« How profitable would you be on various trading platforms? April 12, 2020 • ☕️ 3 min read

Fees are a big part of trading - when it comes to being profitable, they can make or break you.

Here is an in-depth review of what you would pay in fees on various cryptocurrency derivatives platforms.

We will assume that you open and close a $10,000 position (using market orders), and that you do so with 3x leverage.

Why is the leverage important?

On many platforms, liquidations can be considered an indirect fee. If you do get liquidated, you will often lose your entire collateral. If you’re using 10x leverage, this will be 10% of your position size. The loss of collateral is your fee for being liquidated. We will refer to this specific fee as your liquidation fee.

Bitmex

Bitmex charges 7.5 basis points (0.075%) on market orders.

When you open and close a $10,000 position, you pay

0.00075 * $10,000 * 2 = $15

If you get liquidated, and you’re not on the higher risk limit tiers, you lose your entire collateral, automatically. Your liquidation fee for a 3x leverage position is:

1 / 3 * $10,000 = $3,333

If liquidated, you lose your entire position.

Deribit

Deribit also charges 7.5 basis points (0.075%) on market orders.

When you open and close a $10,000 position, you pay

0.00075 * $10,000 * 2 = $15

If you get liquidated, you do not lose your entire collateral, automatically. Instead, 10% of your position will be sold off in the market. Profits (and losses) from the sell-off will be credited to your account balance. However, there is a 0.5% fee on all orders that are used to sell off a part of your positon is in the market.

Assuming the sell-off of 10% of your position is sufficient to make it exit liquidation (almost always the case), your liquidation fee for a 3x leverage position is:

0.005 * 0.1 * $10,000 = $5

If liquidated, your position is reduced in size by 10% (in the best case) and 100% (in the worst case).

Kraken Futures

Kraken Futures also charges 7.5 basis points (0.075%) on market orders.

When you open and close a $10,000 position, you pay

0.00075*$10,000*2 = $15

If you get liquidated, you do not lose your entire collateral, automatically. Instead, 100% of your position will be sold off in the market (using a single Immediate-Or-Cancel order). Profits (and losses) from the sell-off will be credited to your account balance. The Immediate-Or-Cancel order is a market order. Because of that, it will incur a fee of 7.5 basis points, or 0.075%.

Your liquidation fee for a 3x leverage position is:

0.00075 * $10,000 = $7.5

If liquidated, you lose your entire position.

Binance Futures

Binance Futures charges 7 basis points (0.07%) on market orders.

When you open and close a $10,000 position, you pay

0.0007*$10,000*2 = $14

If you get liquidated, you do not lose your entire collateral, automatically. Instead, 100% of your position will be sold off in the market. Profits (and losses) from the sell-off will be credited to your account balance. However, there is a 0.3% fee on all orders that are used to sell off a part of your positon is in the market.

Your liquidation fee for a 3x leverage position is:

0.003 * $10,000 = $30

If liquidated, you lose your entire position.

FTX

FTX charges 7 basis points (0.07%) on market orders, with an additional 0.02% fee when using 50x or more leverage.

When you open and close a $10,000 position (using 3x leverage), you pay

0.0007*$10,000*2 = $14

If you get liquidated, you do not lose your entire collateral, automatically. Instead, 10% of your position will be sold off in the market. Profits (and losses) from the sell-off will be credited to your account balance. The order used to sell off 10% of your position is a market order. Because of that, it will incur a fee of 7 basis points, or 0.07%.

Your liquidation fee for a 3x leverage position is:

0.0007 * $10,000 = $7

If liquidated, your position is reduced in size by 10% (in the best case) and 100% (in the worst case).

Bybit

Bybit charges 7.5 basis points (0.075%) on market orders.

When you open and close a $10,000 position (using 3x leverage), you pay

0.00075*$10,000*2 = $15

If you get liquidated, you lose your entire collateral, automatically. Your liquidation fee for a 3x leverage position is:

1 / 3 * $10,000 = $3,333

If liquidated, you lose your entire position.

Mushino

Mushino charges 0 basis points (0.00%) on market orders.

When you open and close a $10,000 position (using 3x leverage), you pay

0.0000*$10,000*2 = $0

If you get liquidated, you do not lose your entire collateral, automatically. Instead, 10% of your position will be sold off in the market. Profits (and losses) from the sell-off will be credited to your account balance. The order used to sell off 10% of your position is a market order. Because of that, it will incur a fee of 0 basis points, or 0.00%.

Your liquidation fee for a 3x leverage position is:

0.0000 * $10,000 = $0

If liquidated, your position is reduced in size by 10% (in the best case) and 100% (in the worst case).

Summary