What is an order taker and how does it affect your trading profits

A taker is a market participant who executes a trade immediately at the current market price, taking liquidity provided by other traders. In contrast, a maker adds liquidity to the market, waiting for their order to be filled. These two order types determine your income, as each has its own fee structure and strategy.

Taker: an active participant who pays higher fees

A taker order is characterized by the urgency of execution. When you want to buy or sell an asset right now, you place a market order that instantly matches an existing order in the order book. Your position opens immediately — this is convenient when you need to react quickly to market movements.

However, this speed comes at a cost. A taker is a trader who pays higher fees. On most platforms, taker fees are approximately three times higher than maker fees. For example, if a maker pays 0.02% of the amount, a taker might pay 0.055% or even more. Over the long term, this difference significantly reduces your final profit.

Makers: patience pays off with lower fees

A maker is a trader who places a limit order in the order book and waits for someone else (a taker) to match it. In this case, you provide liquidity to the market, and in return, you receive a substantially reduced fee.

The maker strategy requires more flexibility in setting the price. You won’t get the current market price, but you can find a more favorable entry or exit point. For example, instead of buying at the best bid, you can place an order slightly below and wait for the price to come to you. This takes time and patience, but as a result, you pay much lower fees.

Table: comparison of taker and maker

Financial impact: how fees eat into your profit

Let’s consider a specific example on a perpetual BTCUSDT contract:

Initial data:

• Volume: 2 BTC
• Entry price: 60,000 USDT
• Exit price: 61,000 USDT
• Profit before fees: 2 × (61,000 – 60,000) = 2,000 USDT

Scenario 1: trader using maker orders

• Opening fee: 2 × 60,000 × 0.01% = 12 USDT
• Closing fee: 2 × 61,000 × 0.01% = 12.2 USDT
• Final profit: 2,000 – 12 – 12.2 = 1,975.8 USDT

Scenario 2: trader constantly using taker orders

• Opening fee: 2 × 60,000 × 0.06% = 72 USDT
• Closing fee: 2 × 61,000 × 0.06% = 73.2 USDT
• Final profit: 2,000 – 72 – 73.2 = 1,854.8 USDT

Result: the first trader earned 121 USDT more on one position! Over 20 trades per month, that’s a difference of 2,420 USDT.

How to properly use taker orders

Although takers pay higher fees, their use can sometimes be justified. Here’s when:

1. When speed is critical — you see a key support level and need to open a position immediately before the market turns.

2. During high volatility — if the market moves rapidly, a maker order might not get filled at all.

3. To close a losing position — sometimes quickly locking in a loss is more expensive than the fees, compared to holding the position in hopes of a better entry.

But if you spend most of your time waiting for good entry points, switching to maker orders can significantly save costs.

Practical tip: passive orders (Post-Only)

An intermediate solution is to use “passive” orders (Post-Only). You place a limit order, but even if the price moves in your favor, the order won’t execute as a taker. Instead, it will be canceled to ensure you only pay maker fees.

This is useful for traders who want to avoid unexpectedly high taker fees during sudden price movements.

Conclusion: choosing between convenience and savings

Taker orders are fast, convenient, but costly. Maker orders are slower, require more activity, but are much cheaper. The optimal strategy is to combine both approaches depending on the situation.

Before starting active trading, make sure you understand the fee structure on your platform. Even saving 0.04% per trade can significantly impact your overall results over a month or a year. With the same trading strategy, a trader who considers maker and taker fees will earn 5-10% more than someone who ignores this difference.