Crypto trading fees, explained
Stock trades are often free. Crypto trades are not. And because bots trade often, fees are usually the biggest thing standing between a strategy and a profit.
What Alpaca charges
For crypto, Alpaca charges a small percentage of each trade. At the starting tier (under $100,000 traded in 30 days):
| Order type | Fee | In plain words |
|---|---|---|
| Taker | 0.25% | Your order fills right away at the current price. |
| Maker | 0.15% | Your order waits on the order book until someone takes it. |
The fee is taken from what you receive: on a buy you get slightly less coin, on a sell slightly fewer dollars. Check Alpaca's own fee page for current rates.
The round trip
A trade has two halves: the buy and the sell. So one complete trade, a round trip, costs about 0.30% to 0.50%. On a $1,000 trade that's $3 to $5.
The hurdleIf the price only moves 0.4% in your favour, you've made nothing. Every strategy has to clear the fee hurdle before it earns a cent.
How fees add up
| Round trips per month | Fees on a $1,000 account |
|---|---|
| 10 | about $40 (4%) |
| 50 | about $200 (20%) |
| 200 | about $800 (80%) |
That's why a bot that trades all the time can look busy and smart while slowly emptying your account. More trades is not better. Better trades are better.
How Nicholas handles fees
- Every engine is tested after fees. A new brain is only used if it made money after fees on data it never saw.
- On paper accounts, where Alpaca charges no fees, Nicholas estimates what real fees would have been and shows them, so the result isn't flattered.
- The dashboard shows fees paid next to profit, so you can see the drag for yourself.