Maker orders are a standing discount
If your strategy allows patience, resting limit orders quietly cut your fee bill by half or more. Just accept some orders won't fill. See total fee drag on the fee drag calculator.
Limit orders pay 60% less in fees — most traders ignore this
Taker (market order): 0.055% on Bybit, 0.05% on Binance. Maker (limit order, resting): 0.02% on both. The difference is 0.035% per trade — sounds small. At $10,000 notional per trade, 100 trades/month: savings of $350/month purely from order type. At scale this number becomes serious.
Maker orders aren't always possible. You can't post a limit order in a fast-moving market and expect fill. If you're chasing momentum, you pay taker. If you're fading moves (buying dips, selling rips into strength), you can usually post limits and let price come to you.
Some exchanges offer negative maker fees (rebates) at high volume tiers — you get paid to provide liquidity. This is how market makers profit. At retail volumes this doesn't apply, but knowing it exists explains why professional firms use exclusively limit orders and why bid-ask spreads stay tight on major pairs.
Related: true trade cost, exchange fee comparison, break-even after fees.