What is taker?

A trader whose order fills immediately against an order already resting on the book, removing liquidity from it.

Takers pay the higher side of an exchange's fee schedule because they consume what makers provide. Every market order is a taker order, and a limit order priced through the market is one too; see maker taker fee.

Almost every ordinary purchase is a taker order, which is why the taker fee is the one that decides what a typical buy actually costs.

How it works

An order book holds resting offers waiting to be filled. An order that crosses the spread and matches against one of them is a taker order. An order that rests and waits is a maker order.

The distinction is about what the order does on arrival, not what type it is. A market order always takes, because it accepts whatever is resting. A limit order takes if it is priced through the current best offer and rests if it is not. A post only order is the explicit instruction to never take: if the order would cross, the exchange cancels it instead of filling it.

Exchanges charge takers more because takers consume the depth that makes the market usable, and they want to pay for that depth. On many venues the gap is meaningful in both directions, with some paying makers a rebate. See maker rebate.

Fee tiers add a second dimension. Most venues scale both sides down as thirty-day volume rises, so a published headline rate is the entry tier rather than the rate every customer pays. RampAtlas uses the taker rate in its fee estimates because that is what an ordinary purchase pays (source: each exchange's own published fee schedule).

Example

Illustrative figures. You buy $500 at a venue charging 0.40% taker and 0.25% maker.

The maker route saves $0.75 on $500 and costs you the guarantee of a fill. On a market moving away from your price, that saving is theoretical and the missed purchase is real.

Why it matters when you buy

The taker fee is the number that drives a typical purchase, and it varies widely between venues. The fee comparison ranks exchanges on the all-in cost of a $500 buy, combining the taker fee, the deposit fee, and the measured spread, and the fee pages for each venue break down the structure. The guide on how exchanges make money covers where the rest of the cost hides.

Related terms

• maker taker fee — the two-sided schedule
• market order — always a taker
• limit order — a taker only if it crosses
• post only order — the instruction never to take
• maker rebate — what the other side can earn
• spread — the cost paid alongside the fee

Questions

Am I always a taker when I buy?

Whenever you use a market order or an instant-buy button, yes. A limit order placed below the current market rests and makes instead, at the cost of not filling immediately.

Why is the taker fee higher?

Because takers consume the resting depth that makes a market tradable, and exchanges price to encourage the people supplying it. Some venues pay makers outright for the same reason.

Does the fee tier apply per trade or per month?

Tiers are normally set by rolling thirty-day volume and applied to trades going forward. The exact window and the tier boundaries are on each venue's published fee schedule.