Crypto trading fees - what to expect?
Cryptocurrency trading fees
Trading cryptocurrencies either via some crypto trading platform or cryptocurrency exchange is not free.
Here are the most common types of fees you're expected to pay.
Deposit & withdrawal fees
Normally deposits and withdrawals to and from cryptocurrency exchange are not free.
The fees can be anywhere from just 30 cents to 3, 4 or even 10% of your deposit/withdrawal.
You can see some deposit & withdrawal fee comparisons below:
| Details | Card | Fiat Deposit | Fiat Withdrawal | Instant Buy | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Binance | Binance offers many options for payments depending on your location, includong bank transfer, credit and debit cards and Apple Pay. | 1.8% | 1.8% | 1% (VISA) | 0.50% | |
| BingX exchange | Fees vary depending on trading volume and whether the user is a maker or taker. | Vary | Vary | Not available | Vary | |
| Bitfinex exchange | Bitfinex has 0.1% maker fee and 0.2% taker fee. Minimum fiat deposit fee is $60, but for bigger amounts just 0.1%. USDT, DOGE and DOT withdrawals are free. | 0.1% (minimum $60) | 0.1% (minimum $60) | n/a | n/a | |
| Bitforex exchange | Variable depending on trading volume, maker/taker status, and cryptocurrency | 3.5% | Depends on payment method, varying from free to 5% | No fiat withdrawals. | Roughly 2.5% to 15%. Deposits through MoonPay might be close to free. | |
| Bitget exchange | - | Vary | Free | 0.5 EUR | Vary | |
| Bitrue exchange | Bitrue offers competitive fees compared to other exchanges. Fees vary by coin/token and are transparently displayed on their website. Maker/taker fee is normally 0.098, but can be up to 0.28%. | 5% | The fee for fiat deposits varies by payment method | The fee for fiat withdrawals varies by payment method | Fees vary | |
| Bittrex | Bittrex fees are fairly high compared to many other exchanges. | 3% | Free or up to $25 | Free or up to $25 | 3% | |
| Bkex exchange | Competitive fees. | Varies by payment method. | Varies by payment method. | Varies by coin/token and withdrawal method. | - | |
| ByBit | Spot trading base fee is just 0.1%. | 1-15% | - | - | 1-15% | |
| Citex.io | Maker fee is 0.2%, Taker fee is 0.2% | Varies | Not offered | Not offered | Varies | |
| Coinbase | Coinbase fees can be quite overwhelming to understand. And what we found about crypto withdrawals and minimums, we can only tell you that the fee is 1% plus network fee. No information about the minimums. | 2.49% - 3.99% | €0.15 | Free or up to $25 | Up to 3.99% | |
| Gate.io | Gate.io fees are very competitive | 1-5% | - | - | 1-5% | |
| Gemini | Gemini fees structure is complicated. But withdrawal and deposit fees are either free (ACH transfers) or cost 3.49% plus trading fees (card) or based on your bank. | 3.49%+ | Free or up to 3.49%+ | Free or up to 3.49%+ | Free or up to 3.49%+ | |
| Huobi Global | Base trading fee is 0.2% | Unknown | 1-3% | 1% | 1% | |
| Kraken | Kraken fees are competitive and comparable to industry average. | 3.75% + $/€0.25 | Free or up to $/€ 10 | Free or up to $/€ 35 | 0.9% - 1.5% | |
| Kucoin | Kucoin trading fees are competitive, while crypto instant buy fees are somewhat high. | 3% - 12% | Free to 3% | n/a yet | 3% - 12% | |
| Lbank | Lbank fees are low. Trading fees are 0.1%/0.1% and crypto withdrawal are fees very reasonable. | - | - | - | - | |
| MEXC Global | Direct Buy Fees can be anywhere from 1%-15%, base trading fee for spot is 0.000%! | 1-15% | - | - | 1-15% | |
| Phemex | Phemex charges 0.1% fees for trading. The same fee is for maker and taker. Crypto deposit and withdrawal fees vary. | Varies | - | - | Varies | |
| Upbit exchange | Deposits and withdrawals are available in 40 cryptocurrencies plus Korean Won. | N/A | N/A | 5 SGD | N/A | |
| Whitebit exchange | Trading fees vary, but never exceed 0.1%. Deposit/withdrawal fees depend on method. | 4.5% + €0.25 per transaction | 0.2%-1.5% | €5 | Varies | |
| Yobit | Maker fee: 0.20%, Taker fee: 0.20%, Withdrawal fee for BTC is 0.0005 BTC, but for altcoins it varies. | Deposit fees unknown. Withdrawals 4-7%. | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Trading fees
You are also charged a fee for every trade you make. The fees are usually called maker fees and taker fees.
One is the fee for buying crypto and the other for selling it.
The exact trading fees depends a lot on the exchange/platform, but generally the base fees are each anywhere between 0.1% and 1.5% of the trade amount.
The fees can be lowered based on your monthly trading volume.
Compare trading fees below:
| Maker | Taker | Fee discounts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Binance | 0.1% | 0.1% | If you pay with fees with BNB, you automatically get a 20% fee discount. | |
| BingX exchange | 0.1% | 0.1% | Yes, fees decrease as trading volume increases. | |
| Bitfinex exchange | 0.1% | 0.2% | There are fee discounts based on your trading volume. Also newly listed token trading fees are lower | |
| Bitforex exchange | 0.1% | 0.1% | Yes, with BF token | |
| Bitget exchange | 0.1% | 0.1% | Fees can be significantly lowered. | |
| Bitrue exchange | 0.098% | 0.098% | Yes, Bitrue offers fee discounts based on the amount of BTR a user holds | |
| Bittrex | 0.75% | 0.75% | - | |
| Bkex exchange | 0.15% | 0.2% | - | |
| ByBit | 0.1% | 0.1% | Discounts based on trading volume. | |
| Citex.io | 0.2% | 0.2% | Futures trading fee is 0.1% | |
| Coinbase | 0.5% | 0.5% | - | |
| Gate.io | 0.2% | 0.2% | If you pay the fees with KCS, you pay 30%-70% less trading fees. | |
| Gemini | 0.25% | 0.35% | - | |
| Huobi Global | 0.2% | 0.2% | Fee discounts if you hold Huobi token HT. | |
| Kraken | 0.16% | 0.26% | - | |
| Kucoin | 0.1% | 0.1% | Pay for fees with KCS to lower your fees. | |
| Lbank | 0.1% | 0.1% | - | |
| MEXC Global | 0% | 0% | Pay for fees with MX token, and you can get 10% off futures trading fees. | |
| Phemex | 0.1% | 0.1% | Depending on your trading volume fees can go down to -0.0020%/0.0300%. Fees for contracts trading ar | |
| Upbit exchange | 0.2% | 0.2% | Using Lightning Transfer that can be used when withdrawing between Upbit accounts, is free. | |
| Whitebit exchange | 0.1% | 0.1% | Fees can be lowered by owning WBT coin. | |
| Yobit | 0.2% | 0.2% | No |
Exchange fees
There can also be other fees in the cryptocurrency exchange. So make sure you read the fine print in the exchange you decide to join.
Spreads
Spreads are maybe not so important when choosing the crypto trading exchange, but they are very important when you're trading crypto on some CFD trading platform.
Different crypto trading platforms can also have different spreads and sometimes part of the commission/fee can be hidden there.
Spread is the difference between buy and sell price.
For example the buying price for Bitcoin can be $50 000 while selling price can be $49 500.
Just an example.
Spreads can be fixed, but they can also change should the market conditions be very volatile.
I became interested in cryptocurrencies only a bit more than two years ago. Since then I have been in investing in cryptos using different exchanges. And I also launched Cryptolorium.com when I started trading, just to share my crypto journey and my results.