Understand what you pay and how to minimize it
Every trade has a fee. Typically 0.1% of the trade amount. That sounds tiny — but you pay it twice: once when you buy, once when you sell. To just break even, the price needs to move +0.2% in your favor. Over dozens of trades, fees add up to a significant amount. Professionals obsess over fees. You should too.
Exchanges charge different fees depending on how you place your order. Taker — you take liquidity from the market. This happens with market orders. Higher fee, typically ~0.10%. Maker — you add liquidity to the market. This happens with limit orders that go into the order book. Lower fee, typically ~0.08%. Simple rule: limit orders cost less than market orders.
The formula is simple: Fee = trade amount × fee rate Example: You trade $1,000 worth of BTC at 0.1% fee. Buy fee: $1,000 × 0.001 = $1.00 Sell fee: $1,000 × 0.001 = $1.00 Total: $2.00 Your position needs to go up at least $2 before you break even. Always factor fees into your target.
Withdrawal fee — a fixed amount charged when you move coins out of the exchange to your own wallet. This varies by coin: BTC ~$1–5, ETH ~$3–10, USDT on cheaper networks ~$1. Network fee — paid to the blockchain (miners/validators), not the exchange. Also called "gas fee" on Ethereum. Always check both fees before withdrawing. Moving small amounts can be very inefficient if fees eat a large percentage.
Four practical ways to pay less in fees: 1. Use limit orders instead of market orders — lower maker fee. 2. Avoid making too many small trades — each trade costs a fee. 3. Check withdrawal fees before moving funds — pick cheaper networks when available. 4. Some exchanges offer discounts for holding their native token (e.g. BNB on Binance gives up to 25% fee discount).
You buy ETH for $500, then immediately sell it for $500. The fee is 0.1%. How much money did you lose?
Every trade has a fee. Typically 0.1% of the trade amount. That sounds tiny — but you pay it twice: once when you buy, once when you sell.
To just break even, the price needs to move +0.2% in your favor. Over dozens of trades, fees add up to a significant amount. Professionals obsess over fees. You should too.