Module 2: Exchange fees · Lesson 7 of 14
How fee rebates work for crypto traders
3 min read
A fee rebate returns part of the trading fees you have paid, using the referral or affiliate commission the exchange pays to whoever introduced you. Your fees stay the same; you simply get a slice of them back afterwards.
Where rebates come from
Many exchanges run referral and affiliate programmes. When a trader signs up through a partner's link, the exchange pays that partner a commission based on the trading fees the trader generates. A rebate service is a partner that shares most of that commission back with the trader instead of keeping it all.
The key point is that the money comes from the exchange's own fee revenue. Signing up through a rebate link does not normally change the fees, spreads or trading conditions you see.
A worked monthly example
The numbers below are illustrative only.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Monthly trading volume | $400,000 |
| Average fee rate | 0.10% |
| Fees paid | $400 |
| Rebate (for example, 30% of fees) | $120 |
| Net fees after rebate | $280 |
Example: you trade $400,000 in a month and pay $400 in fees. If your rebate works out at 30% of those fees, $120 comes back to you, cutting your effective fee rate from 0.10% to 0.07%.
The rebate percentage depends on the exchange's programme and the service's terms, so check the actual rate before relying on any figure.
TradesBack and similar services
TradesBack is one such service. Traders open accounts through its referral link, and TradesBack passes most of the commission it receives back to them as a rebate, paid in USDT. The exchange's fees are unchanged, and the rebate is funded by the commission the exchange pays TradesBack.
What rebates do not do
A rebate lowers your net cost of trading. It does not make a losing trade profitable, and it is not a reason to trade more often. If a strategy loses money before fees, a rebate will only make it lose slightly less.
Risk: crypto prices are volatile and trading can lose money quickly. Rebates reduce costs but never remove trading risk.
Key takeaways
- Rebates come from referral commission the exchange pays to the partner who referred you.
- Your trading fees and conditions normally stay exactly the same.
- At an illustrative 30% rebate, $400 of monthly fees would return $120.
- Rebates reduce net costs but cannot turn losing trades into winners.
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