Recently, a friend asked me about the cost structure of perpetual contracts, and I realized that many people are actually not very clear on how the trading fee calculation logic works. So today, I want to discuss this topic.

The costs of perpetual contracts mainly fall into two parts: one is the trading fee, and the other is the funding rate. First, let's talk about the trading fee. Both opening and closing positions incur costs, and there are two types of orders: limit orders and market orders.

The standard fee structure on mainstream exchanges is as follows: limit orders, also known as maker orders, are usually 0.02%, and market orders, or taker orders, are 0.05%. A detail worth noting is that not all current-price buy and sell orders are considered limit orders, including stop-loss and take-profit setups, which are also charged at the limit order fee rate. To put it simply, manually entered prices are considered limit orders, while system-automated trades are considered market orders.

The calculation method for contract trading fees is actually very straightforward: it’s the position value multiplied by the fee rate. For example, suppose you use $600 of capital to open a 100x leveraged long position on Bitcoin, then your position value is $60,000. If you open the position at market price, $60,000 multiplied by 0.05% equals $30 in fees. When closing the position at market price, it’s also $30. But if you close the position with a limit order waiting to be filled, it might only cost around $12. So, completing a full contract trade, just the trading fees can range from $24 to $60, and this is just for one trade.

Besides trading fees, there is also something called the funding rate, but this rate is not fixed; it fluctuates dynamically based on the market’s long-short ratio. The main purpose of the funding rate is to balance the power between long and short positions in the market.

Calculating the funding fee is also simple: it’s the position value multiplied by the current funding rate, which is what you pay or receive. When the funding rate is positive, longs pay shorts, and shorts receive money. Conversely, if it’s negative, longs receive money, and shorts pay. The funding rate is settled three times a day at 00:00, 08:00, and 16:00, and fees are only actually charged or deducted at these settlement times.

Honestly, many beginners have never calculated this before, and only after a month-end settlement do they realize that the combined costs of trading fees and funding rates can be quite significant. That’s also why long-term traders pay close attention to the fee structure.