Crypto exchange fees: how we calculate every offer

To tell whether an offer is expensive, you need something to measure it against. Ours is an index built from the order books of Kraken, Binance and OKX. On each venue we take the mid price, halfway between the best bid and the best ask, then keep the median of the three. The median has one very useful property: if a single venue shows a wild price for a few seconds, it does not drag the reference along with it.

The index updates continuously in your browser. Right now it values bitcoin at 74,905.45 €.

On comparison pages, one extra rule applies: the reference can never sit above the best buying offer actually available, nor below the best selling offer. If a platform quotes slightly under the index, by less than 1%, it becomes the reference for that moment, at zero cost. This way no offer ever appears “cheaper than the market”, which would make no sense.

We start from the price at which the crypto is actually trading, measured on three major venues, rather than from a delayed average.

Deposit, commission, spread, withdrawal: each cost is applied at the point where it really occurs, then boiled down to one comparable figure.

No offer can ever look cheaper than the market. When a quote seems too good to be true, we leave it out rather than show it.

Most exchanges publish their order book, the list of buy and sell orders waiting to be filled. Our server reads it every few minutes. For a purchase we use the best asking price; for a sale, the best bid. That is the price an order placed right now would be filled at, for an everyday amount.

When an exchange only quotes a coin in another currency, USDT for example, its price is converted at the market rate and the offer says so.

Retail brokers, savings apps and payment on-ramps do not publish an order book. Their price is therefore rebuilt from the reference: we add the spread they charge, split half on the buy side and half on the sell side, then their fees. When the platform publishes its spread we use that figure; otherwise we rely on an estimate.

Example: with a reference of €70,000 and a 1% spread, the buying price we use is €70,350 before fees. These rebuilt prices give a reliable order of magnitude but are less precise than an order book, so confirm them on the platform.

You enter an amount in euros. Here is the path it takes:

1. Deposit fee. If your chosen payment method carries one, as card payments often do, it comes off first. SEPA bank transfers are usually free.
2. Platform commission. It is taken from what remains. On an exchange we apply the taker fee, because an instant purchase at the displayed price is a taker order.
3. Conversion at the platform’s price. The net amount is divided by the buying price we read or rebuilt, which gives the quantity of crypto bought.
4. Withdrawal fee, optional. If you tick “Include withdrawal fees”, the network fee for sending the coins to your own wallet is taken off the quantity. The box is unticked by default when buying, since many buyers keep their coins on the platform.

Three figures follow from this. The all-in price is the amount paid divided by the quantity received: the true cost of one unit once every fee is included. The gap to the market compares that price with the reference, in euros and as a percentage. The total cost is what you give up compared with buying at the reference price with no fees at all.

When selling, you also enter an amount in euros: the value, at the reference price, of the crypto you want to sell. The calculation runs the other way:

1. Quantity sold. The amount is converted into crypto at the reference price.
2. Gross proceeds. That quantity is multiplied by the platform’s buying price.
3. Commission. It is taken from the gross proceeds.
4. Transfer to your bank. The euro withdrawal fee is deducted. The box is ticked by default when selling, since most sellers bring their money home.

The total cost is then the difference between the market value of what you sell and the money you actually receive.

By default, offers are sorted by what you actually get: the most crypto when buying, the most euros when selling. That is the same as ranking them by total cost, lowest first. You can also sort by fees, by quote spread, by user rating, by seven-day average or alphabetically.

Some links are affiliate links: if you open an account through them, the platform may pay us. The calculation is nonetheless identical for every platform, partner or not, and a promoted partner offer is always clearly labelled.

• Frozen quotes. If a platform’s mid price drifts more than 5% from the reference, it no longer reflects a live market, and the offer is left out.
• Prices better than the market. A purchase below the reference, or a sale above it, points to a shaky conversion or an outdated reading. The offer is not published.
• Negative costs. Buying does not make you money: if a calculation ever produced a negative total cost, the offer would be removed, whatever the cause.
• Unsourced fees. Every fee schedule links to the platform’s official page, and the withdrawal fees published by fourteen platforms are collected automatically every day.

No comparison is perfect, so we would rather be upfront about the limits of our figures.

• We apply entry-tier fees, the ones a new retail customer pays. Discounts tied to volume, VIP programmes or holding an in-house token (BNB, KCS, MX…) are not included.
• We use the best order in the book. A large order may climb through several price levels and cost a little more.
• Card deposit fees, network fees and some minimum charges vary with the payment method, the coin and the moment. They are applied when you select them but can change between two readings.
• The spread of brokers that do not publish it is an estimate.
• The final price is always the one the platform shows you before you confirm. Our figures help you choose; they are not investment advice.