Fees and Rebates

Vela’s fee structure for makers and takers.

Vela uses a standard maker-taker fee model. Orders that provide liquidity to the market (makers) are treated differently from orders that remove liquidity (takers).

Specific fee rates are to be announced before mainnet launch. This page describes the fee model and mechanism. Actual rates will be published when the mainnet fee schedule is finalized.

Maker vs. Taker

Every fill on Vela is classified as either a maker trade or a taker trade:

Role	Description	Example
Maker	Order rested in the book and was matched by an incoming order	Limit GTC order that fills when another order arrives
Taker	Incoming order that matches against a resting order	Market order, or aggressive limit that immediately crosses

The same order can generate both maker and taker fills — for example, if you place a limit order that partially matches immediately (taker fills) and partially rests (future maker fills).

Fee Model

Taker pays a fee on each taker fill:
  Taker fee = fill_quantity × fill_price × taker_rate

Maker receives a rebate on each maker fill:
  Maker rebate = fill_quantity × fill_price × maker_rate

The taker rate is higher than the maker rebate. The difference is exchange revenue. Makers are compensated for providing liquidity and bearing inventory risk.

Use Post-Only Time in Force to guarantee maker status on all your orders. Post-Only orders are rejected if they would match immediately, ensuring you never accidentally pay taker fees.

How Fees Are Settled

Fees are settled at fill time, not at order placement. When a fill event is generated:

1. The taker’s fill is reduced by the taker fee
2. The maker’s fill is increased by the maker rebate
3. Both are reflected in the final balance updates from the fill

You see net amounts in your balance — fees and rebates are already included. The fill WebSocket message includes gross and net amounts so you can reconcile.

Fee Tiers

Vela will introduce volume-based fee tiers at mainnet. Higher 30-day trading volume unlocks lower taker rates. Market makers with committed quoting programs may receive custom rates.

The tier structure and requirements will be announced prior to mainnet.

Market Maker Fee Program

Active market makers who meet minimum quoting requirements (minimum uptime, maximum spread, minimum depth) will be eligible for the market maker program. Program participants receive:

• Enhanced maker rebates
• Higher credit ratios
• Dedicated support and early access to new features

Apply via the market maker onboarding flow in the MM Dashboard, or contact the Vela team through the GitHub repository.

Zero-Fee Beta

During the public beta, all trading is fee-free. Fees will be activated at mainnet launch. This allows traders to test execution without fee consideration.

Fee Calculation Example

When fees are live, a sample taker buy of 1 ETH at 3200 USDC with a 0.05% taker rate would look like:

Gross fill:  1.000 ETH at 3200 USDC = 3200.00 USDC cost
Taker fee:   3200.00 × 0.0005       = 1.60 USDC
Net cost:    3200.00 + 1.60         = 3201.60 USDC total
ETH received: 1.000 ETH

And the corresponding maker sell:

Gross fill:  1.000 ETH at 3200 USDC = 3200.00 USDC received
Maker rebate: 3200.00 × 0.0002      = 0.64 USDC
Net received: 3200.00 + 0.64        = 3200.64 USDC
ETH paid: 1.000 ETH

These example rates are illustrative only. Actual rates will be published before mainnet.