FuturesAI Payback: When Aster’s 0% Maker Fee Beats It
Short answer: A zero maker fee beats fee payback only when most of your volume is maker. On the rates listed on November 2, 2026, Aster costs less than Bitget once about 83% of your volume is maker, and less than Gate above about 81%. Below that, payback wins. Educational arithmetic, not investment advice; leverage can lose the full principal.
A 70% payback sounds like the end of the argument. Then someone mentions a DEX with a 0% maker fee.
This post settles it with one formula and one table. We take the fee rates shown on FuturesAI’s payback page and Aster’s own fee documentation, price $100,000 of monthly volume at different maker shares, and find the exact point where the winner flips. See the FuturesAI payback table
Jump to a Section
- What rates go into the calculation?
- What does $100,000 of volume cost at each maker share?
- Where does Aster overtake each payback exchange?
- What does the formula leave out?
- Run Your Own Crossover
What rates go into the calculation?
As of November 2, 2026, the FuturesAI payback table lists effective perpetual fees, after exchange discount and payback, of 0.005% maker and 0.015% taker on Bitget, and 0.006% and 0.015% on Gate. Aster’s documentation lists 0% maker and 0.04% taker for its standard crypto contracts, and the FuturesAI table shows no payback there.
The table marks the numbers in brackets as what you pay after discount and payback are both applied. I used those, not the headline percentages.
| Venue | Payback | Effective maker | Effective taker |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitget | 50% | 0.005% | 0.015% |
| Gate | 70% | 0.006% | 0.015% |
| Toobit | 55% | 0.009% | 0.027% |
| OKX | 20% | 0.016% | 0.040% |
| Bybit | 20% | 0.016% | 0.044% |
| Binance | 10% | 0.018% | 0.045% |
| Aster (DEX) | None | 0% | 0.04% |
When I checked Aster’s fee page, I found that the 0.04% taker figure is described as varying by VIP tier, and that a second group of contracts (“Group B”) carries a 0.1% taker fee. The calculation below uses the standard group. Our earlier look at Aster Perp DEX: Zero Maker Fees and a Referral Lock covers the sign-up side.
What does $100,000 of volume cost at each maker share?
At 50% maker volume, $100,000 of monthly futures volume costs $10.00 on Bitget, $10.50 on Gate and $20.00 on Aster, using the effective rates in the FuturesAI table read on November 2, 2026.
The formula for one month is: volume × (maker share × maker rate + taker share × taker rate).
| Maker share | Bitget | Gate | Toobit | OKX | Aster |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0% (all taker) | $15.00 | $15.00 | $27.00 | $40.00 | $40.00 |
| 25% | $12.50 | $12.75 | $22.50 | $34.00 | $30.00 |
| 50% | $10.00 | $10.50 | $18.00 | $28.00 | $20.00 |
| 75% | $7.50 | $8.25 | $13.50 | $22.00 | $10.00 |
| 90% | $6.00 | $6.90 | $10.80 | $18.40 | $4.00 |
| 100% (all maker) | $5.00 | $6.00 | $9.00 | $16.00 | $0.00 |
Read down the Aster column. It drops by $10 for every 25 points of maker share. The payback exchanges drop more slowly, since their maker and taker rates are already close together.
Where does Aster overtake each payback exchange?
Aster costs less than Bitget once maker share passes 83.3%, less than Gate above 80.6% and less than Toobit above 59.1%, based on the November 2, 2026 effective rates.
The crossover comes from setting the two cost lines equal. For Aster against Bitget: 0.04 − 0.04m = 0.015 − 0.015m + 0.005m, which solves to m = 0.025 ÷ 0.030, or 83.3%.
Against OKX, Bybit and Binance the answer is simpler. Aster is cheaper or equal at every maker share, because its taker rate is not higher than theirs and its maker rate is lower. At zero maker volume it ties with OKX at 0.040%.
Honestly, the 83% figure is the one to remember. Most retail traders sit well below it.
I noticed that the crossover moves fast with Aster’s taker rate. If a contract falls in “Group B” at 0.1% taker, the table above no longer applies. Against Bitget, the crossover then moves up to about 94% maker share.
What does the formula leave out?
The formula prices fees only, so it ignores the spread, slippage, funding and self-custody differences that can matter more than a $10 monthly gap on $100,000 of volume.
- Fill quality. A maker order only costs 0% if it fills. Orders that never fill cost you the trade.
- Funding. Both venue types charge funding while a position is open, and payback does not cover it. See how long a hold erases payback.
- Account rules. Payback needs a link made at sign-up on most exchanges. Aster ties its referral to the first wallet connection.
- Risk. A DEX means wallet security and smart-contract risk. An exchange means counterparty risk. Neither appears in a fee table.
For a casual trader at $20,000 a month, the whole gap is about $2 to $6. It is not worth switching venues over. For a bot posting limit orders around the clock, it is.
Run Your Own Crossover
- Pull your last 30 days of fills and count maker and taker volume separately.
- Divide maker volume by total volume to get your maker share.
- Multiply each venue’s effective maker and taker rate by your volume, using the formula above.
- Compare against the crossover points: 83.3% (Bitget), 80.6% (Gate), 59.1% (Toobit).
- Re-check the FuturesAI table before acting. Rates and payback shares change.
If you land below 59%, the payback exchanges win on fees. Stop there and spend the time on risk instead.
See the FuturesAI payback table
Tips
Treat the effective fee column as a snapshot. Take a screenshot with the date when you run your numbers so you can see later whether the ranking moved.
Warnings
This is fee arithmetic, not a trading signal. Leverage can lose your entire margin whichever venue you choose. Not investment advice.
FAQ
Does Aster have fee payback through FuturesAI?
No. The FuturesAI payback table read on November 2, 2026 lists Aster as a DEX with no payback, so its effective fee equals its listed fee.
Is Aster’s maker fee always 0%?
Aster’s fee documentation states a 0% maker fee on its standard and Group B crypto perpetual contracts. Taker fees differ by contract group and VIP tier.
Which has lower fees for a mostly-taker trader?
Bitget and Gate. At 0% maker share they cost $15 per $100,000 on the November 2, 2026 effective rates, against $40 on Aster.
Sources
๐ Related guides
Fact-checked against the FuturesAI payback page and Aster documentation as of November 2, 2026. Not investment advice; leverage can lose the full principal.
