How fee tiers work
The exchange adds up each account's trading volume over a rolling window, converts it to one reference currency, and places the account in a tier. The tier's rates then apply to every trade until the next recalculation, often daily.
Rates are quoted as a percentage of the trade's value or in basis points, and they fall from tier to tier. Some schedules also count the balance held in the exchange's own token, or give the top tiers a maker rebate: a payment for adding liquidity instead of a fee.
Why fee tiers matter to an exchange operator
The schedule is the exchange's price list and its main lever on liquidity. Low maker rates draw resting orders into the book, tighter spreads follow, and takers pay for immediacy.
A tier engine needs accurate volume per account, a rule for sub-accounts and API keys that belong to one customer, and overrides for negotiated rates. The fee on each fill is posted to the ledger as its own entry, so revenue can be reconciled trade by trade.
What MiCA says about fee structures
In the EU, Article 76 of MiCA requires the operator of a trading platform to keep fee structures transparent, fair and non-discriminatory. The structures may not create incentives to place, modify or cancel orders, or to execute transactions, in a way that contributes to disorderly trading conditions or market abuse.
A volume tier rewards trading as such, which is why schedules are checked against wash trading: trades an account makes with itself to climb a tier.
Where a fee tier shows up in a platform
Modules that do the work
- Matching engineA low-latency order book for spot markets, with market makers and outside liquidity.
- LedgerThe double-entry book of record behind every balance, fee and transfer.
- BackofficeOne console to run the platform: customers, money, risk, content and staff permissions.
- Analytics & monitoringProduct analytics, attribution, engagement and crash reports, on a tracking plan you control.
Platforms that need it
Guides that go deeper
Where it is written
The laws and standards this page's facts come from.
General information, not legal advice: what applies to you depends on your services and your market.