Nobody is dramatically cheaper — but the details matter. Real fee numbers for the big four, and the five habits that cut what you actually pay.
Updated Oct 2026 · By TokVS
Regular-tier (VIP0) baselines — the rates a new account actually gets:
| Exchange | Spot maker | Spot taker | Futures maker | Futures taker |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Binance | 0.10% | 0.10% | 0.02% | 0.05% |
| OKX | 0.08% | 0.10% | 0.02% | 0.05% |
| Bybit | 0.10% | 0.10% | 0.02% | 0.055% |
| Bitget | 0.10% | 0.10% | 0.02% | 0.06% |
Fee schedules change — check the official sites. Full comparison with rebates: fee & rebate table.
The headline: OKX has the lowest spot maker fee (0.08%); futures maker is 0.02% everywhere; futures taker ranges 0.05%–0.06%. Nobody is dramatically cheaper — the real savings come from how you trade, not just where.
A maker order sits on the book waiting (a limit order that doesn't fill instantly) — you add liquidity, so you pay less. A taker order fills immediately against the book (market orders, or aggressive limits) — you remove liquidity, so you pay more. The single cheapest habit in crypto trading: use limit orders by default. On every exchange above, that one habit cuts your fee by 20–50% versus market-ordering everything.
Lowest spot maker fee of the four: Create OKX account
Spot fees look small because they are — 0.10% on a $1,000 buy is $1. Futures are the opposite: leverage multiplies your traded notional, and the fee multiplies with it. A 10x leveraged $1,000 position pays fees on $10,000 of notional. That's why futures traders should care about every 0.005%, while spot buy-and-hold investors can nearly ignore the whole topic.
Withdrawal fees aren't set by fee tiers — they're set by blockchain networks. Withdrawing USDT on TRC20 usually costs around $1; on ERC20 it can cost $10+ when Ethereum is congested. Same exchange, same coin, 10x difference — determined entirely by the network you pick. Always check the withdrawal fee preview before confirming, and never withdraw dust amounts.
Tables are abstract; your trading isn't. Plug your monthly volume into our futures fee calculator and see what each exchange costs you per year — then add the rebate layer. Most people discover the "cheapest exchange" question answers itself once their own numbers are in.
Casual — $2,000/month spot, mixed maker/taker (~0.09% blended): about $1.80/month everywhere. The "cheapest exchange" debate is worth $0.20/month to you. Skip it; pick by experience.
Active — $50,000/month spot, mostly maker: OKX at 0.08% = $40; others at 0.10% = $50. Ten dollars a month, $120 a year — real but not life-changing.
Serious futures — $500,000/month taker: Binance/OKX at 0.05% = $250; Bybit at 0.055% = $275; Bitget at 0.06% = $300. Now we're talking $300–600/year gaps — before rebates. At this level, the fee table is your most-read page.
Posted fees are the sticker price; rebates are the discount you get for showing up through the right door. Under official referral programs, a slice of every fee you pay comes back — same fee rate as signing up directly, plus cashback on top. At the "serious futures" volume above, a 30–50% rebate returns $900–1,500 a year. That's not a coupon; that's a salary bump. The rebate math deserves its own line in your spreadsheet.
There's a documented beginner trap: spending six hours comparing 0.01% fee differences, then market-buying into a 5% intraday swing. Fees are certain, small, and controllable; market moves are uncertain, large, and uncontrollable. Optimize in the right order: 1. stop market-ordering everything (saves 20–50% of fees instantly), 2. use a referral link (free money), 3. then compare platforms. Anyone doing step 3 before step 1 is polishing the wrong knob.
Run this checklist for a month and low fees become a habit, not a research project.
Three profiles where the fee table is the whole decision: high-frequency futures traders (basis points compound into salaries), market makers (negative maker fees exist at volume — the exchange pays you), and arbitrageurs (their edge is the fee gap). If you're none of these — and 95% of readers aren't — treat fees as a tiebreaker between otherwise-equal platforms, not the main event.
Take the "serious futures" trader: $500k/month taker volume on Binance at 0.05% = $250/month in fees, $3,000/year. With a 40% rebate through an official referral program, $1,200/year comes back. Same trades, same platform, same fee rate — the only difference is which link you signed up with. That's the entire pitch for referral links: not lower fees, but a refund on the fees you were paying anyway. It costs nothing, it's the exchange's own program, and the only mistake is signing up without one.
Cheapest spot maker: OKX (0.08%). Cheapest futures taker: Binance/OKX (0.05%). Cheapest overall experience for most people: whichever of the big four you signed up to with a rebate link and trade with limit orders — because behavior beats basis points. The fee table gets you the last 10%; your habits get you the first 90%.
If you remember nothing else: limit orders beat market orders on every exchange, futures notional is what you're really paying on, withdrawal networks matter more than withdrawal exchanges, and a rebate link refunds part of everything. Four habits, and you'll pay less than 95% of traders without ever "optimizing".
Don't take any article's word for it — fee schedules live on each exchange's official site, usually under "Fees" or "Fee Schedule" in the footer. Check three pages before you commit: the spot fee table (maker/taker by VIP tier), the futures fee table (same split, different numbers), and the withdrawal fees page (per coin, per network). Ten minutes of reading beats a year of assuming. And whenever a promo changes the numbers, the official page updates first — bookmark it.
Same fees as signing up directly — our link costs you nothing extra.
A limit order on any major's spot market: ~$0.08–0.10 in fees. Don't overthink it — the price move in the next hour dwarfs the fee.
Not until your 30-day volume crosses into the tens of thousands. Below that you're on the standard tier everywhere, which is exactly what our table shows.
Sometimes on paper, never all-in: gas fees, MEV/slippage and bridge costs usually exceed CEX fees for regular sizes. DEXes win on custody and access, not on cost.
Do the math first: compute your actual yearly fee gap (our calculator), then ask if it's worth re-verifying, re-learning an app, and splitting your liquidity. For most people under $50k/year volume, the answer is no.
No. Holding costs nothing on any major exchange. Fees trigger on trades, conversions and withdrawals — not on sitting still.
No — the same account, same fee tier, same rates on app, web and API. Pick whichever interface you trade best on.