Trading Fee

Simple explanation

Background: Korea's crypto exchanges (Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone and Digital X, formerly Korbit) trade in won and compete hard on fees, with coupons, fee-free markets and coins, and in August 2026 even a year-long fee waiver and a 0% offer on won markets. Because rates move with these promotions, this post quotes no exchange's current rate.

A trading fee is charged whenever an order fills, normally as a set percentage of the amount, and separately on the buy and on the sale, so a round trip pays twice. An order that never fills costs nothing, and a partly filled one pays only on the part that filled. The withdrawal fee for sending coins to another exchange or a wallet is a different, separate cost.

Many exchanges split fees by how an order fills. An order that rests on the order book and is matched later by someone else is a maker (it makes liquidity); an order that fills at once against resting orders is a taker (it takes liquidity). A market order is always a taker, and a limit order priced to meet the book right away is a taker too. Many exchanges charge makers less, or even pay them a rebate, because they thicken the order book; some exchanges or markets charge both sides the same rate.

Rates differ by exchange, market (KRW, BTC or USDT), account tier and promotion. Overseas exchanges often have VIP tiers that cut the rate as your 30-day volume grows, and Binance gives a discount if you pay fees in its own coin, BNB. Korean exchanges often hand out fee coupons or waive fees on certain markets or coins. Check the exchange's fee page and notices before you trade.

What you pay the fee in also differs. On Upbit's won market a buy needs the order amount plus the fee in won, and a sale pays you the proceeds minus the fee. Binance spot takes the fee out of the asset you receive: buy bitcoin with USDT and you get slightly less bitcoin (unless you switch on paying fees in BNB). That is why a coin bought abroad comes up a little short of the round number you expected when you go to send it.

Small rates add up. Every buy and every sale pays, so the more often you trade, the faster the cost eats into your money. In leveraged futures the fee is charged on the whole position, not on the margin you put up, so measured against your own money it grows with the leverage. The fee is certain whatever the price does, so the smaller the gain you are aiming for, the bigger the share the fee takes.

In kimchi premium arbitrage you pay a fee when you buy abroad and again when you sell in Korea, plus one more if you fund the trade by buying Tether (USDT) on a Korean exchange. If the premium on screen is smaller than these fees combined, nothing is left even before the other costs. The reverse trade, buying in Korea and selling abroad during a reverse premium, pays on both sides too. So the first question about any premium is whether it survives the fees.

CoinGaja's Kimchi Premium Calculator takes the overseas trading fee, the withdrawal fee, the Korean trading fee and slippage out of the premium and shows what you would keep. Its trading fees are the standard rates from a table of the exchanges' official rates, without coupon discounts, so while a fee waiver runs, the real result can be slightly better than the calculator's. The premiums on CoinGaja's Kimchi premium by coin page are price gaps before any fees.

Example

※ Example numbers, for illustration only

See it on CoinGaja

• 🔢 Kimchi Premium Calculator›
• 📊 Kimchi premium by coin›

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