Maker vs taker fees depend on whether an order adds liquidity to the order book or takes it, not on which button was pressed. A limit order that fills immediately is charged as a taker.
A trader who places a limit order expecting the lower rate, then sees a taker charge on the confirmation, has met the most common misunderstanding. The sections below separate the two labels, the immediate-fill edge case, the arithmetic and the limits of switching. For wider platform comparisons, see our crypto exchange reviews.
Maker and taker fees in plain terms
A maker fee is the charge applied to a transaction when the order adds liquidity to the market, while a taker fee applies when the transaction takes liquidity away, as Money to the Masses describes both charges. The market in question is the order book, which MirrorPip’s documentation defines as a live list of all pending buy and sell orders placed by traders.
The order types map onto those roles. A limit order lets the trader choose the exact price to buy or sell, and a market order executes immediately at the best available price in the order book. A taker, in the words of Mubite, removes liquidity by executing against what is already available on the book. A maker leaves an order waiting on the book for someone else to trade against.
| Feature | Maker | Taker |
|---|---|---|
| What the order does | Adds liquidity by resting on the order book | Removes liquidity by executing against orders already on the book |
| Typical order | A limit order that rests at the chosen price | A market order, or a limit order that fills right away |
| When status is decided | At fill time | At fill time |
| Fee label applied | Maker fee | Taker fee |
The definitions and the fill-time rule in the table follow Money to the Masses and Mubite.
The practical reading is that the fee label describes what the order did to the book, not what the trader intended. Two traders can click the same order type and receive different labels, depending on whether anything was already waiting at their price.
Limit orders that fill immediately
A limit order does not always count as a maker order. Mubite states that maker vs taker is decided at fill time, so the same limit order is a maker if it rests and a taker if it fills immediately.
PLUBIT’s own trading documentation makes the same point: if a limit order matches an existing order immediately after submission, it may instead be treated as a taker. The wording is conditional, so the exchange’s own fee page is the final word on how it labels such fills.
- Limit price crosses the spread. Mubite says a limit order that crosses the spread and is filled right away behaves like a taker.
- Limit price matches an existing order. MirrorPip describes a limit order placed at a price that immediately matches an existing order as a taker order, because it takes liquidity instead of adding it.
- Limit price rests on the book. An order that waits for others to trade against it adds liquidity and is the case that earns the maker label.
For anyone aiming at the maker rate, the useful check is whether the chosen price would match something already on the book. If it would, the order is likely to be charged as a taker, whatever the order ticket says.
Why taker fees are usually higher
Taker fees are usually higher because takers consume liquidity, so exchanges generally charge higher fees for taker orders. MirrorPip adds the other half of the logic: because makers help improve market quality, exchanges reward them with lower trading fees.
PLUBIT gives the same reasoning and concludes that maker fees are often lower than taker fees. The words “generally” and “often” matter. This is a pricing pattern, not a rule that every schedule follows, and the table of published ranges below shows an exchange where the maker and taker spans are identical.
Published fee ranges and fee tiers
Fee schedules are published as ranges rather than single rates, and the figures below were published on 30 Mar 2026 by Money to the Masses. They show the size of the maker and taker gap on each platform, without ranking the platforms.
- CEX.IO: maker 0.00%-0.16%, taker 0.10%-0.25%.
- Kraken: maker 0.00%-0.16%, taker 0.10%-0.26%.
- Gemini: maker 0.00%-0.25%, taker 0.03%-0.35%.
- Coinbase: maker 0.00%-0.50%, taker 0.00%-0.50%.
Where an account sits inside a range is a question of fee tier. PLUBIT’s documentation says the fee is based on the account’s trading fee tier and on whether the order acted as a maker or a taker, and that the exact rate depends on account level and order type. Compare maker with taker inside the same exchange and tier, and confirm the live schedule before relying on any figure, because published ranges are dated snapshots.
Money to the Masses also notes that most cryptocurrency exchanges only use a maker-taker fee model for those with advanced or pay-to-use accounts. A basic account may therefore show a different fee structure with no maker or taker split at all.
Worked fee calculation
The fee formula is trade value multiplied by the fee rate. The example below uses the figures from MirrorPip’s documentation, which are illustrative rates and not any particular exchange’s schedule.
- Fix the trade value. In the documentation example the trade is worth $10,000.
- Pick the rate that applies at fill. The example uses 0.02% for a maker and 0.05% for a taker.
- Multiply. The maker fee is $10,000 × 0.02% = $2, and the taker fee is $10,000 × 0.05% = $5.
- Check how the order actually filled. If a limit order matched an existing order at the moment it was placed, use the taker rate, not the maker rate.
The last step is the edge case that catches people out. In this example, a limit order for $10,000 that fills immediately is assessed at the taker rate of 0.05%, which gives $5, even though it was entered as a limit order and was expected to cost $2.
Entering both rates side by side before placing an order shows the cost of a wrong assumption. The exchange’s confirmation screen then confirms which rate was charged.
Switching from taker to maker to save money
A trader can move from taker to maker fees only by changing how the order interacts with the book. The route is a limit order priced so that it rests and waits for others to trade against it. It cannot be done by relabelling an order that fills at once.
Three conditions shape the decision:
- Fill-time status. A limit order is a maker only if it rests, so a price that matches an existing order produces a taker charge.
- Account type. The maker-taker model is mostly offered on advanced or pay-to-use accounts, so a simple buy screen may not offer the choice.
- Tier and order type. PLUBIT says the exact rate depends on account level and the type of order, so the saving from being a maker differs between accounts.
The saving is therefore real where a lower maker rate is published, but it is conditional on the order resting. Readers choosing a platform partly on how clearly it labels limit and market orders can compare options in the best crypto exchange app guide.
Frequently asked questions
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What sets the exact rate besides maker or taker status? | PLUBIT’s documentation names the account’s trading fee tier and whether the order acted as a maker or a taker. |
| Does every account get separate maker and taker rates? | No. According to Money to the Masses, the maker-taker model is generally limited to advanced or pay-to-use accounts on most crypto exchanges. |
| Is the order book the same as a price chart? | No. MirrorPip defines the order book as a live list of all pending buy and sell orders placed by traders, and takers execute against those orders. |
| Do published fee ranges show the rate on a given trade? | Not by themselves. A range such as Kraken’s taker span of 0.10%-0.26% covers the rates across the schedule, and the tier and fill status decide which rate is charged. |
