Exchange Fee Impact

Free Exchange Fee Impact calculator with clear step-by-step results.

About Exchange Fee Impact

Trading costs are paid twice on a round trip and the spread is paid on top, so a 0.1% fee is really a 0.28% hurdle once you cross the spread both ways. Expressing that as a share of expected gross return is what shows whether a strategy has any edge left after execution.

Formulas

Round-trip cost

Cost = trade value x (fee rate x 2 + spread as a decimal)

Cost drag

Drag % = round-trip cost / gross return per trade x 100

Worked example

With the default values below, Exchange Fee Impact returns Costs as a share of gross return of 62.2%. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Value per trademinimum 0 $: 5,000 $
Taker feeaccepts 0–5 %: 0.1 %
Bid-ask spreadaccepts 0–500 bps: 8 bps
Trades per monthminimum 0: 20
Expected gross return per tradeaccepts -10–20 %: 0.45 %

Results

Costs as a share of gross return: 62.2% %
Cost of a full round trip: $14.00
Net profit per trade: $8.50
Annual trading cost: $3,360.00

Step by step

1Values used
2Round-trip cost
3Cost drag
4Costs as a share of gross return= 62.2 %
5Cost of a full round trip= $14.00
6Net profit per trade= $8.50
7Annual trading cost= $3,360.00

Assumptions and limits

The result is derived only from the 5 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax or compounding frequency into account.
Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
Illustrative only and not investment advice. Actual costs include slippage, market impact, funding and taxes, and past or expected returns are not guaranteed.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Illustrative only and not investment advice. Actual costs include slippage, market impact, funding and taxes, and past or expected returns are not guaranteed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is the fee counted twice?

You pay on entry and again on exit. Any strategy that closes positions incurs both legs, which is why turnover matters as much as fee rate.

How do maker fees change this?

Posting limit orders can cut or even rebate the fee, and it also means you earn the spread rather than paying it - halving or eliminating both cost components. The trade-off is execution uncertainty.