Guides to trading costs and exchange rules
These guides answer the questions people ask before and after they open an account: how much a referral code is really worth, which exchange is cheapest for the way you trade, how far leverage goes, where you need ID and which countries an exchange serves. Our newest studies price a $10,000 futures trade on 21 exchanges, compare USDT withdrawal fees by network, check what each proof of reserves page shows and work out the real cost per lot of raw and standard forex accounts. The research guides are built from the same data as our exchange code pages, so the numbers agree.
Referral codes
What a code is worth and the rules for using one.
Trading fees
How exchanges charge you, and the cheapest ways to pay less.
Crypto exchange fees compared
Spot and futures maker/taker fees on 21 exchanges, and what one trader pays on each in a year.
True cost of a $10,000 futures trade
One futures trade priced on 21 exchanges: maker vs taker, with and without a code, plus 3 days of funding.
USDT withdrawal fees by network
TRC20, BEP20, ERC20 and more from official exchange data, with minimums and the real cost in percent.
Maker vs taker fees
Why limit orders cost less than market orders, with worked examples from real fee schedules.
Spot vs futures fees
Why futures look cheaper per trade but often cost more, including funding.
Exchange fee tiers (VIP levels)
How 30-day volume and token holdings move you down the fee table, and when it is worth chasing.
How to cut trading fees
Seven ways to pay less, ranked by how much they save a typical trader.
Leverage, KYC and countries
What each exchange lets you do, and where.
Maximum leverage compared
The highest leverage on 21 exchanges and 5 forex brokers, and what it applies to.
KYC and no-KYC limits
Which exchanges need ID, and how much you can withdraw without it.
Restricted countries by exchange
Which exchanges accept users from the US, Canada, the UK, the UAE, India and Singapore.
Safety
Hacks, reserves and how to protect an account.
Exchange hacks 2025–2026
The big exchange hacks of 2025 and 2026, and who paid users back.
Proof of reserves by exchange
What each exchange's public reserve page showed: dated ratios, per-coin figures, or only a claim.
Keeping funds safe on exchanges
A security checklist built from the Binance hack: 2FA, allowlists, anti-phishing codes and cold storage.
Forex brokers
Rebates, bonuses and partner codes on forex brokers.
About these guides
- Where should I start?
- If you haven't opened an account yet, read whether you can add a referral code later and the fees comparison first: both decide things you can only choose once, at sign-up.
- How current are these guides?
- Each guide shows the month its data was checked. Fee and rule tables are rechecked against the exchanges' official pages, and the same tables feed the exchange pages, so the numbers match across the site.
- Who writes them?
- Alex Wu, who runs TradeSavings. Our methodology page explains how codes, fees and answers are checked.