Maker or taker classification concerns how a fill interacts with order-book liquidity, not simply whether you pressed Buy, Sell or Limit. One order can take existing liquidity immediately and leave another portion resting. Review each fill’s role, rate and fee currency before calculating cost.
Uses illustrative taker 0.2% and maker 0.1% rates. These are not a current fee schedule.
BTKWIN.COM · EDUCATIONAL EXAMPLEAdding and removing liquidity describe matching behavior
A resting order offers quantity another participant can match. An immediate match consumes quantity already offered. Either role can apply to a buy or sell under the venue’s rules. Maker is not synonymous with seller, and taker is not synonymous with buyer.
Kraken’s trading definitions explain why a limit order can be maker or taker depending on its relationship to the book.
This discussion concerns a defined order-book model. Liquidity-provider terminology and costs in other protocols can differ. Identify actual venue, product and pair before applying a central order book’s commission logic elsewhere.
Why a limit order can take liquidity
Suppose the best available sell is 100 and your buy limit is 101. The limit permits matching at 101 or better. Existing offers can therefore match immediately; the presence of a limit does not force the order to wait.
The maximum accepted buy price is also not necessarily the price paid for every unit. Read actual fills. A book snapshot can change before the order reaches the engine, so a prior preview is not a guarantee of the eventual role.
A resting request may add liquidity while waiting, yet it might never fill. Role describes execution mechanics rather than predicting market direction or guaranteeing savings from a lower quoted commission.
A hypothetical mixed-role order
Imagine a ten-unit buy with limit 101. Three units execute at 100 and two at 101 against existing offers, totaling 502 for five units. The remaining five rest and later execute at 101, totaling 505.
Under the example’s assumed classification, the first portion is taker and the later portion maker. Total quantity is ten and pre-fee value 1,007. Do not assign one role to the complete order just because its name is Limit.
These numbers illustrate fill accounting, not a current quote or suggested price. Use the venue’s actual classifications and details for a real record.
Compute each portion’s actual commission
| Portion | Value | Assumed rate | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Immediate taker | 502 | 0.2% | 1.004 |
| Later maker | 505 | 0.1% | 0.505 |
| Total | 1,007 | Not an unweighted rate average | 1.509 |
Fee-inclusive cost depends on the charged asset
With both fees in quote currency, the example’s buy cost is 1,008.509 for ten units, or 100.8509 per unit. An unweighted average of fee rates does not reproduce commissions on differently valued fills.
If fees are deducted from purchased base quantity, net units change instead. A fee in another asset needs separate quantity and valuation. Keep gross execution average distinct from cost of actual net holdings.
Binance’s commission reference illustrates account, pair and discount considerations. A public schedule or current account tier should not automatically be applied to an old fill with different conditions.
What post-only can control
A product can offer an instruction intended to add rather than immediately remove liquidity. If immediate matching would occur, its rules may reject or cancel the request. Read the actual behavior rather than assuming every venue reprices it automatically.
A supported post-only instruction does not guarantee later execution or lowest complete cost. Your order can remain unfilled while market conditions change. A lower possible commission is not the same as an executed cheaper purchase.
Kraken’s other order options explains its specific instruction. Treat that as product documentation, not a universal button behavior for every trading service.
Amendments can change the interpretation
Changing price or quantity may affect priority or create a different request according to the actual amendment function. Preserve returned status and references, and refresh executed quantity before another action.
Repeated cancellations and replacements can leave fills occurring between your observations. An old remainder can lead to excess exposure if used to size a new order without checking final state.
Our partial fill guide separates executed, open and cancelled quantities. Those facts matter to fee accounting as well as the decision to submit another request.
Compare price effects separately from commission
Suppose an educational alternative saves one quote unit in commission but produces three more units of execution cost for the same quantity. Lower commission alone is not lower total cost under those assumptions.
Do not compare an unfilled cheaper limit with a completed trade as if both outcomes happened. Historical explanation should use actual fills; prospective comparisons should identify assumptions and acknowledge execution remains uncertain.
Keep spread, depth-related execution effects, fees and later transfer charges as separate concepts. Low trading commission does not solve an incompatible withdrawal network or a net amount below the receiver’s minimum.
Review fills rather than one completed label
For each relevant order, collect pair, side, fill quantity, price, value, liquidity role, commission and charged asset. Then sum quantities and costs and calculate weighted averages.
If partial, separate reserved funds for the remainder from actual acquisition. If cancelled, inspect whether additional fills occurred before acceptance. Preserve the applicable fee information and review time when a discrepancy needs explanation.
Official support can start from order and fill references without receiving trading credentials. A maker classification says nothing about whether holdings moved into a personal wallet; custody and withdrawal are separate stages.
Keep the whole route visible
Our cost tool can organize a trading-and-transfer route once the relevant quantities are known. The wallet helper distinguishes service custody from direct signing.
The useful fee conclusion identifies actual role, currency and completed quantity and relates commission to complete execution cost. It does not turn a liquidity label into a guaranteed better market outcome.
Retain the historical fee context
A later change to account tier, product conditions or a promotional schedule does not establish which rate applied earlier. Keep the fill’s charged fee and the relevant contemporary account information when investigating a discrepancy. Start from actual recorded amounts, then ask official support for the specific calculation if it remains unexplained, rather than replacing it with a current general headline rate.
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English content and examples reviewed: 27 October 2026. Read the Arabic edition.
