Maker

What Is a Maker?

A maker is a trader who places a limit order that does not execute immediately, adding liquidity to the order book and waiting for another trader to match with it. 

When you place an order at a specific price rather than accepting the current market price, your order sits in the order book until someone is willing to trade at that price. Because you’re "making" a market by offering an opportunity for others to trade, you are referred to as a maker. 

How Do Maker Orders Work?

For example, if Bitcoin is currently trading at $60,000 and you place a limit buy order at $59,500, your order will not fill immediately. Instead, it sits in the order book at the $59,500 price level, waiting for the market price to reach that point or for a taker to sell at your specified price.

Maker vs. Taker

The distinction between makers and takers is central to how cryptocurrency exchanges structure their fee systems.

A maker adds orders to the book, providing liquidity that other traders can trade against. A taker removes liquidity from the book by executing immediately against existing orders. Because makers help create a deeper, more liquid market, exchanges often charge makers lower fees than takers. This fee structure, known as the maker-taker model, is designed to incentivize traders to provide liquidity.

Understanding whether your order will be a maker or taker order can help you manage trading costs, especially if you trade frequently. Limit orders that do not execute immediately typically qualify for maker fees, while market orders and immediately executable limit orders typically qualify for taker fees.

Fee levels also depend on factors such as 30-day trading volume, whether the pair is traded on spot or futures markets, and any discounts that apply, so checking an exchange’s current fee schedule before trading is a useful habit.

Below is a summary of the main differences between makers and takers: