Why am I being charged this fee when buying or selling crypto?

When you buy or sell cryptocurrency at Luno, different fees apply, depending on where you buy or sell.

The first thing to understand is the difference between using the exchange and the instant buy and sell options. There are different fees for both.

How do I know which one I’m using?

If you're asking this question then you probably used the instant buy and sell option. It’s easy to tell the difference between the two. If you selected buy or sell in the app or the web from the Wallets screen, then you’ve used instant buy or sell. If you selected the exchange option and placed an order, you’ve used the exchange.

Instant buy and sell

If you used this option, the service charge displayed to you is a dynamic fee which changes and is specific to the quote you received. It varies from trade to trade and depends on market conditions. Accepting the quote (selecting CONFIRM) means accepting the service charge that goes with it.

Note

The service charge includes our risk of a price change between when you enter the amount you want to buy or sell, and when you confirm the transaction. Luno takes this service charge in cryptocurrencies, which is calculated from the amount you want to buy or sell.

The Exchange

Using the exchange is slightly more nuanced when it comes to working out the fee you’ve been charged. It depends on whether you’re a maker or a taker. The difference is between trade orders that provide liquidity (called a maker order) and those that take away liquidity (called a taker order).

If you were a maker, then you were charged a maker fee (which ranges between -0.02% and 0.40% depending on your trading tier and region). It is possible that your order is partially filled immediately, and in a case like this, you could be a maker and a taker. This depends on the available liquidity at the price at which you want to buy or sell.

Note

Remember, being a maker or a taker does not depend on whether you’re buying or selling, but rather, on whether your order is filled immediately or not.

If you were a taker, then your trade would have gone through immediately and a taker fee would have been charged on that trade - depending in which market and country you are making the trade.

Tip

Find out what the maker and taker fees are based on your fee tier.
Similarly, the maker/taker fees also apply to sell orders. Find out more about how fees are determined on the Luno Exchange.

 

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