Most traders overpay on fees without realizing it. These five strategies can cut your costs by up to 40%.
Published: March 2026Trading fees seem small — 0.1% per trade — but they compound quickly. A trader doing $50,000 in monthly volume at 0.1% pays $600 per year in fees alone. With the right approach, you can bring that down to $360 or less. Here are five proven methods.
This is the single most effective step, and it takes about five seconds. When you create an exchange account, enter a referral code in the invitation field. The discount applies to every trade you make, forever.
On Binance, use code MGBABA for a 20% lifetime fee discount. On OKX, use code OKVIP1234 for the same 20% off. These cannot be added after registration, so do not skip this step.
Annual savings for a $50K/month trader: $120/year
Binance lets you pay trading fees using BNB (their native token) for an additional 25% discount. This stacks with referral codes. With MGBABA (20% off) plus BNB payment (25% off), your effective fee drops from 0.10% to roughly 0.06%.
To enable this, buy a small amount of BNB and turn on "Use BNB for fees" in your account settings. Binance will automatically deduct fees from your BNB balance.
OKX does not offer an equivalent OKB discount on trading fees as of March 2026.
Additional savings on top of referral code: ~$90/year at $50K/month volume
Exchanges charge two different fee rates: maker fees (for limit orders that add liquidity to the order book) and taker fees (for market orders that remove liquidity). Maker fees are always lower.
On OKX, the difference is significant — maker fee is 0.08% while taker fee is 0.10%. On Binance, both are 0.10% at the base tier, but at higher VIP levels the gap widens substantially.
The practical takeaway: always set a specific price with a limit order rather than hitting "market buy." You will get a better price and pay a lower fee.
Both Binance and OKX reduce fees as your 30-day trading volume increases. Binance VIP 1 (1M+ BUSD volume) drops maker fees to 0.09%. OKX VIP 1 (reaching certain volume or OKB holdings) drops maker fees to 0.06%.
This strategy only works for high-volume traders. If your monthly volume is under $100,000, focus on the first three methods instead — they deliver better returns for the effort.
Fees are not the only cost. During high volatility, the spread (difference between the best buy and sell price) widens, effectively costing you more per trade. This hidden cost can exceed the fee itself.
Trade during peak liquidity hours (8 AM - 4 PM UTC on weekdays) when spreads are tightest. Avoid trading during major news events or weekend low-liquidity periods unless you have a specific reason.
Combining all five strategies for a trader doing $50,000/month in volume:
For higher-volume traders, the savings scale proportionally. A $500K/month trader saves over $2,000/year.
See all our verified referral codes →
Use a referral code during signup. Code MGBABA on Binance and OKVIP1234 on OKX each give 20% off for life. It takes seconds and saves money on every single trade.
Yes. On Binance, you can stack referral code MGBABA (20% off) with BNB fee payment (25% off) for a combined ~40% discount, bringing your effective maker fee to 0.06%.
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