What is Maker and taker fee?

What does Maker and taker fee mean in practice?

A limit order that waits in the order book adds liquidity, so the trader is a maker. A market order, or a limit order that fills immediately against a resting order, removes liquidity, so the trader is a taker. Many exchanges charge a lower fee to makers, and some rebate them.

For frequent trading the difference compounds. Two strategies with the same entries can have noticeably different results if one pays taker fees on every trade and the other rests orders, though a resting order risks not being filled at all.

A worked example

Illustrative only: with a 0.02% maker fee and a 0.05% taker fee, a round trip taking liquidity on both sides costs 0.10%, while resting both orders costs 0.04%, if they fill.

How to read or test it

Find your exchange's actual fee tier, since fees usually fall as trailing volume rises and differ by product. Work out the round-trip cost for both a market-style entry and exit and a resting-order entry and exit, then express each as a fraction of your average target. If fees take a large share of the typical gain, the strategy has very little room for error. Also check whether a post-only order, which refuses to take liquidity, is available.

How AKQX handles Maker and taker fee

AKQX deducts estimated trading fees in backtests and paper trading, and paper trading has a setting for a maker-fee model. Your exchange's actual fee schedule is what applies on a real account, so check it rather than relying on an estimate.

See Backtesting with fees and slippage for the feature page.

A common mistake

Assuming a limit order is always a maker order. One that crosses the book fills as a taker.

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