Trading crypto is easier today than it’s ever been. There are hundreds of exchanges to choose from, all showing you the same market price. But when you make a trade, you’ll soon realise you got less than you expect! 

Crypto exchange fees come in different forms. Some are transparent, but most are buried in menus, hidden in price spread, or simply lost to inefficient routing.

Whether you buy on a centralized exchange, a DEX, or directly through your wallet app, you’re probably paying more than you should be. We’ll break down the various ways you could be losing money, and find the crypto exchange with the lowest fees!

Fee trends on DEXs and CEXs

Exchange fees change regularly and can depend on factors such as market conditions and company objectives. Uniswap, for example, implemented a 0.15% swap fee in October 2023, only to raise it to 0.25% in April 2024, meaning users pay almost double per swap.  

Centralized exchanges have also made changes to their fee structures over the years, as the competitive landscape has changed. In some cases, they incentivize high volume traders with fee reductions. Fintech apps, being newer to the space, have trended towards raising withdrawal limits while fees remain high. 

Comparing fees across exchanges 

Crypto exchanges charge fees to fund their operations: servers, employees, marketing, and so on. That’s fairly obvious, and many people are happy to pay a token amount for the convenience. But what’s a fair price? It depends on who you ask! Different types of exchanges appeal to different users and some are less price sensitive than others. 

While some apps are more competitive than others within each category, we can generalize from least to most expensive.

Crypto exchanges with lowest fees

1. DEX aggregators
2. Decentralized exchanges (DEX) 
3. Defi wallets
4. Centralized exchanges
5. Fintech apps

Centralized exchanges and fintech apps charge a premium on trades and also take custody of their users assets, while decentralized exchanges keep prices competitive to attract experienced users who want to take ownership of their crypto in a DeFi wallet browser extension or mobile app, or a hardware wallet. 

Many novice users who lean towards centralized exchanges may do so because they are put off by the high onchain fees needed to swap in a decentralized way. There is some merit to this, if you plan to frequently buy and sell assets, but if you plan to hold an asset securely for any extended period of time, you may end up having to pay inflated withdrawal fees to take custody. In addition, only a small subset of assets are curated by CEXs, so if you are hunting for new opportunities you will want to trade on a DEX or DEX aggregator. 

With a brand new pricing engine, Matcha DEX aggregator is now able to deliver the best onchain pricing for swaps as large as $10M and beyond, often with less than 0.5% price impact, meaning in many cases you would lose more to fees using a centralized exchange, DeFi wallet swap, or DEXs. Since Matcha can use both AMMs and private liquidity in a single trade, you get the best of both centralized and decentralized liquidity, with the most efficient routing.

Which crypto exchange has the lowest fees?

There are a lot of exchanges out there, so it can be helpful to think about what you want in terms of custody. If you want full custody of your assets, you want a decentralized exchange that transacts onchain; if you just want exposure to the asset price and never plan to take custody, a centralized offchain exchange might suit you better. 

Decentralized exchanges: best for crypto native users

Decentralized exchanges and aggregators use smart contracts to conduct trades onchain without the need for a centralized party. This cuts out the middleman and can keep trading costs to a minimum, while giving you access to a much wider choice of cryptocurrencies.

There are three key points to be considered when looking for the best value onchain exchange:

• Does the platform charge a frontend fee for using their app or website?
• Are their smart contracts gas efficient?
• Does the platform have sufficient liquidity for your trade? Or will it cause significant price impact?

DEX aggregator fees

Lowest trading fees, no withdrawal fees.

DEX aggregators offer the most competitive pricing on crypto trades. The main reasons for this are that they tap into multiple liquidity sources to fulfill your trade, finding the best option overall. Matcha goes one step further by combining sources with Smart Order Routing, so if your trade would significantly impact the price by settling through one exchange, Matcha can split the trade across two or more exchanges to get you the most crypto for your money.

There are zero trading fees for swaps on Matcha, and no platform fees for cross-chain trades either! It will find the most efficient route for your trade to minimize price impact, save on gas, and squeeze every drop of value out of tiny price discrepancies. And all is complemented by other cost-saving features like Slippage Protection and limit orders, and for enhanced execution you can use Matcha Auto which lets you trade without gas and offers MEV protection.

Matcha is powered by 0x APIs, running the same onchain smart contracts used by the most respected companies in other categories mentioned here, including Coinbase, Metamask, Robinhood, and dozens more - without the added fees. That means you can be sure that any trade you make is gas efficient, secure, and robust, no matter the size of your swap!

Individual DEXs with the lowest fees

Medium trading fees, no withdrawal fees.

Decentralized exchanges which rely on Automated Market Makers (AMMs) to settle trade using pooled liquidity from users can also be cost-effective, but there are several factors that can impact the price you buy or sell at: liquidity, frontend fees and gas fees.

Liquidity can be a major issue. Just because a DEX has a token listed, does not mean it has enough liquidity to complete your trade efficiently. Trying to place a large trade on a token with low liquidity can cause high price impact, leaving you receiving less tokens than you should simply because there aren’t enough available.

Gas is an issue for any onchain trade and can be often mitigated by trading during off-peak times when fees are lower, since you are dependent on smart contracts, you may find that some platforms are less gas-efficient than others simply due to how they are coded.

‍Uniswap is the largest DEX by volume, and also a favorite for launching new projects. That means you will find many obscure and low-market cap tokens with healthy liquidity. But Uniswap charges a 0.25% fee on every trade made on their website, so you will always be better off accessing Uniswap liquidity through an aggregator like Matcha, which also offers more efficient routing to lower price impact! On large trades of $5,000 or more, Matcha will have the best price 96% of the time, meaning serious savings for frequent traders and whales.

Defi wallet crypto swap fees

High trading fees, no withdrawal fees.

DeFi wallets are among the most expensive places to swap crypto onchain. Popular wallets charge fees of almost 1% of the total swap value when you buy or sell a token, making them very expensive for large amounts. Since they are integrated directly in the wallet, many users overlook the fees in favor of convenience. In reality, your browser extension or mobile app wallet is merely saving you one step in the process at a very high markup.

Centralized exchanges: best for consumers new to crypto

Centralized exchange (CEX) with the lowest fees

Medium trading fees, high withdrawal fees.

A centralized exchange (CEX) will tend to charge up to several percentage points on every trade. This can vary depending on whether you are the taker (the trader accepting an existing exchange offer) or the maker (the trader posting a new offer), and can cost as much as $30 on a $1000 transaction! CEXs may offer an advanced mode with lower trading fees, but even then may charge a withdrawal fee to secure it in your own wallet, a cost added on top of the blockchain network fee.

This table covers the base trading fees available to the average trader for several popular exchanges. Many platforms offer fee reductions as incentives for traders with high volumes, or for traders who hold the platform’s utility token. It should be noted that these platforms require proof of identity in order to withdraw funds. 

Trading fees, spread and withdrawal limits on finance apps

High trading fees, high withdrawal fees.

Fintech apps that offer banking, stocks and crypto all in one place can be even worse. A large portion of their users have no crypto experience, so they tend to be more bold about fee markups. When you buy crypto through this type of app, you not only pay several percent in fees with a fixed minimum, but you will be sold the asset at a higher price than the chart shows. 

For example, if Ether is listed at $4000 on the in-app chart, they may actually be selling it to you at an equivalent rate of $4200! This artificial spread protects the platform from potential volatility by squeezing extra profit from your trade. 

While your experience will vary depending on the app you are using, you will pay a premium in exchange for the service, and since these apps are often regulated under banking authorities there can be strict limits on the amount you can withdraw.

Getting the best value on crypto trades

Choosing the crypto exchange with the lowest upfront fees does not always mean you are getting the best value for money. Platform fees vary both onchain and offchain, and other hidden fees or differences between quoted and executed price can leave you with fewer tokens than you expect.

Some offchain methods centralized exchanges may seem competitive when you’re trading regularly, but you never have full custody of your assets, will have to pay an extra fee to withdraw, and may be given a higher price than you realize. 

Onchain trading ensures your crypto will always be in your custody, but may expose you to inefficient smart contracts, lose money to MEV, or leave you paying more than you need to for publicly-available liquidity.

DEX aggregators will give you the best price in almost every scenario, with deep liquidity and direct to self-custody trades. Matcha charges you no fees on regular swaps or cross-chain swaps, sources liquidity from over 130 exchanges, and routes your order efficiently to get you the best price every time. 

Even with Matcha Auto’s premium features you pay the same as Uniswap, while saving on MEV and sandwich attacks with the added convenience of quicker trade settlement and over 5 million tokens at your fingertips. Try Matcha today for the best prices on crypto trading with no hidden surprises!