How Much Do Maker and Taker Fees Differ? One Simple Habit to Save on Fees

Same Trade, Different Fees

Have you noticed that Binance's fee schedule splits fees into Maker and Taker columns? Within the same VIP tier, the Maker rate is almost always lower than the Taker rate. What do these terms actually mean, how big is the fee gap, and how much can it save you? This article answers all of these questions.

What Are Maker and Taker

Maker: The One Who Waits for a Fill

When you place a limit order -- for example, a buy order below the current price or a sell order above it -- that order doesn't execute immediately and instead sits on the order book waiting. This is called "making" the market, as you're providing liquidity. Hence the name Maker.

Taker: The One Who Fills Immediately

When you place a market order, or your limit order's price happens to match an existing order and fills instantly, you're "taking" liquidity from the order book. Hence the name Taker.

Simple memory trick: if you place an order that waits for someone else to match, you're a Maker. If you actively match against someone else's order, you're a Taker.

How Big Is the Fee Gap

Spot Trading

At regular user levels, both Maker and Taker spot fees are 0.1% -- not much difference. But starting from VIP1, the two diverge noticeably. Higher VIP tiers widen the gap further. At advanced VIP levels, Maker might be just 0.02% while Taker sits around 0.04%.

Futures Trading

In futures, the gap exists from day one. Regular users pay 0.02% Maker vs. 0.05% Taker -- more than a 2x difference. At top VIP tiers, Maker can even go negative, meaning the exchange pays you for placing orders, while Taker still costs money.

One Simple Habit to Save Money Long-Term

Now that you understand the Maker/Taker distinction, you can adopt one simple trading habit for ongoing savings -- whenever possible, place orders instead of taking them.

How to Do It

When you want to buy a coin, don't hit "Market Buy." Instead, place a limit buy order slightly below the current price. For example, if BTC is at $60,000, place a buy order at $59,900. Most of the time, a few dozen dollars of price fluctuation will fill your order quickly.

The same applies to selling: place a limit sell order slightly above the current price instead of using market sell.

When Placing Orders Isn't Ideal

Two situations call for market orders instead. First, during rapid one-way moves when you need to cut losses immediately -- market orders ensure you exit at the first opportunity, and the fee savings pale in comparison to a timely stop-loss. Second, on illiquid small-cap coins where limit orders may sit unfilled for a long time.

How to Verify Whether Your Order Was Maker or Taker

In Binance's trade history, each order is labeled as either Maker or Taker. Log in to Binance official and review your recent trades to check the Maker-to-Taker ratio. If the vast majority are Taker, you have significant room for optimization.

Mobile users can download the Binance App via Binance official -- the order history within the App also shows the Maker/Taker tag for each trade.

By the Numbers

Suppose your monthly futures trading volume is $500,000.

All Taker at 0.05%: fees = $250.

If half are converted to Maker at 0.02%: fees drop to about $175 -- saving $75/month, or $900/year.

For higher VIP users with wider Maker-Taker spreads, the savings are even greater. And this is conservative -- if you can push your Maker ratio to 70-80%+, the impact becomes much more significant.

Using Post-Only to Guarantee Maker Status

Binance's futures trading offers a Post-Only order mode. When selected, if your limit order would fill immediately (becoming Taker), the system cancels it outright. This guarantees 100% Maker execution on every order, ensuring the lowest possible fee rate.

This feature is especially valuable for fee-sensitive high-frequency traders. Find Post-Only in the order type options on the futures trading interface.

Building the Habit Is What Counts

Placing limit orders doesn't require any extra effort -- the only change is your ordering habit. Switch from "default to market order" to "try limit order first, consider market order only if it doesn't fill." This small change won't affect your trading strategy but will continuously reduce your costs.

Many veterans look back and regret the early days when they overpaid in fees simply because they didn't understand the Maker-Taker difference. Now that you know, changing your habits today is the first step to saving money. Remember: fees are the most certain cost in trading, and reducing certain costs is one of the most reliable ways to improve profitability. During bear markets, the fees you save might be the only guaranteed "positive return" in your account. Don't underestimate this seemingly minor optimization -- the cumulative difference over time will surprise you.