What is Maker / Taker?
While Alpaca stock trading remains commission-free, crypto trading includes a small fee per trade dependent on your executed volume and order type. Any market or exchange consists of two parties, buyers and sellers. When you place an order to buy crypto on the Alpaca Exchange, there is someone else on the other side of the trade selling what you want to buy. The seller's posted order on the order book is providing liquidity to the exchange and allows for the trade to take place. Note, that both buyers and sellers can be makers or takers depending on the order entered and current quote of the coin. A maker is someone who adds liquidity, and the order gets placed on the order book. Taker on the other hand removes the liquidity by placing a market order or marketable limit and executing against posted orders.
What is Alpaca’s Maker/Taker Fee Model?
| 30-Day Crypto Volume (USD) | Maker | Taker |
|---|---|---|
| 0 - 100,000 | 0.15% | 0.25% |
| 100,000 - 500,000 | 0.12% | 0.22% |
| 500,000 - 1,000,000 | 0.10% | 0.20% |
| 1,000,000 - 10,000,000 | 0.08% | 0.18% |
| 10,000,000 - 25,000,000 | 0.05% | 0.15% |
| 25,000,000 - 50,000,000 | 0.02% | 0.13% |
| 50,000,000 - 100,000,000 | 0.02% | 0.12% |
| 100,000,000+ | 0.00% | 0.10% |
This will be effective from March 13th 2023.
How Does my 30-Day Volume Get Calculated?
The amount Alpaca charges per trade is based on your total crypto trading volume of the past 30 days. Equities trading volume is not included in this calculation. For example if your trading volume for the past 30 days is $99,500 (all crypto buys and sells) then you would be charged based on the maker/taker fee for Tier 1. If you trade an additional $50, then any transaction starting the next trading day (as long as your 30-day trading volume doesn’t dip below $100,000) will be charged based on the maker/taker fee for Tier 2.
You can always find out your tier, and 30-day volume from the Dashboard.