Every exchange advertises a discount. Here is what each code is actually worth.
Referral codes for 12 exchanges, with the standard fee each one charges, the discount the code applies, and the annual cost at your actual trading volume.
- Standard-tier fees, not best-case VIP rates
- Filtered by whether you can actually register
- Ranked by your cost, never by our commission
Referral codes
Every code below is one we hold and have checked. Each row shows what the code gives you, what that is worth over a year, and when we last verified it.
- KuCoin
Applied by the signup link
- 20% off feesNo code available
$62.40
saved per year
Code not configured
Ranked by what you are left paying once the code is applied, at $50,000 traded per month with 20% maker orders — not by the size of the saving, which would put the most expensive venues on top. Futures rates are used where a venue trades them, spot where it does not. Change the volume in the calculator to see your own figure. Signup bonuses are shown separately because they pay once and cannot honestly be added to a recurring saving.
What is a referral code actually worth to you?
Enter what you trade in a typical month. The table recalculates using each exchange's published standard fee and the discount its referral code applies.
Total notional traded per month, in USD. For leveraged futures this is position size, not margin — 10x on $1,000 of margin is $10,000 of volume.
Limit orders that rest on the book are maker fills; market orders are taker fills. Most retail flow is taker-heavy.
Quick presets
Annual trading cost at this volume
- 1MEXC
Effective rate 0.014%
CheapestWithout a code $96.00 - 2Binance
Effective rate 0.035%
- 3OKX
Effective rate 0.035%
- 4Gate
Effective rate 0.035%
- 5Bitget
Effective rate 0.042%
Biggest savingWithout a code $312 - 6KuCoin
Effective rate 0.042%
You pay
$250
Code not configuredCode saves you
$62.40
Biggest savingWithout a code $312 - 7Bybit
Effective rate 0.043%
- 8BingX
Effective rate 0.044%
Standard-tier fees with the referral discount applied. Excludes funding, spread and withdrawal costs. An estimate for comparison, not a quote. Actual fees depend on your VIP tier, native-token discounts, and promotions running at the time you trade.
Global derivatives exchanges
Offshore venues with perpetual futures. Referral codes here pay a lifetime share of trading fees, which is why the discounts are worth comparing carefully.
Binance
The largest exchange by volume, with the deepest order books and the most restrictions.
−20%125x- Effective rate
- 0.04%
Bybit
A derivatives-first exchange with a fast matching engine and an interface built for futures.
−10%100x- Effective rate
- 0.05%
OKX
A well-engineered exchange with the lowest spot maker fee among the major venues.
−20%100x- Effective rate
- 0.04%
Bitget
Copy trading at scale, a large listing catalogue, and daily commission settlement.
−20%125x- Effective rate
- 0.048%
MEXC
Zero maker fees, the widest small-cap listing catalogue, and the highest advertised commission.
−10%200x- Effective rate
- 0.018%
BingX
A derivatives venue built around copy trading, with competitive futures fees and a referral programme that works differently from the rest.
150x- Effective rate
- 0.05%
Gate
Formerly Gate.io. Second globally by spot volume, with an enormous catalogue and competitive fees.
−20%100x- Effective rate
- 0.04%
KuCoin
A broad altcoin catalogue with strong trading-bot tooling and high affiliate commission.
−20%100x- Effective rate
- 0.048%
Code not configuredRead full review
Korean won-market exchanges
KRW spot trading. Registration requires a Korean real-name bank account, so these are only available from within South Korea. Their invite programs pay a one-off bonus rather than an ongoing rebate.
Bithumb
South Korea's second-largest won-market exchange. The famous 0.04% is a coupon rate that expires every 30 days.
Spot only- Signup bonus
- ₩50,000
Coinone
Base fee of 0.20%, with a voucher that takes it to 0.04% — the gap worth more than the invite reward.
Spot only- Signup bonus
- ₩4,000
Korbit
South Korea's first exchange, and the only one that lets you choose your own fee plan.
Spot only- Signup bonus
- ₩5,000
Gopax
A smaller licensed Korean exchange with the highest domestic trading fee.
Spot only- Signup bonus
- ₩10,000
How referral codes work
An exchange pays an affiliate a share of the trading fees generated by users who signed up through their link. Part of that share is passed back to you as a standing discount on every trade you make. The discount is applied by the exchange at the moment your account is created — which is the one detail that matters most.
The code must be present at registration
Nearly every exchange binds the referral to the account permanently at signup. An existing account almost never qualifies retroactively, and support will not attach a code afterwards.
The discount is standing, not a one-off
Unlike a signup bonus, a fee discount applies to every trade for the life of the account. On any meaningful volume it outweighs the bonus within weeks.
A high discount on a high fee is still expensive
30% off a 0.10% taker fee costs more than 10% off a 0.02% one. Compare the effective rate, not the headline discount — that is what the calculator on this page does.
Common questions
- What is a crypto exchange referral code?
- It is an identifier that links a new account to whoever referred it. The exchange pays that referrer a share of the trading fees the account generates, and most referrers pass part of it back to the user as a standing discount on every trade. The discount is applied by the exchange itself, so it reduces what you pay rather than being a marketing claim.
- Does a referral code cost me anything?
- No. The commission comes out of fees the exchange already collects. Signing up without a code simply means the exchange keeps the entire fee instead of splitting it, so trading with a valid code is always cheaper than trading without one.
- Can I add a referral code after I have already signed up?
- Almost never. Nearly every exchange binds the referral relationship permanently at account creation, and neither you nor support can change it afterwards. Creating a second account to capture the discount breaches the terms of service on essentially every venue and typically gets both accounts frozen.
- Which exchange has the lowest fees?
- It depends on how you trade. MEXC charges nothing for maker orders, so it is cheapest for anyone working limit orders. For market orders, the effective taker rate after the referral discount decides it, and that varies by exchange. The calculator on this page works it out for your actual volume and order mix rather than giving one answer to a question that does not have one.
- Why can I not register on some of these exchanges?
- Offshore exchanges maintain restricted-country lists, most commonly excluding the United States. Korean won-market exchanges are the opposite case: they require a verified Korean bank account and Korean resident identity verification, so they are effectively closed to everyone else. Set the country filter on this page to see only what you can actually use.
- How are the fees on this site verified?
- Every rate is the exchange's published standard tier — what a newly created account pays before volume or token discounts — recorded in basis points and re-checked on the date shown at the bottom of each page. VIP rates are excluded on purpose, because they depend on trading volume that differs per account and quoting the best possible rate would make every comparison meaningless.
- Do you rank exchanges by how much commission you earn?
- No. Tables are sorted by what you pay, or by whichever column you choose. Our commission rate is recorded internally so we can see which exchanges justify further work, but it is never a sort input and never affects position in a table.
See every fee side by side
Spot and futures, maker and taker, before and after the referral discount.
Terms verified Aug 16, 2026