A Limit Order Is Not Always a Maker Order: How Post-only Makes Sure You Pay the Maker Fee (OKX, Binance, Bybit, Bitget, MAX)

Many people assume that placing a limit order means paying the cheaper maker fee. But exchanges do not look at the order type; they look at whether the order fills immediately. If a limit order’s price makes it match existing orders as soon as it is submitted, you pay the taker fee. To make sure you only pay the maker rate, tick Post-only: an order that would fill immediately is cancelled outright instead of being filled as a taker order.

The short version: the official explanations from OKX, Binance, Bybit, Bitget and MAX all agree that the part that fills immediately counts as taker, and the part that sits on the order book and fills later counts as maker, so one limit order may pay both rates. Market, IOC and FOK orders only ever fill immediately. On 8 October 2026, though, regular users at Binance, Bybit and Bitget paid 0.1% for both maker and taker on spot, so Post-only saved nothing on spot fees at those three. The difference shows up on OKX spot (0.08% versus 0.1%), on MAX (0.08% versus 0.16%) and in each exchange’s futures fees.

When a limit order is maker and when it is taker

Exchanges decide between maker and taker by whether an order, at the moment it is submitted, would match orders already on the order book:

What each exchange says:

• OKX: its limit order explanation states that placing a limit order does not in itself mean you pay the maker fee; if a limit order fills as soon as it is submitted, it counts as taker even though it is a limit order (checked 17 October 2026, page updated 9 September 2026). Its order types Q&A also says that a limit order that matches existing orders immediately is usually taker, and a market order is usually taker.
• Binance: “What do maker and taker mean” states that an order that fills before it enters the order book, whether fully or partly, counts as taker; market orders never enter the order book, so they always count as taker (checked 17 October 2026, page updated 5 December 2025).
• Bybit: its order types explanation states that a market order takes liquidity from the market and counts as taker; when a limit order’s price is worse than the market price and it fills immediately, it is charged the taker fee (checked 17 October 2026, page updated 30 September 2026).
• Bitget: its futures order types explanation defines a taker as an order that matches existing orders immediately, with a market order as the example; its maker example is a limit order (checked 17 October 2026, page dated 10 December 2025).
• MAX: its official explanation says limit orders that fill immediately and market orders both pay the taker fee, and the maker fee applies when a buy order is priced below the current lowest ask or a sell order above the current highest bid. I summarized this in “MAX USDT to TWD” (checked 8 October 2026).

Put as a check when you place an order: a buy order priced at or above the current lowest ask, or a sell order priced at or below the current highest bid, fills immediately, and at least part of it pays the taker fee. The most common case is that the price the order page fills in for you is exactly the best price on the other side, so the order fills the moment you submit it.

Partial fills: one limit order may pay two rates

A limit order does not necessarily fill entirely at once, and it does not necessarily sit on the book entirely either. OKX’s limit order explanation states that one order can be charged both fees: the part that fills immediately is charged the taker fee, and the part that stays on the order book and fills later is charged the maker fee. Binance’s explanation says the same: once part of an order is placed on the order book, its later fills all count as maker.

Suppose the sell side of the BTC/USDT order book looks like this (a hypothetical example, not a quote):

You place a limit buy order at 100,000 for a total of 10,000 USDT:

1. There is only 4,000 USDT for sale at 100,000. Those 4,000 USDT fill immediately and count as taker.
2. The remaining 6,000 USDT cannot be bought (the next level is 100,010, above your limit), so it stays on the order book as a buy order at 100,000.
3. When someone later sells to you at 100,000, those 6,000 USDT count as maker.

So when you look at the trade details, one order may show several fills, each at a different fee rate.

Post-only: cancelled if it would fill immediately

Post-only is an option you can tick when placing a limit order; some exchanges call it “Maker only”. It makes sure the order only enters the order book as a maker order. If it would fill immediately when submitted, the system cancels the whole order instead of filling it as a taker order.

Using the earlier example: if you place a buy order at 100,000 with Post-only ticked, it would fill immediately because there are sell orders at 100,000, so the whole order is cancelled and nothing is bought. For it to be placed on the book, the price has to be below the lowest ask, for example 99,990.

Post-only has the same cost as any resting limit order: it may not fill. If the price moves up, nobody may ever sell to your buy order at 99,990. When you need the trade done quickly, Post-only can instead leave you unable to get an order in.

How GTC, IOC and FOK affect fees

When placing a limit order, you can also choose its “time in force”. The three common options are defined the same way at each exchange:

Sources: Binance’s time in force explanation, OKX’s order types Q&A, Bybit’s time in force explanation (page updated 29 June 2026) and Bitget’s futures time in force explanation (page dated 10 December 2025), all checked 17 October 2026.

IOC and FOK orders never stay on the order book, so they have no chance of becoming maker orders. Binance’s explanation states that limit IOC and limit FOK orders always count as taker.

To sum up, paying the maker rate takes two things at once: a GTC limit order, and a price that will not fill immediately. Tick Post-only and the exchange checks the second one for you.

How far apart maker and taker fees are at five exchanges

How much Post-only saves depends on the gap between the maker and taker fees. The table shows the official fees for regular users (VIP 0) on 8 October 2026:

A few things stand out in this table:

• Spot at Binance, Bybit and Bitget: regular users pay 0.1% for both maker and taker. Post-only or not, the fees are the same, and all Post-only does here is control your fill price.
• OKX spot differs by 0.02 percentage points: maker is one fifth cheaper than taker.
• MAX has the widest gap: taker is twice maker.
• Futures taker fees are 2.5 to 3 times maker fees.

VIP levels, platform token discounts and the invitation code fee rebate all change these numbers. Full fees, VIP thresholds and platform token discounts for 14 exchanges are in “International crypto exchange fee comparison”; how the invitation code rebate is calculated is in “What is a crypto exchange fee rebate”.

Worked example: how much the fees differ on the same 10,000 USDT limit buy

Continuing with the hypothetical order book above (4,000 USDT of sell orders at 100,000), and using OKX spot fees for regular users (maker 0.08%, taker 0.1%, 8 October 2026), to buy 10,000 USDT of BTC:

On the same 10,000 USDT, the difference is at most 2 USDT. With MAX’s 0.08% and 0.16%, the same amount costs twice as much all-taker as all-maker. In a real example of selling 10,000 USDT for TWD on MAX, the taker and maker fees differed by about NT$256; the calculation is in “MAX USDT to TWD”.

Note that the market order row does not include slippage: if there are not enough sell orders at the lowest ask, a market order moves up into more expensive prices. Limit and Post-only orders avoid this, but they may not get you any coins. How the spread and slippage are calculated is in “Are zero-fee exchanges really cheaper?”.

How to check you are paying maker, before you order and after it fills

1. Look at the best bid and best ask on the order book: a buy order has to be priced below the best ask, and a sell order above the best bid, to be placed on the book. Do not just use the price the order page fills in for you.
2. Tick Post-only if you want to be sure of the maker rate: when the order would fill immediately, the exchange cancels it rather than charging you the taker fee. If it is cancelled, move the price one tick away from the other side and submit again.
3. Choose GTC as the time in force: IOC and FOK orders are never placed on the order book.
4. Check the trade details after it fills: at most exchanges, “Orders → Trade details” lists the fee for each fill. For a partly filled order, you will see several fills of the same order at different rates.

If you only buy a little now and then to hold for the long term, 10,000 USDT differs by 2 USDT on OKX spot and not at all for regular users on Binance, Bybit and Bitget spot, so there is no need to wait for a maker fill just for the fees. For people who trade often, the maker share has a much bigger effect on monthly fees, and you can put your own trading volume into the calculator above.

Exchange invitation codes

Below are the invitation codes for the international exchanges (for Chinese-speaking users) mentioned in this article. Signing up with an invitation code gets you the official fee rebate; the rate and details are as shown in each box.

A Taiwanese app for buying crypto with TWD:

More exchange reviews and comparisons are on the crypto topic page.

FAQ

Is a limit order always a maker order?

Not necessarily. The official explanations from OKX, Binance and Bybit all depend on whether the order fills immediately: if a limit order's price makes it match orders on the order book as soon as it is submitted, that part counts as taker. Only the part that does not fill immediately, sits on the order book first and is filled by someone else later counts as maker.

Can one limit order pay both maker and taker fees?

Yes. OKX and Binance both explain that the part of an order that fills immediately is charged the taker fee, and the rest, which sits on the order book and fills later, is charged the maker fee.

What happens when a Post-only order would fill immediately?

It is cancelled. The official explanations from OKX, Binance, Bybit and Bitget all say that if a Post-only order would match existing orders immediately, the system cancels it automatically instead of filling it as a taker. MAX says such an order is not sent.

Do IOC and FOK orders pay maker or taker fees?

IOC and FOK orders can only fill immediately; any unfilled part is cancelled straight away and never sits on the order book. Binance states that limit IOC and FOK orders always count as taker.

Can I use Post-only on a market order?

No. A market order never sits on the order book, and Binance and Bybit both say market orders always count as taker. Bybit's Post-only can only be added to limit orders and conditional limit orders.

Does Post-only always save money?

It depends on the fee schedule. On 8 October 2026, regular users' (VIP 0) spot fees at Binance, Bybit and Bitget were 0.1% for both maker and taker, so Post-only made no difference to fees. Only OKX spot, at 0.08% and 0.1%, and MAX, at 0.08% and 0.16%, showed a difference.