Last Updated: 2026-10-25
A fee comparison should answer one question: what would the same planned transactions cost in each eligible account? Deposited capital, a brand's lowest advertised rate and affiliate commission are not substitutes for that calculation. This worksheet covers trading commissions and the other costs you need to record separately. It does not rank custody safety or forecast returns.
First make the two quotes comparable
Record the provider's legal entity and your eligibility, product and pair, interface (basic, advanced or API), account tier, fee currency, maker/taker treatment, timestamp and source. Spot, perpetuals, options and subscription products can have different rules. An immediately executed limit order can be a taker fill; the order's name does not determine its actual fee.
Scroll sideways to see every column. Keyboard: focus the table region and use the arrow keys.
| Provider check | Evidence to use | Mistake to avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Binance | Official fee table, including the and/or column, then the account's applicable rate | Treating a token balance alone as a universal VIP shortcut |
| Bybit | Trading Fee Structure and the verified account's My Fee Rate | Substituting the public base table for a regional or product-specific quote |
| MEXC | Fee overview, exact pair, account and order interface | Applying a temporary zero-fee offer or MX deduction to every pair/account |
Sources checked October 25, 2026. Binance's displayed VIP 1 spot row combines volume and BNB requirements; Bybit directs readers to account-specific rates after verification; MEXC states that rates and MX eligibility can vary. These are distinct checks, not interchangeable rules. Save the applicable terms rather than increasing volume or buying a token to chase a headline tier. This page does not establish eligibility for any venue.
Count each fill once
Filled turnover is the sum of each executed notional. A $1,000 purchase and $1,000 sale produce $2,000 turnover. If a supplied volume already includes both sides, do not double it again.
commission = maker turnover × maker rate + taker turnover × taker rate
Synthetic arithmetic, not provider quotes:
Scroll sideways to see every column. Keyboard: focus the table region and use the arrow keys.
| Inputs | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| $100,000 filled turnover; rate falls from 0.10% to 0.04% | 100,000 × (0.001 − 0.0004) | $60 saved, not $1,200 |
| Twenty $1,000 fills each week for 52 weeks | 20 × 1,000 × 52 | $1,040,000 turnover; $1,040 at 0.10% |
| $1,000,000 turnover, 60% maker at 0.04%, 40% taker at 0.06% | 600,000 × 0.0004 + 400,000 × 0.0006 | $480; weighted rate 0.048% |
| 100 fills of $10,000, a 0.01% rebate on each eligible fill | 100 × 10,000 × 0.0001 | $100 rebate, not $10 |
The second row uses fills, not round trips. Twenty round trips with two $1,000 fills each would double its turnover. Rebate eligibility is an input to verify, not a reason to trade more.
Include the costs outside the commission column
Keep execution difference, funding, borrowing, subscriptions, conversion and withdrawals in separate columns. Record the benchmark used for slippage. If realized buy/sell prices already incorporate crossing the spread, do not deduct the same spread again. Funding can be paid or received and depends on the contract and settlement times; do not assume every holding period contains the same number of events.
For a comparison budget, use the same assumed turnover, mix and period for both candidates. For an actual result, reconcile the executed fills and charged fee currencies. A deposit balance does not tell you how much turnover occurred. Fee tokens also introduce acquisition costs and price exposure; a fee discount does not cancel those risks.
Does a subscription actually break even?
When all eligible fills receive the same reduction and there is no cap, break-even turnover = subscription cost ÷ rate reduction. Both rates must refer to the same transaction type.
A hypothetical $9.99 monthly plan removing a 0.05% commission breaks even at $19,980 eligible monthly turnover. At $2,000 it saves $1 before the subscription, leaving an $8.99 additional cost. At $20,000 it saves $10, leaving only $0.01. If a $29.99 plan caps eligible turnover at $10,000 and removes a 0.10% fee, its maximum commission saving is $10; it cannot break even on that benefit alone. Other features need their own reason to buy.
Write a decision you can check later
Save one row per candidate: date/source; eligibility; product/interface; tier; maker turnover/rate; taker turnover/rate; other costs; exclusions; unresolved inputs. Leave a missing rate or unknown execution cost marked unknown. Do not fill it with the advertised minimum or an invented personal test. If the difference is $0.50 on the planned turnover, say $0.50—not a claim of a more profitable strategy.
This worksheet consolidates earlier provider-fee and ranking articles whose unsupported personal histories and inconsistent arithmetic were not a reliable basis for a decision. No account login, deposit, trade or withdrawal was performed for this review.
Disclosure: This site may earn affiliate commissions on commercial links elsewhere. The sources above are direct documentation links. Risk warning: Trading and leverage can lose capital; lower fees do not make a losing strategy profitable. Educational arithmetic is not financial or tax advice.