Which one are you?
It is decided by the order, not by whether you are buying or selling. If your order fills instantly against something already on the book, you are the taker. If it sits and waits for someone else to hit it, you are the maker.
- Market order → always a taker
- Limit order placed away from the market → maker when it fills
- Limit order priced through the market → fills immediately, charged as taker
- Stop order → becomes a market order on trigger, so taker
Why the difference exists
An exchange with no resting orders is not a market. Maker rebates and lower maker fees are the incentive that keeps the book populated, and taker fees are how the venue is paid for providing that ready liquidity to you.
At 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker, a $50,000 round trip costs $20 in taker fees versus $8 as a maker. Repeated daily, that difference is the whole edge of many short-term strategies.
Fee tiers and volume
Most venues discount both sides as your 30-day volume rises, and some add discounts for holding the exchange's own token. Before optimising for a tier, check what you actually trade in a month — most retail accounts never leave the base tier, so the headline VIP rates are irrelevant.
Trading as a maker in practice
- Use post-only orders so the order is cancelled rather than filled as taker
- Accept that some entries will be missed — that is the trade-off
- Never chase a runaway move with a limit order just to save fees
- Compare total cost: maker fee plus the risk of no fill, versus taker fee plus certainty