It is easy to focus on the price of a coin and forget the costs of trading it. Those costs determine your real break-even point — the price at which a round trip simply gets you back to where you started.
The main types of fee
- Trading fees. A percentage charged by an exchange on each buy and sell, often split into “maker” and “taker” rates.
- The spread. The gap between the best buy and sell price. Wider spreads on illiquid markets cost you more — another reason liquidity matters.
- Network fees. The cost of moving coins on-chain, such as gas fees on Ethereum.
Why break-even sits above your entry
Because fees apply on both sides of a trade, the price has to rise a little above what you paid before you are even. Small percentages compound: frequent trading can quietly erode returns even when each individual fee looks trivial.
Work out your own number
Rather than guess, enter your figures into the break-even calculator. It shows the exact sell price that covers your buy and sell fees, and how far the market must move to get there. Pair it with the profit & loss calculator to check a trade you have already made.
Keeping costs down
Trading less often, using more liquid markets, and being aware of network congestion all reduce the drag of fees. For long-term buyers, a steady approach like dollar-cost averaging can also limit how much fee-heavy activity you take on.
Related tools
Try the break-even calculator, the profit & loss calculator, and the DCA calculator, then read reading a market page to see where fees and spreads show up in live data.