How exchange fees work

Maker and taker

On an order book, a maker adds an order that waits. A taker fills an order that is already there. The schedules on Coinbase Advanced, Kraken Pro, Gemini ActiveTrader, Binance.US Advanced, Crypto.com Exchange, Bitstamp, and Robinhood exchange routing all publish both numbers. The comparison on this site sorts on the entry taker fee, because that is the rate for an order that fills immediately. Affiliate links are not an input.

The figures below were copied onto the profiles on 18 October 2026. Schedules change. The profile links the page. At entry, Coinbase Advanced was 0.50 percent maker and 0.90 percent taker. Kraken Pro tier 1 was 0.40 percent maker and 0.80 percent taker. Gemini ActiveTrader was 0.60 percent maker and 1.20 percent taker, on a schedule dated 1 September 2026. Binance.US Advanced was 0 percent maker and 0.02 percent taker on standard pairs. Bitstamp's schedule, valid from 9 July 2026, was 0.30 percent maker and 0.40 percent taker under $10,000 of 30-day volume. Crypto.com's exchange table, updated 17 October 2026, started at 0.25 percent maker and 0.50 percent taker under $10,000, before any CRO discount. A top-tier quote is not the fee on a new account.

The button you actually press

A simple buy is often a spread or a bundled price, not the maker/taker row. Coinbase, Gemini, and Kraken say the simple quote includes a spread or a variable fee. Uphold does not publish a maker/taker table at all. Its schedule, updated 21 September 2026, lists BTC and ETH at about 2.05 to 2.2 percent in the spread, and the preview is the price you confirm. The sort uses the high end of that BTC/ETH band, 2.2 percent, because there is no taker cell to use.

Robinhood's default US route charges no commission. Robinhood is paid a rebate inside the spread, so that route has no taker percent. The number in the sort is the exchange-routing schedule for Legend and some advanced orders: 0.50 percent maker and 0.95 percent taker at the entry tier, from the US fee PDF. The Canadian 0.50 percent schedule is a different document and is not used. If you never turn on exchange routing, the table's Robinhood number is not your fee, and the spread still is.

Worked dollars, labelled as arithmetic

These are multiplications of the entry rates above, on a hypothetical $1,000 order, not a trade this site placed. A Coinbase Advanced taker fill is 0.90 percent, which is $9. A maker order at 0.50 percent is $5, and only if it rests instead of crossing the book. A Kraken Pro taker fill is 0.80 percent, $8. A Gemini ActiveTrader taker fill is 1.20 percent, $12. A Binance.US Advanced taker fill is 0.02 percent, $0.20, in a state where that venue operates. A Bitstamp taker fill at the entry tier is 0.40 percent, $4. An Uphold BTC or ETH preview at the high end of the published band is 2.2 percent, $22, inside the price rather than as a separate line.

Robinhood exchange routing at 0.95 percent taker is $9.50 on that $1,000. The default Robinhood route is not in this arithmetic, because the cost is a spread the PDF does not convert into a taker percent. Do not subtract these figures from each other and call the difference a saving you captured. You capture the rate of the button you press, on the venue that will open an account for you, after the spread on a simple buy if that is the button.

Pairs, tiers, and the fee that is not a trade

Tiers usually fall as 30-day volume rises. Kraken, from 9 July 2026, also lets assets held on the platform set the tier. Crypto.com's table discounts fees if you hold at least 50,000 CRO, down to a zero maker fee at the entry level in the profile note. A discount that requires a large balance of the venue's own token is a different product from the headline rate. Read the row that matches what you will actually hold.

Stablecoin pairs are often cheaper than BTC pairs on the same schedule. Gemini's profile records 0 percent maker and 0 percent taker on RLUSD/USD, USDC/GUSD, and GUSD/USD, and 0 percent maker and 0.01 percent taker on other stablecoin pairs. Bitstamp's stablecoin and FX pairs are cheaper than its standard pair in the same schedule. Do not apply the BTC taker fee to a dollar-stablecoin conversion without reading the row. Uphold's 0 percent band between dollars and supported USD stablecoins has a monthly cap and a price condition, and it is not the BTC spread.

A trading fee is not a withdrawal fee, and neither one is custody. The profile records the trading number it copied. What the company charges to send coins out, and whether a simple buy hid a spread, are separate lines on the venue's own page. Read them at the moment you move funds. This site does not invent a gas price.

Questions

Why sort on taker instead of maker? A marketable order pays taker. Maker is cheaper and might never fill. The sort is for the order that fills now. If you place resting orders, read the maker column on the profile instead of the sort position.

Is the lowest entry taker the cheapest way to buy bitcoin? Only if that schedule is the button you press, and only if the venue serves you. A simple-buy spread can dwarf a low taker fee you never accessed. Binance.US posts the lowest entry taker in this set and is not licensed in every state.

Do fees change the token checker? No. The checker scores a contract. The fee table scores a published trading price. A low fee does not make a token safe, and a Low token score does not make an exchange cheap.

Published entry rates

1. Binance.US · 0.00% maker / 0.02% taker
2. Bitstamp · 0.30% maker / 0.40% taker
3. Crypto.com · 0.25% maker / 0.50% taker
4. Kraken · 0.40% maker / 0.80% taker
5. Coinbase · 0.50% maker / 0.90% taker
6. Robinhood Crypto · 0.50% maker / 0.95% taker, exchange routing
7. Gemini · 0.60% maker / 1.20% taker
8. Uphold · Spread, high end 2.20%