Definition

Maker and taker fees

Maker fees apply to orders that rest on the book; taker fees to orders that cross the spread. Definition, why they differ, and how leverage multiplies them.

Updated

Maker and taker fees are the two trading-fee tiers venues charge based on whether an order adds or removes liquidity. A maker order rests on the order book and is charged less — sometimes paid a rebate. A taker order crosses the spread and consumes resting liquidity, so it is charged more. On perpetual futures, taker fees commonly sit around 0.04%–0.06% per side.

Also known as
trading fees · exchange fees

How it is calculated

            Maker: order rests on the book, adds liquidity → lower fee (sometimes a rebate)
Taker: order crosses the spread, removes liquidity → higher fee

Round-trip cost = Notional × Fee rate × 2
On leverage, fees are charged on notional — so leverage multiplies them.

Worked example: $10,000 notional at 0.05% per side → $10 round trip, or 1% of a $1,000 margin at 10×.

Leverage multiplies the fee, not just the exposure

Fees are charged on notional value, not on the margin behind it. A position with $1,000 of margin at 10× pays fees on $10,000 of notional, so a round trip at 0.05% per side costs 1% of the margin before the market has moved. Twenty round trips a month is 20% of the account per year in fees alone.

Assuming maker fills is how backtests lie

A strategy modelled at the maker rate but executed by crossing the spread pays roughly double what the test assumed, plus slippage the test omitted. Resting orders also do not always fill — the ones that do are disproportionately the ones the market traded through, which is an adverse selection cost no fee schedule shows.

How it gets misread

Fee tiers are often read as a minor optimisation. For any strategy with a thin per-trade edge — grid, market making, high-frequency — the fee rate is not a cost line but a viability threshold: below a certain spacing or holding period, no fee tier makes the strategy profitable.

Calculate it

See also

Sources

Definitions are educational. Nothing here is investment advice, and no metric described on this page predicts future results.

Definitions are the easy part

Knowing what drawdown means is not the same as having a system that halts on it. QANTERION applies these limits while a strategy runs.

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