Crypto exchanges charge two different rates for the same trade depending on which side of the order book a participant is on. The split exists to pay for the liquidity the venue needs.
Adding and removing liquidity are different actions
An order that rests on the book waiting for a counterparty adds liquidity. An order that executes immediately against a resting order removes it.
The first is charged a maker rate, the second a taker rate, and the taker rate is normally higher because the venue is buying the resting order that made execution possible.
The distinction is determined at execution, not at submission. A limit order priced to cross the spread executes immediately and pays the taker rate.
Tiers are set by a rolling window
Both rates fall as a trader's volume rises. The measurement is usually a rolling period of recent days rather than a calendar month, recalculated on a schedule.
This means a tier is not permanent. A trader who slows down drops back as older volume falls outside the window, which happens automatically without notice.
Some venues combine volume with a balance requirement in the exchange's own token, so the tier reflects two conditions rather than trading activity alone.
Rebates invert the maker side
At the highest tiers, the maker rate on some venues becomes negative, meaning the exchange pays for resting orders rather than charging for them.
The venue funds this from taker fees, transferring part of what takers pay to the participants who kept the book populated.
Strategies built around rebates depend on the fee schedule remaining as published. A change to the tier structure alters the economics of the strategy directly.
Fees interact with spread and size
A tight spread with a high taker fee can cost more than a wide spread with a low one. The comparison requires adding the fee to the effective execution price.
For a small order the fee dominates, since the order barely moves the book. For a large order slippage dominates, and the fee becomes a secondary consideration.
Comparing venues therefore requires knowing the size being traded, because the ranking changes as size grows relative to available depth.
Derivatives schedules follow different logic
On perpetual futures venues, the fee applies to notional value rather than the margin posted, so leverage multiplies the cost of the same deposit.
Funding payments sit alongside fees as a separate recurring cost, paid between traders rather than to the exchange, and calculated on the same notional figure.
The combined cost of holding a leveraged position therefore has two moving parts, only one of which appears in the published fee schedule.