# What is the difference between a maker and a taker?

Stage 1 · Survey the ground (know the market you trade) · Updated 2026-10-27

A maker places an order that rests on the order book until someone trades with it. A taker sends an order that fills at once against orders already resting there. On Hyperliquid’s base tier for perpetuals, a taker pays 0.045% and a maker 0.015%. The maker pays less but may never fill; the taker pays more and fills now.

## In short

- A **maker** adds an order to the book that waits there. A **taker** fills against an order that is already waiting.
- On Hyperliquid’s base tier a perpetual taker pays **0.045%** and a maker **0.015%**: on a $4,000 trade, $1.80 against $0.60.
- A **market** order always takes. A **limit** order makes only for the part that rests on the book.
- Resting orders fill in **price-time priority**: the best price first and, at one price, the earliest order first.
- Makers with a large share of all maker volume are paid a **rebate** instead of a fee.

## Who makes and who takes

An order book is a list of orders waiting to trade: offers to sell above the price and bids to buy below it. Whoever puts an order on the book that waits there is the **maker**, because they make a price others can trade against. Whoever sends an order that trades with one already waiting is the **taker**.

Maker and taker describe one fill, not one trader. The same person can make on one order and take on the next, and a single order can do both: take what it can at once and rest the rest.

## What each pays

On Hyperliquid’s base tier, up to $5M of 14-day volume, a perpetual taker pays 0.045% of the trade’s value and a maker 0.015%. On spot the base rates are 0.07% and 0.04%. The maker’s fee is a third of the taker’s on perpetuals.

Higher volume tiers pay less, and makers with a large share of all maker volume over 14 days are paid a rebate instead: 0.001% of each trade above 0.5% of that volume, 0.002% above 1.5% and 0.003% above 3%. [How Hyperliquid fees work](https://buildtrade.app/guides/how-hyperliquid-fees-work/) lists every tier.

## Which orders make and which take

A **market** order always takes: it fills at once against the best orders waiting. A **limit** order takes for any part that can fill at once at its price or better, and makes for the part that rests on the book. A post-only order, which Hyperliquid calls ALO, never fills on arrival; it is only executed as a resting order, so it can only make.

A stop that triggers a market order takes when it triggers. [Hyperliquid’s order types](https://buildtrade.app/guides/hyperliquid-order-types/) covers each kind of order.

## Who fills first

Hyperliquid matches orders in **price-time priority**. The best price fills first and, at the same price, the order that arrived first fills first. A new bid at the best bid joins the back of the queue at that price.

So a maker trades the lower fee for uncertainty: the order may fill later, in part, or not at all if the price moves away. A taker pays more for certainty of filling now.

## On Hyperliquid

Your fee tier comes from your rolling 14-day volume and is assessed at the end of each day in UTC. Maker rebates are paid on each trade as it happens.

In BuildTrade™, the order ticket shows the estimated Fee before you send, and Trade History shows the fee each fill actually paid. Clicking a row of the order book puts its price into the ticket, ready for a Limit order.

## Three limit buys against one book

_Example numbers._

Three ways to buy 10 units against the book in the figure, at the base-tier perpetual fees. The fee assumes any part that rests fills later at its price.

- Units to buy: 10
- Best offer: 100.01
- Best bid: 99.99
- Taker fee: 0.045%
- Maker fee: 0.015%

| Limit buy at | Fills now | Rests on the book | Average price | Fee if all fills |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| 100.02 | 10 | 0 | 100.015 | $0.45 |
| 100.01 | 5 | 5 | 100.010 | $0.30 |
| 99.99 | 0 | 10 | 99.990 | $0.15 |

The limit at 100.02 takes everything at once, at an average of 100.015. The one at 99.99 pays the least, but joins the queue behind the 6 already bid there and fills only if sellers come down to it.

## Mistakes that cost traders money

- **Thinking a limit order always makes.** A limit buy above the best offer fills at once for whatever it can, and that part pays the taker fee.
- **Chasing the maker fee at any cost.** A resting order saves a few hundredths of a percent, but may fill late, in part, or never.
- **Expecting a stop to fill as a maker.** A stop that triggers a market order takes, and pays the taker fee on top of any slippage.
- **Joining a long queue and expecting a fill.** At one price, earlier orders fill first. A new bid at the best bid waits behind every order already there.
- **Counting one side of the trade.** A round trip has two fills. Taking on the way in and on the way out pays the taker fee twice.

## Try it in BuildTrade™

Open the Book tab on the Trade screen and click a row on the bid side: its price goes into the ticket for a Limit order that would rest on the book, behind the orders already there.

Open the app: https://trade.buildtrade.app/register

## Words in this guide

- [Fee](https://buildtrade.app/glossary/#fees)
- [Limit order](https://buildtrade.app/glossary/#limit-order)
- [Market order](https://buildtrade.app/glossary/#market-order)
- [Slippage](https://buildtrade.app/glossary/#slippage)

## Sources

- [Fees](https://hyperliquid.gitbook.io/hyperliquid-docs/trading/fees), Hyperliquid Docs.
- [Order book](https://hyperliquid.gitbook.io/hyperliquid-docs/hypercore/order-book), Hyperliquid Docs.
- [Order types](https://hyperliquid.gitbook.io/hyperliquid-docs/trading/order-types), Hyperliquid Docs.

BuildTrade™ is independent of, and not endorsed by, Hyperliquid.

Web page: https://buildtrade.app/guides/maker-and-taker/