Maker vs taker fees

What makes an order a maker?

An order is a maker only when it enters the order book without matching and later receives an incoming order. It creates a quoted price other traders can take. The exchange can reward that contribution with a lower fee.

A taker consumes an existing bid or ask immediately. Market orders do this by design, but an aggressive limit order does too.

Order submitted	Book state	Result
Buy limit at $99	Best ask is $100	Rests as maker
Buy limit at $100	Best ask is $100	Fills as taker
Market buy	Asks are available	Fills as taker
Post-only buy at $100	Best ask is $100	Rejected or repriced

Why can a limit order pay a taker fee?

“Limit” controls the worst acceptable price. It does not promise the order will wait. A buy limit says fill at this price or lower. If sellers already offer at or below that limit, the order matches at once and removes liquidity.

This is why order type and liquidity role are different fields in a trade receipt. Our order type guide explains the execution instructions around them.

What does post-only change?

Post-only tells the venue not to execute the order immediately. Depending on venue rules, a marketable order is cancelled or moved one tick away. This protects the maker classification, but it may leave the trader without a position while price moves away.

Maker pricing is payment for waiting risk. Saving one basis point is not useful if the missed trade costs twenty.

How large is the fee difference?

On a $10,000 fill, 0.10% costs $10 and 0.05% costs $5. Over 100 one-way fills, that difference becomes $500. The rate matters to active traders, market makers and bots because turnover is much larger than account equity.

For an occasional buyer, spread and slippage can dominate a small maker-taker difference. Use the fee comparison for verified base rates and calculate the entire round trip with the P&L calculator.

When should a trader accept taker pricing?

Taker execution is rational when certainty and speed matter more than the fee: closing risk, entering after a confirmed trigger, or trading a market where a passive order is unlikely to fill. Use a limit with a controlled ceiling where supported, since a pure market order has no price boundary.

Maker execution suits planned entries where waiting is acceptable. It still needs cancellation logic. A stale order can fill after the original thesis has disappeared.

A practical decision rule

First decide whether price certainty, fill certainty or fee minimisation matters most. You cannot maximise all three:

1. Use a marketable limit when a fill is needed but an extreme price is unacceptable.
2. Use a passive limit when the price matters and missing the trade is acceptable.
3. Add post-only when maker status is mandatory.
4. Check the actual fill receipt; never infer the charged role from the order ticket.