Compare the total cost of trading across crypto exchanges: maker/taker, VIP tiers, funding, spread, network fees, and whether a venue can serve you.
Exchange Guides · Updated 2026-10-09
Exchange comparison tables usually show one number: the base trading fee. That number is only a starting point. What you actually pay is the sum of trading fees, funding on perpetual positions, the spread and slippage you pay when you cross the order book, and the cost of moving money in and out. Which of these dominates depends on how you trade, so the cheapest venue for one person can be the most expensive for another.
Our exchange catalog describes fee models qualitatively, as tiered, tiered maker/taker, competitive or campaign-driven, and tells readers to check the current fee schedule and campaign terms. It lists no fee percentages, because they change and vary by country.
Maker orders add liquidity, for example a limit order that rests in the book. Taker orders remove it, for example a market order or a limit order priced to fill immediately. Takers usually pay more than makers. Most venues lower their rates as your rolling 30-day volume or your holdings of the venue's own token rise; these are VIP tiers. Some also run temporary campaigns that change fees for a period or for certain users, and our catalog notes that campaign terms can change frequently.
When you compare, write down the rate for the tier you will realistically be in, for the product you will actually use. Spot and futures often have separate fee schedules, and a promotional rate that expires after a few weeks says little about your cost over a year.
The following example uses made-up rates for two imaginary venues, not the fees of any real exchange. Venue A charges 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker. Venue B charges 0.01% maker and 0.06% taker. Two traders each trade 100,000 USDT a month.
Trader 1 mostly uses market orders: 20% maker and 80% taker. On Venue A the monthly cost is 20,000 × 0.02% + 80,000 × 0.05% = 4 + 40 = 44 USDT. On Venue B it is 20,000 × 0.01% + 80,000 × 0.06% = 2 + 48 = 50 USDT. Venue A is cheaper for this trader.
Trader 2 mostly uses limit orders: 80% maker and 20% taker. On Venue A the cost is 80,000 × 0.02% + 20,000 × 0.05% = 16 + 10 = 26 USDT. On Venue B it is 80,000 × 0.01% + 20,000 × 0.06% = 8 + 12 = 20 USDT. Now Venue B is cheaper. Same venues, same volume, opposite answer.
Volume tiers shift the picture again. Suppose Venue A lowers its taker rate to 0.04% for accounts trading more than 1,000,000 USDT a month. Trader 1's order mix at that volume would cost 200,000 × 0.02% + 800,000 × 0.04% = 40 + 320 = 360 USDT, against 200,000 × 0.02% + 800,000 × 0.05% = 40 + 400 = 440 USDT at the base rate. A tier you will never reach is irrelevant, so compare at your own volume and order mix.
If you hold perpetual futures, funding can matter as much as trading fees. Our recorded data for the BTCUSDT perpetual, as of 7 October 2026 00:02 UTC, shows settlements every 8 hours on both Binance and Bybit. Over the 30 days to that date, Binance's 90 settlements summed to 0.411137% (annualized 5.00%, 90% of settlements positive) and Bybit's summed to 0.370401% (annualized 4.51%, 88.9% positive).
For a 10,000 USDT long held for the full 30 days at a constant notional, that is about 10,000 × 0.411137% ≈ 41.11 USDT on Binance and 10,000 × 0.370401% ≈ 37.04 USDT on Bybit, a difference of about 4.07 USDT. Over 90 days the sums were 1.514474% and 1.137319%, or about 151.45 and 113.73 USDT. A short would have received roughly those amounts instead of paying them. Compared with the hypothetical trading fees above, funding on a position held for weeks is clearly not a rounding error.
This is a dated snapshot, not a ranking. Funding changes at every settlement: at the latest settlement in the same data, Binance's BTC rate was −0.000743% and Bybit's was 0.001655%, so the ordering can flip from one settlement to the next. Check the current figures on our funding rates pages before drawing any conclusion.
The spread is the gap between the best bid and the best ask; a market buy pays roughly half of it relative to the mid price. Slippage is the extra cost when your order is larger than the quantity available at the best price. Both depend on the pair and the order size, and on less liquid pairs they can exceed the trading fee. To compare, look at the order book for your pair, at your typical order size, on each venue.
Moving money has its own costs. Fiat deposits and withdrawals may carry bank or card charges, crypto withdrawals carry a fee that depends on the network you choose, and the same coin can be cheaper to move on one network than another. Count how many times a month you deposit and withdraw, and multiply. A trader who moves funds every week can pay more in transfers than in trading fees.
Fees are irrelevant if a venue cannot legally serve you. Availability depends on country rules and can differ by product: an exchange may offer spot trading where you live but not derivatives, or may limit some onboarding paths or campaigns to certain regions. Our catalog notes that restrictions vary materially by jurisdiction and that you should check KYC and regional support before signing up.
Check four things on each exchange's own website: the terms of use and their list of restricted jurisdictions, whether identity verification is available for your country of residence, which products your account can access after verification, and which local deposit and withdrawal methods are supported. If the terms exclude you, do not try to work around them with a VPN or false details.
Common mistakes are comparing only base taker fees, assuming a VIP tier you will never reach, ignoring funding on positions held for days, ignoring withdrawal and network fees, choosing a venue for a campaign that is about to end, and comparing exchanges that are not legally available to you. Lower cost also does not make a venue safer; cost is only one part of deciding where to keep money. Exchanges can restrict accounts, change fees or fail, and leveraged products can lose all the margin committed to them. This guide is not investment advice or a recommendation of any exchange.
Educational content, not investment advice. Guide content and league rankings are independent of any exchange or sponsor relationship.