Costs: fees, funding, slippage

4 min · 7 steps

1. Step 1 · Fees

   The exchange takes its cut on every trade.

   Binance Futures VIP 0: a limit order costs 0.02% of the size, market or stop-market costs 0.05%. You pay it twice: on entry and on exit.

   limit (maker)

   0.02%

   market (taker)

   0.05%

   you pay

   twice

   These rates are just an example. Yours may differ by exchange and tier.

2. Step 2 · Fee in R

   A tight stop pushes the fee in R higher.

   Same $100 risk: a tight stop tripled the size and tripled the fee with it. A stopped-out trade costs not 1R, but −1.37R.

3. Step 3 · Funding

   Holding a position costs you funding.

   BTC, from Mar 3, 2024: the long was held for 64 hours. Funding took 0.52% of the position, that's 0.26R even with price standing still.

   position

   $5 000

   funding

   $26

   in R

   0.26R

   The red dots on the chart are funding payments. The position here is an example: risk $100, stop 2% from entry. The rates are real, Binance.

4. Step 4 · The crowd

   When everyone leans one way, funding hits harder.

   SOL, Nov 9, 2022: everyone was short, and shorts paid longs. Over 56 hours it took 24.3% of the position, the worst single payment was 2.0%.

   The FTX collapse — the market wasn't behaving normally. Price rose 2.4% over that time: the short lost on price and on funding both.

5. Step 5 · Slippage

   A stop-market order closes at the market price, not at your stop price.

   ETH 1m, 01:06: a 2 503.6 stop would close the position somewhere inside this minute, as low as 2 453.0 — $51 worse than the stop.

   A market crash on Aug 5, 2024. The candle doesn't show the exact fill price, you'd need ticks for that. Check your own fill in the journal: the planned stop against the exit price.

6. Step 6 · Find it yourself

   Where did the tight stop get hit?

   BTC 15m, a long off an FVG: the upper dashed line is the entry, the lower one the tight stop. Tap the candle.

   Practice on the chart

   This is a Find it yourself task: tap a candle or a level, and the lesson tells you right away if you got it.

   Create an accountThis step unlocks after sign-up. Your progress is saved.

7. Step 7 · Recap

   You always pay these costs, a tight stop just makes them steeper.

   1

   fee

   ›

   2

   funding

   ›

   3

   slippage

   recap

   Fees, funding, and slippage come off every trade. The tighter the stop, the more they take in R.

   There's no rule for your Pact here. Check your own costs in R in Stats.