Exchange fee calculator
Enter a trade size and see what each venue actually charges — market order, limit order, and the simple buy interface that quietly costs several times more.
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Your trade
Market orders cross the spread and pay the taker fee. Limit orders wait and pay the lower maker fee.
| Exchange | Rate | Cost per trade | Cost per year | Relative cost |
|---|
The three costs of a trade
Every trade costs you three separate things, and most people only look at the first:
- The trading fee. Maker or taker, published on the exchange's fee page. Usually the smallest of the three.
- The spread. On an order book you pay it by crossing to get filled. On a simple buy screen, the exchange's own margin is baked into the quoted price and never itemised.
- The withdrawal fee. Flat, network-dependent, and brutal on small balances.
The calculator above covers the first two, which is where the large and avoidable differences live.
How to pay less, in order of impact
- Use the trading interface, not the buy button. Coinbase Advanced instead of the Coinbase app screen; Kraken Pro instead of Kraken's instant buy. Same account, same funds, a fraction of the cost. This is worth more than every other item on this list combined.
- Use limit orders. Maker fees are lower than taker fees everywhere, and on some venues maker is zero or negative at higher tiers.
- Pay fees in the exchange token if you already hold it. BNB cuts Binance fees by 25%, KCS cuts KuCoin's by 20%. Do not buy the token purely for the discount — you are then taking price risk to save basis points.
- Batch your withdrawals. Withdrawal fees are flat, so ten small withdrawals cost ten times one large one.
About these numbers
Base-tier published rates as of September 2026, taken from each exchange's own fee schedule. Everyone reduces these with 30-day volume, so if you trade seriously your real rate will be lower. The spread estimate for simple-buy interfaces is 0.5%, which is at the low end of what those interfaces charge in calm markets and considerably below what they charge in volatile ones.
Frequently asked questions
Why are Coinbase fees so high?
Because most people use the wrong interface. The simple buy/sell screen in the Coinbase app charges a flat fee plus a spread of roughly 0.5%, widening in volatile markets. The Advanced Trade interface — same account, same funds, one tab away — charges maker/taker fees with no spread. For a $1,000 purchase the difference is routinely $30 or more. The same trap exists on Kraken and most other venues that run two interfaces.
What is the difference between maker and taker fees?
A maker order adds liquidity: it sits in the order book waiting to be filled, which is what a limit order placed away from the current price does. A taker order removes liquidity by filling against something already resting — that is every market order. Exchanges charge takers more because makers are doing them a favour. Using limit orders instead of market orders is the single easiest fee reduction available, and it costs nothing but patience.
What is a spread and why is it not in the fee schedule?
The spread is the gap between the best bid and the best ask. On an order book you pay it implicitly by crossing it. On a "simple buy" screen the exchange quotes you a single price with its own margin built in, typically 0.5% and up. It is a real cost that never appears on a fee page, which is exactly why this calculator models it separately.
Do withdrawal fees matter?
They can dwarf the trading fee on small amounts. A $20 Ethereum withdrawal fee on a $200 position is 10% — five hundred times the trading fee. Choose a cheap network where the asset supports one, batch withdrawals rather than making several, and check the fee before you deposit rather than after.