Taker fee — Definition | Polymarket Trade
A taker fee is a fee paid by traders that remove liquidity by hitting an existing order on an exchange's order book. It encourages market participants to post orders that add liquidity rather than consume it.
In depth
In prediction markets, trading isn't free. When you place an order on Polymarket, you may be charged a taker fee—a small percentage of your trade's notional value. Understanding taker fees is crucial for calculating your true cost of trading and building a profitable strategy.
The concept of taker versus maker fees originated in traditional finance and equity markets, where exchanges distinguish between two types of market participants. A maker is someone who adds liquidity to the market by posting a limit order that sits on the order book waiting to be filled. A taker is someone who removes that liquidity by accepting a maker's posted price immediately. Most exchanges charge the taker a fee and often provide a rebate or credit to the maker. This incentive structure encourages market participants to help each other by adding liquidity, which benefits everyone through tighter spreads and faster execution. Prediction markets like Polymarket apply the same principle: taker fees fund the platform and incentivize continuous liquidity.
On Polymarket, taker fees vary by category and typically range from 0.25% to 2% depending on the market type and volume. When you place a market order—clicking "Buy Yes" or "Sell No" at the best available price—you're a taker, and the fee is deducted from your proceeds or added to your cost. For example, if you buy 100 shares of YES at $0.50 per share, your cost is $50 plus the taker fee, which might be $0.50 at 1%, for a total of $50.50. If you post a limit order instead, hoping another trader will accept your price, you become a maker and typically pay no fee or receive a fee rebate.
One common misconception is that taker fees only matter for large trades. In reality, even small orders accumulate fees that reduce your returns. A trader placing ten $100 trades per day with a 0.5% taker fee pays $5 per day in fees, which compounds to over $1,800 per year on the same capital if trading continuously. This is why many successful prediction market traders use maker-only strategies, posting limit orders and earning fee rebates instead of paying fees. Another misconception is that all taker fees are the same. Polymarket's fee structure is dynamic, with different categories charged at different rates, so it's worth checking which markets have lower fees before entering a position.
Understanding taker fees is also essential for calculating your true entry and exit prices. When backtesting a trading strategy, you must account for both the taker fee on entry and the maker fee on exit, or vice versa. Ignoring fees can make an unprofitable strategy appear profitable, leading to real losses when you trade live. Additionally, taker fees can affect market efficiency. High fees incentivize traders to accept worse prices rather than posting orders, which can widen spreads and make markets less useful for price discovery.
Related to taker fees is the concept of the spread—the difference between the best bid and best ask prices. Taker fees and spreads together determine your total cost of trading. A market with a 1% taker fee but a tight spread might be cheaper than a market with a 0.5% fee but a wide spread. Learning to navigate these trade-offs is a key skill in prediction market trading.
Example
Imagine you want to bet on whether the Federal Reserve will raise rates next month. The market shows YES at $0.72 and NO at $0.28. You click "Buy YES" at $0.72 (the taker action), buying 100 shares for $72, and Polymarket charges you a 0.5% taker fee, so your total cost is $72.36. If you had instead posted a limit order at $0.71 and waited for another trader to accept it, you would pay only a 0.2% maker fee, making your effective cost $71.58 instead.