Maker fees apply when your order adds liquidity to an exchange's order book and waits to be filled. Taker fees apply when your order removes liquidity by matching against something already there. Takers almost always pay more.
Nothing arbitrary sits behind that gap. An exchange with an empty order book is useless to everyone, so venues charge takers more, and some pay makers a rebate, to keep orders resting in the book where traders can hit them.
Which one are you?
Buying or selling has nothing to do with the distinction. It depends entirely on whether your order sits or executes immediately.
You are a maker when you place a limit order at a price nobody is currently offering. Your order joins the book, displays to other traders, and waits. You made liquidity.
You are a taker when you place a market order, or a limit order priced so it fills instantly against existing orders. You took liquidity that was already there.
One order can be both. A large limit order that partially fills immediately and rests for the remainder is charged as a taker on the filled portion and a maker on the rest.
Why exchanges price it this way
What a trading venue actually sells is liquidity. A deep book means tight spreads, low slippage, and orders that fill near the quoted price.
Providing that depth is nobody's obligation. Resting orders carry real risk, since a limit order sitting on the book can be filled by someone trading on information the maker does not have. Charging makers less, or paying them, compensates for that risk and keeps the book populated.
Takers get the convenience of immediate execution, and pay for it.
Typical fee structure
| Maker | Taker | |
|---|---|---|
| Order type | Limit order that rests | Market order, or a limit that fills instantly |
| Effect on the book | Adds liquidity | Removes liquidity |
| Execution | Uncertain, may never fill | Immediate |
| Price control | You set it | The book decides |
| Fee level | Lower, sometimes a rebate | Higher |
Most exchanges on a crypto exchange comparison also run tiered pricing, where fees fall as your 30-day trading volume rises. Some reduce fees further for holding the platform's own token, which is one of the utilities $MBG provides across the mb.io ecosystem.
The cost that is not in the fee schedule
Standard mistake: comparing maker and taker rates while ignoring everything else.
Consider a market order on a thin book. The taker fee might be 0.1%, and if your order climbs three price levels to fill, slippage could cost several percent. By a wide margin, the fee was the smaller number.
Now consider a maker order that never fills. Your fee was low or negative, and you did not get the trade. If the market moved away and you chased it later at a worse price, the cheaper fee cost you more than the taker fee would have.
Three things determine what a trade actually costs: the fee, the spread you cross, and the slippage from your order size against available depth. Fee schedules only advertise the first.
When each approach makes sense
Descriptively, here is how the trade-off tends to be handled.
- Speed matters more than price. Taking is the only option when execution certainty is the priority.
- Price matters more than speed. Resting a limit order captures the maker rate and accepts that it may not fill.
- Large orders on thin books. Splitting into smaller resting orders reduces market impact, at the cost of time and uncertainty.
- High-frequency strategies. Rebates can be a meaningful share of the economics rather than a rounding error.
What suits you depends on your strategy and how much execution certainty is worth, and that is not something a fee table can answer.
Put this into practice on mb.io
Fees are one input. Execution speed and real depth behind the quote are the others.
mb.io is a regulated crypto spot exchange backed by MultiBank Group, a financial institution founded in 2005 that serves more than 2 million clients across 100+ countries.
- Regulated by VARA in the UAE and AUSTRAC in Australia
- 40-nanosecond execution speed
- 10/10 security score from Hacken, an independent blockchain security auditor
- Institutional-grade MPC custody powered by Fireblocks, with segregated client funds
- $MBG holders receive trading fee discounts across the ecosystem
- 24/7 customer support, on web and on the iOS and Android apps
Open your account and start trading on mb.io.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a maker and a taker?
A maker places an order that rests in the order book and adds liquidity. A taker places an order that fills immediately against existing orders, removing liquidity. It depends on how the order executes, not whether you are buying or selling.
Why are maker fees lower than taker fees?
Because resting orders are what make a market tradable. Exchanges discount maker fees, and sometimes pay rebates, to keep the order book populated so takers have something to trade against.
Do limit orders always get maker fees?
No. A limit order priced so it fills immediately against existing orders is charged as a taker, because it removed liquidity rather than adding it. Only the portion that rests earns the maker rate.
What is a maker rebate?
A negative fee, where the exchange pays you for adding liquidity rather than charging you. It is typically available only to high-volume traders and market makers.
Are maker and taker fees the only trading cost?
No, and frequently not the largest. The spread you cross and the slippage caused by your order size against available depth can both exceed the fee, particularly on thinly traded assets.
How do I reduce my trading fees?
Fee tiers fall as 30-day volume rises on most exchanges, using limit orders that rest captures the maker rate, and some platforms discount fees for holding their own token.
Does a decentralized exchange have maker and taker fees?
Not in the same form. An AMM charges a flat swap fee shared among liquidity providers, since there is no order book and therefore no distinction between adding and removing resting orders.
