What do you guys think about zero-fee crypto trading?

[karan788]

Been noticing more exchanges pushing “0% trading fees” lately.

From what I understand, it basically means you don’t pay maker/taker fees on certain spot pairs. So no direct commission on trades, which sounds great — especially if you trade a lot.

Some platforms (like MEXC) are already doing this on selected pairs.

But obviously, it’s not completely free.

You still deal with:

spread
slippage
and funding rates if you’re in futures

So the cost is still there, just not as visible as a trading fee.

That said, removing fees does make a difference. If you’re doing frequent trades or scalping, those small percentages usually add up over time.

Just wondering - do you think zero-fee trading is actually sustainable, or is it more of a user acquisition strategy?

Also curious if anyone here has compared execution quality on zero-fee pairs vs normal ones.

[cryptoaddictchie]

You still deal with:

spread
slippage
and funding rates if you’re in futures

So the cost is still there, just not as visible as a trading fee.

That said, removing fees does make a difference. If you’re doing frequent trades or scalping, those small percentages usually add up over time.

Just wondering - do you think zero-fee trading is actually sustainable, or is it more of a user acquisition strategy?

Honestly you are right with that. They actually just called it free and zero trading but thats probably just a marketing. Ofcourse that will sound sweet with the users and traders. But behind it those details are entails the spread of tokens and other information like you mentioned.

But those are actually negligence when you make a good trade. I never look on fees when Im on gain considering that as part of it.

[Catenaccio]

Some platforms (like MEXC) are already doing this on selected pairs.

But obviously, it’s not completely free.

You still deal with:

spread
slippage
and funding rates if you’re in futures

So the cost is still there, just not as visible as a trading fee.

That said, removing fees does make a difference. If you’re doing frequent trades or scalping, those small percentages usually add up over time.

I hope that you made this thread for education, but not for advertisement of MEXC exchange.

About these drawbacks you mentioned, they're right and I agree with you too. Exchanges can sometimes give "zero-trading" fee offers for users when they were new exchanges and need to make noise to get users, or when they see that it's good time of cryptocurrency market to waive trading fees in order to increase trading activities of users on their exchanges. Such offers won't last for too long but users must be more careful and cautious if these offers are from new exchanges.

It can be honeypot for new exchanges to get users, get money from user deposits, then make their scam exits.

In addition, there are drawbacks you already mentioned.

Generally, there are many exchanges to choose by filtering their Taker, Maker, Withdrawal fees.
https://www.cryptowisser.com/exchanges/

[Charles-Tim]

spread
slippage
and funding rates if you’re in futures

Funding rate is not charged by the exchange to enrich themselves, it is given to traders.

What fee are you referring to with spread and slippage?

Zero trading fee is possible on exchanges but it is for marketing and it will not last for long. If dome exchanges have zero trading fee for few pairs, that may last longer but we do not know the deal between the exchange and those that created the coin. The exchange might be making money from those that created the coin.

[JeffBrad12]

Good to have but not really the thing that will make me stick with that exchange. The funding rate and the fee doesn't really mean much if the market is illiquid and occasionally have some anomalous chart to liquidate people.

Exactly why i'm still using the best most liquid exchange there is. The fee means nothing if I can keep winning and make some profit.

[Decimetre]

You still deal with:

spread
slippage
and funding rates if you’re in futures

So the cost is still there, just not as visible as a trading fee.

That said, removing fees does make a difference. If you’re doing frequent trades or scalping, those small percentages usually add up over time.

Just wondering - do you think zero-fee trading is actually sustainable, or is it more of a user acquisition strategy?

Honestly you are right with that. They actually just called it free and zero trading but thats probably just a marketing. Ofcourse that will sound sweet with the users and traders. But behind it those details are entails the spread of tokens and other information like you mentioned.

But those are actually negligence when you make a good trade. I never look on fees when Im on gain considering that as part of it.

There's nothing like zero trading fees because those trading apps only use such deceitful adverts to attract users who only realised the charges afterwards. At that stage, a user sees the charges as insignificant and goes on to use their services. Real zero fee trading will be a good idea. Little deductions make huge money for the developer and if same is allowed for traders, they will also make a huge amount someday.

[GetOCI]

It makes an effective promo for the exchanges and helps some traders increase their profits. Zero fee can temporarily stabilize markets since day traders place more orders on both sides of the market, close to the current price. This effect can suddenly turn into extra volatility when the market breaks out of the tight range and traders rush to close out the losing side of their scalp trades.

[batang_bitcoin]

It's a way to attract more volume to them and that's why they're using it as a way to have more traders in the market on their exchange. It's not only on that particular exchange you've mentioned but also on the other exchanges too. We can't ask all the nice things and they will have no benefit of what we're asking. So, having a zero trading fee is already nice when you're just a casual trader and you'll wait again for a longer time to trade again. While these fees aren't going to take all of your money and they're just a very tiny portion of what you potentially earned.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

Zero fee is good but you must also be observant not to be lured to a fake exchange because of zero fee offer. I was trading futures option one exchange that I just registered on recently, actually I specifically registered on that exchange because of the p2p trade I wanted to do there which made me deposit a huge amount of USDT, after some weeks later I just decided to open the app because it was still on my phone and I saw they gave me some bonus for future trading alone and the bonus was to expire in 5 days time. I used the bonus and took a couple of trade which I won all but their fee for each trade I took was about $0.45 dollars, it might seem small but other exchange I have used has a lower fee compare to them.

[rat03gopoh]

If the majority of traders continue to view it as a good offer, it will be sustainable. Exchanges also monetize their business beyond trading fees; they can charge you more through other features. Otherwise, their profit margins won't even cover operational costs.

What fee are you referring to with spread and slippage?

Perhaps the OP means that the exchange sets price spreads wider than the actual market price.
Let's say...

	Actual Market Price	|	0 Fees Price
Ask	1.00	|	1.04
Bid	0.99	|	0.95

[Odohu]

Zero trading fees is possible because there are other ways the exchanges make profits to be able to run their business. Like you mentioned, spread, slippage, and other minor fees are used to cover the fees and while they apply the zero trading fees, they attract many new customers who they charge spread and the other minor fees to cover the gap and everyone will feel a win-win situation. In addition to low or no trading fees, I like platforms that offers raw spread too because they allow me set my stop loss and take profit better.