What is the difference between a maker and a taker?
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.
- 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 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 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 numbersThree 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.
Fee · Limit order · Market order · Slippage
Fees, Hyperliquid Docs (read October 20, 2026).
Order book, Hyperliquid Docs (read October 20, 2026).
Order types, Hyperliquid Docs (read October 20, 2026).
BuildTrade™ is independent of, and not endorsed by, Hyperliquid.