never find an exchange that has zero fees permanently and on all trades.

However, many exchanges run promotions during prolonged bear markets with zero maker fees for both spot and futures. This is typically only temporary.

A few exchanges have no maker fees for VIPs – high volume traders with millions in monthly volume. In addition to volume, this often requires a large amount of native tokens in the person’s account.
Do I need to pay fees for holding spot positions?
A few exchanges do exist that will occasionally charge you dormant account fees. We do not list any of those on our website.

Most of these exchanges are old-school payment processors such as Skrill and others. While these do allow you to buy crypto, they are not considered exchanges suitable for frequent trading. They are also likely to charge exorbitant trading fees as well, significantly higher than industry standard.
Do fees matter if I just want to invest long-term?
You will want to cash out eventually. If you buy $1,000 today, and your portfolio is worth $10,000 in a few years, you could be looking at a few hundred dollars difference for converting your crypto into fiat. It can be a large difference between paying 0.1% and 0.5% or higher fees.

Don’t forget you will pay fees when first buying your crypto, and then again when selling. Additionally, you will likely have to pay a small fee for withdrawal too.

Finding an exchange with low fees is also important for recurring buys. Finding an excellent and reliable exchange does not mean you need to pay high trading fees – in fact it’s often the opposite.

Low Fee Crypto Exchanges

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#1 OKX

#2 Bybit

#3 Binance

#4 KuCoin

#5 XT.com

#6 Bitfinex

#7 MEXC

#8 Bitget

#9 BingX

#10 CoinEx

#11 LBank

#12 CoinW

#13 Pionex

#14 Bitunix

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