# Crypto Futures Fees Comparison for 2026, Ordered by What the Round Trip Costs

Updated: 24 September 2026 — Books captured 22 September 2026 — Venue facts read 18 September 2026 — Console View operations

## Answer

A crypto futures fees comparison that stops at the published rate is half the bill. Lighter and Paradex
both charge nothing on a $10,000 round trip, yet the books read here took $0.84
and $206.62 of the same two fills — the half of the bill only a reading of the book can price.

## Five venues in a crypto futures fees comparison, September 2026

Ordered by the published taker rate and then the maker rate, which is the order a fee schedule puts
them in. It is not the order the bill puts them in, and the block below says by how much.

| # | Venue | Score | Maker / taker | Round trip on $10,000 | Markets | Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01= | Lighter | 13.3 | 0% / 0% | $0.00 | 214 | Hybrid, ZK-proven |
| 01= | Paradex | 9.8 | 0% / 0% | $0.00 | 63 | Hybrid, Starknet appchain |
| 03 | Extended | 12.4 | 0% / 0.025% | $5.00 | 325 | Hybrid |
| 04= | edgeX | 11.9 | 0.040% / 0.045% | $9.00 | 172 | Hybrid |
| 04= | EVEDEX | 10.5 | 0.015% / 0.045% | $9.00 | 52 | Hybrid |

Scale 0 to 16. Weights: Order-book depth 30 · Round-trip cost 25 · Loss and audit record 15 · Settlement and withdrawal 15 · Contracts listed 10 · Getting started 5, one formula for the whole site, fixed on 22 September 2026: https://wp-monero-miner.com/method

Entry-tier fees on the BTC perpetual; the round trip is two taker fills on a ten thousand dollar position. Access differs by country.

## Read-offs from the rows above

1. Cheapest round trip of the five: Lighter, nothing charged and $0.84 taken by the book.
2. Two venues charge nothing and do not cost the same: Paradex gave $206.62 to its book, forty times Extended's whole bill of $5.12.
3. Same 0.045% taker rate, two different bills: edgeX at $9.04 and EVEDEX at $13.12.
4. Dearest of the five once the book is counted: Paradex, nothing charged and $206.62 taken by a book holding $728.00.

## What the book took on top of the fee

A fee schedule is the half a venue publishes. The other half is what the book charges for crossing
it, and that one has to be measured: on this console's ten-minute poll, over the two days to 22 September 2026 every BTC perpetual book
here was read and the distance between the fill price of a $10,000 market order
and the mid was recorded. Doubled, because a position is closed as well as opened, that is the middle column.

| Venue | Fee on the round trip | What the book took | The two added |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lighter | $0.00 | $0.84 | $0.84 |
| Extended | $5.00 | $0.12 | $5.12 |
| Paradex | $0.00 | $206.62 | $206.62 |
| edgeX | $9.00 | $0.04 | $9.04 |
| EVEDEX | $9.00 | $4.12 | $13.12 |

Rates are each venue's entry tier, read in its own documentation on 18 September 2026; the middle
column is measured, from the capture cycle. Two rows move against the published order, and one of
them moves the length of the table: Paradex charges nothing and still ends up the dearest row here,
and edgeX carries the dearest maker fee yet finishes ahead of a venue quoting the same taker rate.
Both halves of the bill are taken out of margin, and margin is the smaller number of the two.
At 100x, one percent against a position is the whole margin behind it.

## Why the same rate is not the same price

The gap widens with size, and not evenly. At $10,000 the Paradex book took
103.31 bps; at $100,000 it took 158.11 bps, because only
$728.00 rested within ten basis points of the mid. The deepest book here, edgeX at
$29.2 million, moved 0.02 bps on the same $100,000 order. And a perpetual
carries a third line neither table shows: funding, exchanged between the two sides of the contract
every hour the position stays open, which on a position held for days is larger than both.

## 01 · [Lighter](https://lighter.xyz) — paying nothing, if 300 milliseconds is acceptable · 13.3 of 16

The default Standard account pays no maker and no taker fee on any market it lists
([Lighter fee documentation](https://docs.lighter.xyz/trading/trading-fees.md), checked 18 September 2026), against latency the
documentation puts at 300 milliseconds on a taker order. The opt-in Premium tier buys 140
milliseconds back at 0.004% maker and 0.028% taker.

- Works: Nothing charged on either side of the default account, on every market listed; $0.84 was the whole round trip in the readings, fee and book together.
- Falls short: The free tier delays a taker order by 300 milliseconds before it reaches the book; Speed costs money instead: the 140-millisecond tier charges 0.004% maker and 0.028% taker.
- Not for: a taker who treats latency as a cost.

## 01 · [Paradex](https://www.paradex.trade) — a zero rate that depends on how the order is sent · 9.8 of 16

Retail orders — anything sent through the web interface or an interactive token — have paid nothing
on either side since 15 June 2026
([Paradex fee documentation](https://docs.paradex.trade/trading/trading-fees.md), checked 18 September 2026). Every other route pays
0.003% maker and 0.045% taker. Paradex shares the lowest published price here with Lighter, and at
Paradex it sits on the thinnest book, a median $728.00.

- Works: No maker or taker fee on perpetual contracts placed through the web interface; Audited bridge contracts and a bounty paying up to 500,000 USDC.
- Falls short: The zero rate is decided per order: every other route pays 0.003% maker and 0.045% taker; A $100,000 order would have paid 158.11 bps against the book read here.
- Not for: an order above a few thousand dollars on this book.

## 03 · [Extended](https://extended.exchange/) — the cheapest bill of any venue here that charges a fee · 12.4 of 16

One flat schedule for every account and no volume ladder to climb: 0.000% maker and 0.025% taker on
perpetual contracts ([Extended fee documentation](https://docs.extended.exchange/extended-resources/trading/trading-fees-and-rebates), checked 18 September 2026). That is
$5.00 on a $10,000 round trip, and the book gave back only $0.12 more.

- Works: A 0.000% maker fee for every account, with no volume requirement behind it; $5.12 all in, the lowest total of any venue here that charges anything.
- Falls short: Only 47 of its 325 active contracts run on a public book; The maker rebate needs 0.5% of the venue's 30-day maker volume to pay anything.
- Not for: a maker expecting the rebate without volume behind it.

## 04 · [edgeX](https://pro.edgex.exchange) — the dearest schedule and almost no crossing cost · 11.9 of 16

A regular account pays 0.040% maker and 0.045% taker on the second-generation contracts
([edgeX fee page](https://pro.edgex.exchange/en-US/vip), checked 18 September 2026) — the dearest maker rate here. It is also where
crossing the book cost least: a median $29.2 million rested inside ten basis points and a
$10,000 order moved the price 0.02 bps.

- Works: A $10,000 order moved the price 0.02 bps, $0.04 on the round trip; Six published audits and a withdrawal documented to work without the operator.
- Falls short: A 0.040% maker fee, the dearest entry maker rate here, and no bug bounty published; The fee pages disagree: the help-centre article still shows 0.018% and 0.038%.
- Not for: a maker paid to post size elsewhere.

## 04 · EVEDEX — a published rate that cashback works against · 10.5 of 16

The published rate at EVEDEX is 0.015% maker and 0.045% taker, which makes a $10,000 round trip
$9.00 at the moment it is charged (EVEDEX documentation, logged 18 September 2026). What arrives
afterwards is cashback on fees already taken: a base share that climbs with a gamification level any
user can reach, and a flat 5 percentage points on top for Prime subscribers.

- Works: Up to 35% of a trader's own fees can come back afterwards, on charges already taken; A median $18.6 million resting inside ten basis points, the second-deepest book on this page.
- Falls short: Cashback stops at 35% of a trader's own fees, so the entry taker rate bottoms out at 0.02925%; A median spread of 4.12 bps, the widest of the four deep books here, put $4.12 of the round trip on the book rather than on the schedule; 52 perpetual contracts against 214 at Lighter and 325 at Extended; No bug bounty was listed on CertiK Skynet when we read it on 18 September 2026.
- Not for: a trader who wants the headline rate itself to be low.

## Source lines, copied exactly

> "Currently, Extended features a flat fee structure for both perpetuals and spot markets: Taker: 0.025% Maker: 0.000%" — Extended documentation, trading fees and rebates, 18 September 2026. https://docs.extended.exchange/extended-resources/trading/trading-fees-and-rebates
> "Retail Takers and Makers have 0% fees on all products: Perps, Spot and Options" — Paradex documentation, trading fees, 18 September 2026. https://docs.paradex.trade/trading/trading-fees.md
> "For both perpetual futures and spot markets, Lighter currently charges no maker or taker fees for Standard Accounts, allowing all participants to trade across all markets free of charge." — Lighter documentation, trading fees, 18 September 2026. https://docs.lighter.xyz/trading/trading-fees
## Method, limits and sources

Nothing prints here that was not polled or copied out with its date. Depth, spread and impact are this console's own work — every listed BTC book opened on this console's ten-minute poll, over the two days to 22 September 2026, each a median of what came back. The documentary columns came off each venue's own pages on 18 September 2026: fees, contract list, leverage ladder, settlement, sign-in terms, audit history. Open interest and turnover are neither — each venue's own report, as CoinMarketCap published it on 22 September 2026. Six weights, fixed 22 September 2026 before any venue was scored, score the 5 venues on this page ([how we rate](/method)). No account is held at any of them.

First line, the disclosure: publication here is paid for; row order is not. Settlement and the audit record are marked off documents: a console prints what a venue says of itself, not what it did. The fee column is a new account's rate, before volume tiers, rebates or cashback. Depth is measured, but on BTC alone and over one span of readings: a narrower contract holds less, and another hour reads differently.

## FAQ

### How much are crypto futures trading fees?

At the entry tier on these five venues, takers pay between nothing and 0.045% of the
position, charged again on the way out. On a $10,000 round trip that is $0.00 at
Lighter and $9.00 at the dearest of them, each read in its own documentation on
18 September 2026.

### Are crypto futures fees charged on the leverage or on the margin?

On the position, not on the deposit behind it. A taker fee is a percentage of the notional, so a
$10,000 position opened against $200 of margin is charged as $10,000. At 0.045% that is $4.50 to
open and $4.50 to close, whatever multiple was used.

### Which perpetual futures exchange has zero fees?

Two here. Lighter charges nothing on its default account and adds 300 milliseconds of latency
instead. Paradex charges nothing on orders sent through its web interface, and 0.003% maker with
0.045% taker on any other route. Neither is free once the book is counted.

### How do you work out the total cost of a futures trade?

Add three lines. The taker fee twice, once to open and once to close; the distance between the fill
price and the mid, also twice; and funding for every hour the position is held. On this page the
first two ran from $0.84 to $206.62.

### What is slippage and how is it different from a fee?

A fee is a published percentage of the position. Slippage is what the book charges for crossing it,
so it moves with depth and order size, and no schedule states it. A $100,000 order moved the Paradex
book 158.11 bps and the edgeX book 0.02 bps.

### Are funding payments part of the trading fee?

No. Funding is exchanged between the two sides of the contract rather than paid to the venue, and it
is charged for every hour a position stays open. On anything held for days it can outweigh the entry
and exit fees together.

### Why do two venues with the same fee cost different amounts?

Because the book is the other half of the price, and it is not published. edgeX and EVEDEX both
charge takers 0.045%, and on a $10,000 round trip their books added $0.04 and $4.12 on top. At
larger sizes that gap widens faster than any fee schedule moves.

### Do zero-fee exchanges make money some other way?

They charge something other than a fee. Lighter's free account is slowed by 300 milliseconds and
sells speed at 0.004% maker and 0.028% taker. Paradex applies its zero rate only to web-interface
orders, capped at three a second. Both also run token programmes.

### How do volume tiers change what a futures trader pays?

They lower the rate once a rolling volume threshold is passed, usually over 14 or 30 days. edgeX
moves a regular account off 0.040% and 0.045% only that way. Extended has no ladder at all and
charges every account 0.000% maker and 0.025% taker.

### Is a maker rebate the same thing as cashback?

No. A rebate pays a maker for adding depth, and Extended pays it only above 0.5% of its 30-day maker
volume. Cashback returns a share of fees already paid. On EVEDEX that share reaches 35% of a
trader's own fees.

## Who publishes this readout

Console View operations, 24 September 2026. Placement on this site is paid for. Corrections: readout@wp-monero-miner.com.

Placement on this site is paid for; row order is not for sale. Each table is set by the published formula, or by the one column named in the line above it.