Swap fees are built into the quote: service fee, spread, routing and network costs
SimpleSwap and ChangeNOW show one quoted amount instead of a separate trading commission. The service component, the liquidity spread and the routing costs are folded into the rate you see before you confirm, and the quoted amount includes the outgoing network fee. You may separately pay the network fee your wallet charges to send the deposit.
A quote that folds every cost of the swap into the amount you receive, instead of listing a commission on top. To compare two all-in quotes, compare what each says you receive.
What fees do I pay when I swap crypto?
- Service feefrom 0.2% on SimpleSwap
- Liquidity spread
- Routing costs
- Outgoing network fee
Whatever the venue, a swap has the same building blocks.
Ethereum.org's DEX design guide lists them as swap details: token price, slippage, minimum received, expected output, price impact, gas cost estimate, other fees and order routing.
On a DEX
- A swap fee to liquidity providers, set by the pool.
- Gas for the transaction: on Ethereum the base fee is burned and the tip goes to validators.
- A token approval the first time a contract spends your ERC-20 token.
On an instant swap service
- One all-in rate: service fee, spread and routing.
- The outgoing network fee, included in the quote.
- Your own wallet's network fee to send the deposit.
How much is a typical DEX fee?
- 0.30%flat swap fee on every Uniswap v2 pooldevelopers.uniswap.org
- 0.05 / 0.30 / 1%standard fee tiers introduced in Uniswap v3developers.uniswap.org
- 184,523gas units ethereum.org lists for a Uniswap swapethereum.org
- 21,000gas units for a plain ETH transferethereum.org
A gas fee equals the gas an operation uses multiplied by the price per unit of gas. Gas prices are not fixed: they change with network congestion.
That is why the same swap can cost more on a busy day.
Why do I still pay gas if my swap failed?
Gas pays for processing a transaction, whether it succeeds or fails (ethereum.org). On Ethereum the base fee is burned and the priority fee, the tip, goes to validators.
On a DEX, a swap that falls outside your slippage tolerance fails and the gas is still spent.
What is a bid-ask spread?
The bid-ask spread is a cost that never appears as a line item. Spreads are usually tighter in high-volume markets and wider where liquidity is low.
A fixed rate also carries a slightly wider spread, the price of locking the rate.
How each service states its fee
- SimpleSwap: service fee from 0.2%, changing with the pair, liquidity, market conditions and your loyalty level. Loyalty tiers in the Customer Account add fee discounts from 5% at Bronze to 20% at Platinum.
- ChangeNOW: the rate depends on the assets, liquidity, network costs and market conditions; no single percentage covers every exchange.
Fees as other services state them are in the fee list.
How do I compare two quotes?
- Same pair, same networks
USDT (TRC-20) and USDT (ERC-20) are different deposits with different network costs.
- Same size
Price impact grows with order size, so compare the amount you will actually send.
- Same minute
A quote is a snapshot of a moving market. Take both quotes back to back.
- Same rate type
A fixed quote can start lower than a floating one because the lock is priced in.
- Compare what you receive
Enter both receive amounts in the calculator above.
Questions
What fees do I pay when I swap crypto?
On an instant swap service, one all-in rate covers the service fee, spread and routing, and the quote includes the outgoing network fee.
You may also pay your own wallet's network fee to send the deposit. On a DEX you pay the pool's swap fee plus gas.
Why do I still pay gas if my swap failed?
Gas is charged whether a transaction succeeds or fails, because validators still process it. A DEX swap that fails on slippage still costs gas.
What does "minimum received" mean on a swap quote?
It is the lowest amount a DEX swap will deliver before it fails. With slippage tolerance at 1%, the minimum received is the expected output minus 1%.
What is a bid-ask spread?
The gap between the highest bid and the lowest ask in an order book. It is usually tighter in liquid markets and wider in thin ones.
What is the SimpleSwap fee?
From 0.2%, built into the quoted rate. It changes with the pair, liquidity, market conditions and your loyalty level.