What is a maker fee? Maker fees in crypto explained
A maker fee is the trading fee an exchange charges when your order adds liquidity to its order book: you place a limit order that isn’t filled immediately, and it waits until another trader matches it. Maker fees are usually lower than taker fees, which apply when your order immediately matches an existing order.
The name comes from “making” a market. Your waiting order gives other traders something to trade against, and many exchanges reward that with a lower fee, sometimes zero, and on a few markets even rebates.
What is a maker fee in crypto trading?
A maker fee is the percentage of the trade value you pay when your order was resting in the order book before it was filled. Say the lowest sell order for bitcoin is €60,000 and you place a buy limit order at €59,800. Nothing matches, so your order waits in the book. When a seller later fills it, the maker fee applies.
Crypto exchanges split every trade into two categories:
- Maker order: an order that sits in the book first and adds liquidity.
- Taker order: an order that is filled immediately against an existing order and removes liquidity.
The fee charged depends on how your order was executed, not on whether you buy or sell: both buy and sell orders can be maker or taker trades. Our page on maker vs taker explains the pricing model as a whole. This page is about the maker fee itself, and how to get it.
When does your order count as a maker order?
Your order counts as a maker order only if it doesn’t match anything at the moment you place it. In practice that means a limit order with a limit price below the current market price for a buy, or above it for a sell.
| Your order | What happens | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Market order | Executed immediately at the best available price | Taker |
| Buy limit order below the best ask | Waits in the order book | Maker |
| Buy limit order at or above the best ask | Immediately filled against existing sell orders | Taker |
| Post-only limit order | Waits in the book, or is cancelled if it would fill at once | Maker, or no trade |
The third row catches many people out. A limit order is not automatically a maker order. If your limit price crosses the spread, the exchange matches it with an existing order straight away and taker fees apply.
A post-only option fixes this. It tells the exchange to cancel the order rather than let it trade as a taker, so you either pay the maker fee or nothing at all. Partial fills can be split too: if part of a large limit order matches at once and the rest waits, you pay the taker fee on the first part and the maker fee on the rest.
How to calculate a maker fee
A maker fee is simply trade value × maker fee rate. This is what a €1,000 trade costs at the entry tier of two MiCA-licensed exchanges, as we checked their fee pages on 23 October 2026:
| Exchange | Maker fee | Taker fee | €1,000 as maker | €1,000 as taker |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitvavo (EUR markets) | 0.15% | 0.25% | €1.50 | €2.50 |
| Crypto.com Exchange | 0.25% | 0.50% | €2.50 | €5.00 |
On Bitvavo, buying €1,000 of bitcoin with a resting limit order and later selling it the same way costs €1.50 + €1.50 = €3.00 in trading fees. Doing both with market orders costs €2.50 + €2.50 = €5.00. If you invest €100 a month, the maker fee is €0.15 per buy instead of €0.25.
Not every exchange makes the difference large. Binance charges 0.10% to makers and takers alike at its standard spot tier, so regular users get no maker advantage, and Binance is not licensed under MiCA for EU residents.
Why exchanges charge makers lower fees
Exchanges charge makers lower fees because resting orders create market liquidity. A deep order book, with many buy and sell orders close to the current price, means narrower spreads and less slippage for everyone who trades there. That attracts more traders, and more trading volume means more fee income for the exchange.
Professional market makers, firms that keep buy and sell orders in the book all day, are the biggest makers, and they usually qualify for the lowest tiers. Bitvavo’s EUR markets go down to a 0.00% maker fee above €100 million of 30-day volume, and Crypto.com Exchange gives 0% maker fees to accounts holding 50,000 CRO or more. Some venues even pay rebates, a negative maker fee, to their biggest liquidity providers. For most retail investors these tiers are out of reach, and trading more just to chase them costs more than it saves.
How to pay lower fees as a maker
You pay the lower maker fee by being patient with your price. In practice:
- Use the order-book screen, not the instant buy. Simple buy buttons in crypto apps usually charge a flat fee plus a spread. On the Crypto.com App that is 0.8% plus a possible spread under its EEA schedule, well above the exchange’s maker fee.
- Place a limit order below the ask (to buy) or above the bid (to sell). A small distance is enough, as long as your order doesn’t match at once.
- Tick post-only if your exchange offers it, so a sudden price move can’t turn your order into a taker trade.
- Check your trade history. Most exchanges show whether each fill was maker or taker, and the fee charged.
On Bitvavo, the exchange first reserves the maximum 0.25% when you place a limit order and refunds the difference once the order fills at your actual rate. Don’t mistake that reservation for the final fee.
Costs beyond the maker fee
The maker fee is only one part of your trading costs. Before you compare crypto exchanges on maker fees alone, add up:
- Spread and slippage. A market order pays the spread on top of the taker fee. A maker order avoids both, but only if it fills.
- Deposits. SEPA deposits are free at Bitvavo and Crypto.com, while card deposits cost 1.00% at Bitvavo and 3.99% at Crypto.com.
- Withdrawals. Crypto withdrawals carry a network fee, and Crypto.com charges €1.00 for a SEPA withdrawal.
A 0.10% saving on the trading fee disappears quickly if you pay 3.99% to fund your account by card. Our guide to trading fees walks through every cost.
The catch: a maker order may never fill
The main drawback of chasing the maker fee is that your order may not be executed. If bitcoin rises from €60,000 to €63,000 while your buy limit waits at €59,800, you saved €1.00 in fees on €1,000 and missed the whole move. A taker trade costs more, but you get immediate execution.
So use maker orders when the price matters more than speed: regular buys, take-profit levels, small coins with thin order books. Pay the taker fee when you need to get out now. Crypto-assets are highly volatile and you can lose all the money you put in, whatever fee you pay.
Maker fees and EU rules
In the EU, crypto exchanges need a MiCA licence, and an exchange that runs a trading platform must keep its fee structure transparent, fair and non-discriminatory. That’s why licensed exchanges such as Bitvavo publish full maker and taker fee tables. Check the licence in the ESMA register before you open an account, and remember that crypto-assets are not covered by investor compensation schemes. Our methodology explains how we weigh fees against protection.
Related terms
Questions people ask
What is a maker vs taker fee?
A maker fee applies when your order waits in the order book before it is filled, adding liquidity. A taker fee applies when your order is filled immediately against an existing order. The taker fee is usually the higher of the two.
How can you avoid paying taker fees?
Place limit orders away from the current market price and switch on the post-only option, so your order either rests in the book as a maker order or is cancelled. You can't avoid trading fees entirely on most exchanges, but you can avoid the higher one.
How much is the fee on a €1,000 bitcoin trade?
It depends on the exchange and the order type. At the entry tier, as checked on 23 October 2026, a €1,000 trade costs €1.50 as a maker and €2.50 as a taker on Bitvavo, and €2.50 and €5.00 on Crypto.com Exchange.
Do you pay both maker and taker fees on one trade?
No. Each fill is charged either the maker fee or the taker fee, depending on whether your order was already resting in the book. A large order can be split, with the part that matched at once charged as taker and the rest as maker.
Who has the cheapest fees for buying crypto?
There is no single cheapest exchange for everyone: it depends on your order type, deposit method and amount. Compare maker fees, taker fees, spreads and deposit costs together, and check for a MiCA licence. Our low-fee exchanges page does this for EU residents.