When trading on Binance, you'll notice that fees are split into two categories: Maker and Taker. Most people know Maker is cheaper, but aren't quite sure how much cheaper, or how to take advantage of this difference to save money in practice. Today we'll cover this topic thoroughly.
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What Are Maker and Taker
Before discussing fees, let's clarify these two concepts.
Maker (order placer / market maker): Your order is placed on the order book, waiting for someone else to trade against it. Simply put, you submit a limit order that enters the queue, "making" liquidity for the market.
Taker (order taker): Your order immediately matches with existing orders on the book. Simply put, you use a market order to buy or sell, directly "taking" someone else's order and removing liquidity from the market.
Why does the platform give Makers lower fees? Because Makers increase market liquidity and depth, giving other traders better prices and less slippage. The platform uses the fee differential to incentivize users to act as Makers, maintaining a healthy trading environment.
How Much Do Maker and Taker Fees Differ
Here's a breakdown of the Maker and Taker fee differences across Binance VIP levels.
Spot Trading
| VIP Level | Maker | Taker | Difference | Maker Savings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VIP 0 | 0.1000% | 0.1000% | 0 | 0% |
| VIP 1 | 0.0900% | 0.1000% | 0.01% | 10% |
| VIP 2 | 0.0800% | 0.1000% | 0.02% | 20% |
| VIP 3 | 0.0420% | 0.0600% | 0.018% | 30% |
| VIP 4 | 0.0420% | 0.0540% | 0.012% | 22% |
| VIP 5 | 0.0360% | 0.0480% | 0.012% | 25% |
In spot trading, VIP 0 Maker and Taker fees are identical at 0.1%. Starting from VIP 1, a gap appears, and the Maker advantage becomes more pronounced as VIP level increases.
USDT-Margined Futures
| VIP Level | Maker | Taker | Difference | Maker Savings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VIP 0 | 0.0200% | 0.0500% | 0.03% | 60% |
| VIP 1 | 0.0160% | 0.0400% | 0.024% | 60% |
| VIP 2 | 0.0140% | 0.0350% | 0.021% | 60% |
| VIP 3 | 0.0120% | 0.0320% | 0.020% | 62.5% |
| VIP 4 | 0.0100% | 0.0300% | 0.020% | 66.7% |
| VIP 5 | 0.0080% | 0.0270% | 0.019% | 70.4% |
The Maker-Taker gap in futures is enormous. At VIP 0, the Maker fee of 0.02% is only two-fifths of the Taker fee of 0.05% — meaning limit orders are 60% cheaper than market orders. This gap stays above 60% at every VIP level.
Coin-Margined Futures
Coin-margined futures have even lower Maker fees. VIP 0 Maker is only 0.01%, while Taker is 0.05%. Maker is 80% cheaper than Taker.
Real-World Cost Comparisons
Percentages may not be intuitive enough, so let's calculate with actual amounts.
Scenario 1: 100,000 USDT Spot Trade (VIP 1)
Market order (Taker): 100,000 x 0.1% = 100 USDT Limit order (Maker): 100,000 x 0.09% = 90 USDT Savings: 10 USDT
If you make 20 such trades per month, that's 200 USDT/month and 2,400 USDT/year saved.
Scenario 2: 100,000 USDT Futures Trade (VIP 0)
Market order (Taker): 100,000 x 0.05% = 50 USDT Limit order (Maker): 100,000 x 0.02% = 20 USDT Savings: 30 USDT
Due to leverage in futures, actual trading volume is usually much larger than the margin. Using 10,000 USDT margin with 10x leverage means 100,000 USDT per position. A round trip (open + close) saves 60 USDT.
An active futures trader making 3-5 trades per day is quite normal. At 120 USDT saved per day, that's 3,600 USDT/month and 43,200 USDT/year. These numbers deserve every trader's attention.
Scenario 3: 1,000,000 USDT Futures Trade (VIP 3)
Market order (Taker): 1,000,000 x 0.032% = 320 USDT Limit order (Maker): 1,000,000 x 0.012% = 120 USDT Savings: 200 USDT
Saving 200 USDT per trade — if you operate at this volume daily, the accumulated savings are staggering.
How to Ensure Your Orders Execute as Maker
Understanding the difference is one thing — the key is ensuring your orders actually fill as Maker in practice.
Use Limit Orders
This is the most basic approach. Choose "limit order" instead of "market order." But simply using a limit order isn't enough — if your specified price already matches existing orders on the book, your limit order will still execute as a Taker.
For example, if BTC's best ask price is 60,000 USDT and you place a buy limit order at 60,000, it will immediately match the ask and fill as a Taker.
To be a Maker, you need to place a buy order below the current best ask, such as 59,990 USDT. Your order then enters the book and waits. When the price pulls back to 59,990 and fills, you're the Maker.
The same logic applies to selling: place a sell order above the current best bid.
Use "Post Only" Mode
Binance offers a very useful feature called "Post Only." With this enabled, if your limit order would execute as a Taker, the system cancels the order rather than executing it.
This ensures every filled order is a Maker order — you'll never accidentally become a Taker.
How to use: When placing a limit order, find the "Post Only" toggle in the advanced options and turn it on.
Set Reasonable Prices
Being a Maker means your execution price won't be the current best price, but rather a price you're willing to accept. This involves a trade-off: set the price too far, and it might never fill; set it too close, and it's barely different from a market order.
My recommendation: during normal market conditions, set limit orders within 0.05% to 0.1% of the current price. Within this range, most orders fill within minutes, and you reliably get the Maker fee.
During volatile conditions (rapid surges or crashes), limit orders may be less practical since prices can quickly move far from your order. In such cases, using market orders when you must execute quickly is reasonable — the key is building the Maker habit during normal market conditions.
When Taker Orders Are Acceptable
While Maker is cheaper, that doesn't mean you should never use Taker. Market orders (Taker) are reasonable in these situations:
First, when the market is moving fast and you need to enter or exit immediately. For example, you spot a clear breakout signal with prices surging rapidly — waiting to fill a limit order could mean missing the entry. Paying a bit more in fees for certainty is worthwhile.
Second, for stop-loss exits. When the price hits your stop-loss level, protecting your capital is paramount — not saving on fees. Execute with a market order decisively.
Third, when trading small amounts. If you're only trading 100 USDT, the Maker-Taker difference might be just a few cents. In this case, either method has negligible impact — do whatever's convenient.
A Practical Trading Habit Recommendation
Here's a specific suggestion:
For daily trading, default to limit orders + Post Only mode. Only switch to market orders in urgent situations (stop-loss, chasing momentum).
This simple habit change lets you enjoy Maker fees on most trades. For example, with 200,000 USDT in monthly futures volume, going all-Maker versus all-Taker saves about 60 USDT per month. The higher your volume, the more you save.
Summary
The Maker-Taker fee difference on Binance is very significant, especially in futures where Maker is 60% or more cheaper than Taker.
Building the Maker habit is one of the most effective ways to reduce trading costs — it requires zero additional investment, just a change in how you place orders.
In practice: use limit orders + Post Only mode, set reasonable order prices, and most orders will fill as Maker. Over the long term, the fees saved will add up to a very substantial amount.
If you've been using market orders all along, start changing this habit now. The moment you place your first limit order, you've already started saving money.