Every time you buy or sell on an exchange, you pay a trading fee. For arbitrage, that fee usually lands on both legs of the trade — and it's almost always your single biggest cost.
Maker vs taker: the difference
Exchanges charge two kinds of trading fee depending on how your order interacts with the order book.
- Maker fee. You "make" liquidity by placing a limit order that rests on the book and waits for someone to fill it. Because you add depth to the market, the maker fee is lower — sometimes zero.
- Taker fee. You "take" liquidity by placing an order that fills immediately against orders already on the book (a market order, or a limit order that crosses the spread). The taker fee is higher because you remove depth.
The names describe a role, not a product. The same account pays the maker rate on one order and the taker rate on the next — it depends entirely on how each order behaves.
Why arbitrage almost always pays the taker fee
Arbitrage is a race. A spread between two exchanges can close in seconds, so you generally can't afford to post a patient limit order and hope it fills at the maker rate. You take what's on the book now — on both legs.
That means:
- Buy leg — you take the lowest ask on the cheaper exchange. Taker fee.
- Sell leg — you take the highest bid on the pricier exchange. Taker fee.
So an arbitrage round trip is typically two taker fills. On a lot of exchanges the taker fee is around 0.1% per leg, which works out to roughly 0.2% on the round trip before you've paid anything else.
The 0.2% floor
Two taker fills cost you about 0.2% before withdrawal fees or slippage. If the gross spread is below that, the trade is almost certainly a loss. ArbiHunt does this subtraction for you — but it's a useful number to keep in your head.
Fee tiers and discounts
The ~0.1% figure is a starting point, not a fixed law. Your real rate depends on a few things:
| Factor | Effect on your fee |
|---|---|
| 30-day trading volume | Higher volume usually unlocks lower tiers |
| Holding the exchange's own token | Many exchanges discount fees if you hold/pay in their token |
| Maker vs taker | Maker is cheaper; taker is what arbitrage usually pays |
| The specific market | Some pairs or new listings carry promotional or higher rates |
Because rates differ by exchange and by account, the only fee that matters is the one your account actually pays. Check your fee tier on each exchange before you size a trade — a higher taker rate on one venue can quietly turn a thin spread negative.
Why trading fees are usually the biggest cost
Compared with the other costs in an arbitrage trade, trading fees tend to dominate:
- They're charged twice — once on each leg.
- They're a percentage, so they scale with your trade size. A withdrawal fee is flat, so its bite shrinks as your size grows, but trading fees stay proportional all the way up.
- On a typical trade, ~0.2% in taker fees often outweighs the flat network withdrawal fee, especially on larger positions.
This is exactly why the gap you see quoted between two exchanges — the gross spread — is not what you keep. For the full picture of how costs eat into a headline number, see Spread vs. net profit.
How ArbiHunt handles fees when ranking
ArbiHunt is built around net profit, not the headline spread. For every opportunity across ~23 exchanges, refreshed about every 30 seconds, the scanner subtracts:
- the taker fee on the buy leg,
- the taker fee on the sell leg,
- the withdrawal / network fee to move the coin between exchanges, and
- the effect of live order-book liquidity (so a spread that can't actually be filled at size doesn't look better than it is).
What's left is ranked by true net profit — the percentage and dollar figures you see are already post-fee, not the raw gap. ArbiHunt subtracts both taker legs internally before ranking, so the number on screen already accounts for them. To learn more about reading those numbers, see How to read the ArbiHunt dashboard.
Stop guessing at fees
ArbiHunt nets out both taker legs, the withdrawal fee and live liquidity on every pair across 23 exchanges, so you only see spreads that survive the costs.
Before you trade
A few reminders that fee math alone won't catch:
- ArbiHunt is an information tool. It finds and ranks opportunities; it does not place trades or move your funds. You execute on the exchanges yourself.
- The fee figures used are accurate snapshots, but rates and your own tier can change. Confirm the live taker fee inside each exchange before sizing up.
- A coin's transfer network must be supported on both the sending and receiving exchange, or funds can be lost.
- The same ticker can be a different, migrated or wrapped contract on another exchange. ArbiHunt shows the contract address per exchange for PRO users — always verify it matches before moving funds. Never assume two same-named coins are identical.
No spread is guaranteed. Opportunities are time-sensitive and may close in seconds, and not every one will be executable. This is not financial advice, and crypto trading carries risk.
See it live
ArbiHunt scans 23 exchanges in real time and ranks every spread by true net profit — after fees, withdrawals and live liquidity.