What is Maker Fee?

A maker fee applies when you place an order that does not execute against existing orders straight away but instead rests on the orderbook, waiting to be filled. Because that resting order adds depth to the book, the exchange rewards it with a lower fee than a taker order — and on some venues a negative fee, meaning you are paid a rebate for the fill. You become a maker whenever a limit order is posted away from the current best price and sits until another trader crosses it.

The distinction is mechanical, not intentional: any order that would fill immediately (a market order, or a limit order priced through the book) is charged the taker fee; any order that rests is charged the maker fee. Post-only order flags let you guarantee maker treatment by cancelling the order rather than letting it cross and become a taker. Maker fees are quoted in basis points of notional and, like taker fees, sit on a VIP schedule that falls with 30-day volume.

For funding-rate arbitrage the maker fee is one of the biggest controllable costs. A delta-neutral position means opening two legs (long on one venue, short on another) and later closing both — four fills in total. Paying the taker fee on all four can quietly consume weeks of accrued funding, so entering with resting maker orders where the book allows converts a fixed drag into a much smaller one, or even a rebate. The trade-off is execution risk: a post-only order may not fill, leaving one leg unhedged while price moves.

Because arbitrage edges are thin, a backtester that assumes maker fills where none are realistic will overstate profit. A realistic cost model separates the leg you can post passively from the leg you must take, and pairs the fee assumption with the slippage actually walked through the orderbook — the two together, not funding alone, decide whether a spread survives.