Gemini ActiveTrader Fee Schedule, Reviewed (Sept 1, 2026)
Gemini's ActiveTrader fee schedule dated September 1, 2026, read line by line: 13 spot tiers, derivatives rebates, margin interest, and the cost at $10K.
Per the ActiveTrader Fee Schedule dated September 1, 2026, Gemini ActiveTrader charges 0.600% maker and 1.200% taker at the base tier, stepping down through thirteen tiers to 0.000% maker and 0.020% taker at $250M of trailing 30-day volume. A tier is earned by volume or by USD asset balance, whichever is better for you.
That is the whole Gemini ActiveTrader fee schedule in one sentence, and it is the sentence most reviews of Gemini do not print. We read the schedule page on 11 September 2026. It is dated September 1, 2026, and every figure below is quoted from it as of that reading. Gemini reserves the right to change any tier on three calendar days’ notice, so treat the tables as a dated snapshot, not a promise.
The file
The Gemini ActiveTrader fee schedule, tier by tier
Thirteen rows, two ways in. Reprinted from the page dated September 1, 2026:
| Maker | Taker | 30-day volume | Asset balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.000% | 0.020% | $250M | N/A |
| 0.000% | 0.025% | $100M | N/A |
| 0.000% | 0.035% | $50M | N/A |
| 0.010% | 0.050% | $20M | N/A |
| 0.025% | 0.065% | $10M | N/A |
| 0.040% | 0.085% | $5M | N/A |
| 0.050% | 0.100% | $1M | N/A |
| 0.060% | 0.125% | $500K | N/A |
| 0.075% | 0.150% | $250K | $25M |
| 0.125% | 0.250% | $75K | $15M |
| 0.250% | 0.500% | $25K | $5M |
| 0.400% | 0.800% | $10K | $1M |
| 0.600% | 1.200% | ≥ $0 | ≥ $0 |
Three things about this ladder are worth more than the ladder itself.
First, the base tier. At 0.600% maker and 1.200% taker, an account with no trailing volume and no meaningful balance pays more per crossed order than at any other large venue this desk has reviewed on its published schedule. The Bitfinex schedule we reviewed in August charged nothing to trade on the pairs it covered; Gemini’s entry taker rate is 120 basis points. Gemini does not hide this. It prints it in the last row. Marketing departments elsewhere might have put that row first and called it a feature.
Second, the balance column. Gemini is unusual in publishing a second track: hold $1M in total assets, in USD terms, and you get the 0.400%/0.800% tier without trading a dollar. Hold $25M and you sit at 0.075%/0.150%. Above that the balance column reads N/A, so the last eight tiers can only be earned by volume. The schedule says that if your volume and your balance point at different tiers, “your fees are set to the higher tier (i.e., you will pay the lower fee)”. That is the better of the two, always, per the page.
Third, the maker-taker gap. At every tier the taker rate is at least double the maker rate, until makers reach zero at $50M. Resting a limit order instead of crossing the spread is therefore worth half the fee on day one. That is the same lesson we drew from the Coinbase Advanced ladder, and it holds here with wider absolute numbers.
How does Gemini calculate my fee tier?
Per the schedule, the tier is set by either trailing 30-day trading volume across all order books, excluding stablecoin pairs, or total asset balance in USD. If the two point at different tiers, Gemini applies the higher tier, so you pay the lower fee. Non-USD trades convert to USD at the most recent fill price. Tiers are recalculated every day at approximately 2am UTC and apply to orders placed from then on.
One wrinkle the page leaves for the reader. The spot ladder’s volume column is headed “Volume (spot and derivatives)”, while the calculation paragraph says the trailing volume is measured “across all order books (excluding volume traded on stablecoin pairs)”. Read together, derivatives volume appears to count towards a spot tier and stablecoin-pair volume does not. We report both lines as printed; the page does not reconcile them further and neither will we.
The recalculation time matters if you are trying to earn a tier on purpose. The schedule gives approximately 2am UTC, which it also states as 9pm EST or 10pm EDT the previous day. A large order that crosses a threshold at 3am UTC buys you nothing until the next day’s recalculation.
Maker orders, cancellations and partial fills
The schedule is explicit on three mechanics that other venues bury in a help centre.
Maker fees are charged only when a maker order is matched. There is no fee for cancelling a maker order, per the page. A partially matched order pays the taker rate on the portion that fills immediately and the maker rate on the remainder when it later matches. And fees are charged in the quote currency: the fee on BTC/USD is taken in USD, the fee on ETH/BTC in BTC, per the schedule’s own example.
None of this is exotic. It is simply written down, which on this beat counts as a virtue.
The stablecoin carve-out
Three pairs trade at zero on both sides: RLUSD/USD, USDC/GUSD and GUSD/USD. Every other stablecoin pair is 0.00% maker and 0.01% taker. GUSD is Gemini’s own dollar token, so two of the three free lines are routes into and out of the house stablecoin. Note that stablecoin volume is excluded from the 30-day tier calculation, so churning USDC/GUSD to earn a tier does not work, per the schedule.
The derivatives ladder, in GUSD
Derivatives run on their own seven-tier ladder, and it is the only place on the page where a fee goes negative.
| 30-day volume | Maker | Taker |
|---|---|---|
| ≥ $100,000,000 | -0.01% | 0.03% |
| ≥ $50,000,000 | -0.01% | 0.04% |
| ≥ $10,000,000 | 0.00% | 0.04% |
| ≥ $5,000,000 | 0.01% | 0.04% |
| ≥ $50,000 | 0.02% | 0.05% |
| ≥ $10,000 | 0.02% | 0.06% |
| $0 | 0.02% | 0.07% |
Derivatives fees are charged in GUSD, per the note under the table, and the negative maker rates at $50M and above are a rebate paid on maker orders that match. The base derivatives tier of 0.02%/0.07% is a different order of magnitude from the base spot tier: seven basis points to take, against 120 on spot. If Gemini’s spot ladder is expensive by global standards, its derivatives ladder is in the range we saw when we assessed Hyperliquid’s published ladder — a comparison of published numbers only, since neither desk reading tested a fill.
The schedule also carries a negative-balance line for GUSD: a maximum negative balance of $5,000, a fee threshold of $200, and a management fee of 0.0175% per 12 hours. That is the cost of running a derivatives account into the red in the settlement asset, and it accrues twice a day.
Margin interest, on the hour
Margin borrowing is priced per hour, charged at the top of every hour on the outstanding loan. The page is careful to say that assets are borrowed from the time an order is accepted, “even if it does not execute immediately”, so interest runs on open orders as well as positions.
| Asset | Interest per hour | Gemini’s APR label | Minimum per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| USD | 0.003% | 26.3% APR | $0.01 |
| BTC | 0.0012% | 10.5% APR | 1e-8 BTC |
| ETH | 0.0014% | 12.3% APR | 1e-18 ETH |
| HYPE | 0.0014% | 12.3% APR | 1e-18 HYPE |
| ZEC | 0.0014% | 12.3% APR | 1e-8 ZEC |
The APR figures are Gemini’s own parentheticals on the page, not this desk’s arithmetic. A USD borrow at 26.3% per year is the number to sit with before opening a leveraged position that you plan to hold. The page’s worked example is useful and we repeat it as Gemini’s: a loan outstanding at 9:45 is not charged at 9:45; it is charged at 10:00 on whatever is outstanding then; repay it at 9:55 and the 10:00 charge is nothing.
Liquidation orders that execute are charged a 0.5% liquidation fee and, per the page, no other fee.
What it costs at $10,000 a month
Arithmetic on the published base tier, nothing more. Nobody on this desk traded anything.
Trade $10,000 in a month on ActiveTrader with no prior volume and less than $1M in assets, and you sit in the base tier. Fill everything with resting limit orders and the fee is 0.600% of $10,000, which is $60. Cross the spread on everything and it is 1.200% of $10,000, which is $120. A mixed month lands between the two.
The trailing-30-day window means $10,000 of volume is itself the threshold for the next tier. Once that volume shows in the trailing window, and after the daily recalculation, the same $10,000 of monthly turnover is priced at 0.400%/0.800%, which is $40 on the maker side and $80 on the taker side. Sustain it and that is the tier you live in; let the trailing window empty and you drop back to the base row. Hold $1M in assets and you start at that tier regardless.
For comparison, $10,000 of derivatives turnover at the base derivatives tier is $2 in maker fees or $7 in taker fees, charged in GUSD. The two ladders are not designed for the same customer.
Is Gemini ActiveTrader cheaper than Coinbase Advanced?
Not at the entry tier, on the two readings this desk has made. Coinbase Advanced published 0.40% maker and 0.60% taker when we read it on August 9, 2026; Gemini ActiveTrader publishes 0.600% maker and 1.200% taker per its September 1, 2026 schedule. Gemini’s taker rate is double Coinbase’s on those dates. Gemini reaches parity with Coinbase’s entry taker rate only at its $25K-volume tier, where taker is 0.500%.
The caveat is the dates. Coinbase’s fee pages answered 403 to this desk’s fetches on 11 September 2026, so the Coinbase figures are the ones we read for our Coinbase Advanced review on August 9, not a same-day reading. Both venues can move their ladders; Gemini on three days’ notice, per its own page. If you are choosing between them on price, open both schedules on the day you decide.
Where Gemini has a structural edge is the balance track. Coinbase’s ladder, as we read it, keys on volume alone. A Gemini account holding $1M of assets gets the 0.400%/0.800% tier without trading, and $5M buys 0.250%/0.500%, which is below Coinbase’s published entry taker rate. For a large, inactive balance, Gemini’s schedule is the cheaper document. For a small, active account, it is not.
The standard interface prints no price on the page we read
This is the finding that changes how the ActiveTrader ladder should be read. Gemini’s fee hub lists three trading schedules: ActiveTrader, Gemini Mode and Gemini Stocks. We read the Gemini Mode fee page, dated February 15, 2026, on 11 September 2026. The text returned to us carried no percentage and no flat-fee table. It says fees are calculated when you place the order, are influenced by payment method, order size, market conditions, jurisdiction, asset and other costs, are shown on the trade review screen before you confirm, and “may vary for similar transactions”. Instant orders, Recurring orders and crypto-to-crypto conversions carry a spread in the quoted price, and Gemini “may retain excess spread”. The page also says Gemini may test changes to fees and spread across asset, order size, jurisdiction and trade type.
We are careful about the scope of that. The page we read prints no number; that is not the same as Gemini charging no fee, and it is not the same as the old convenience-fee structure being gone. Third-party guides dated earlier in 2026 describe a 0.50% convenience fee plus a flat transaction fee for the basic interface; those are their descriptions and their dates, not something we read on Gemini’s page today.
The consequence is simple. Of the two trading schedules we read, ActiveTrader is the one with a published price; we did not open the Gemini Stocks fee page. Anyone who cares what they pay has one interface to use, and the ladder above is its price list. The fact that ActiveTrader’s base tier is high is, in that light, less interesting than the fact that it is printed.
Notice of changes
The schedule commits Gemini to emailing or posting any change to tiers or rates no fewer than three calendar days before it takes effect, and to leaving each schedule in force for no fewer than 30 calendar days, subject to any shorter period required by law or regulation. Orders placed after the effective date are subject to the new schedule, and continued use of ActiveTrader is deemed agreement to it.
Three days is short. Thirty days of minimum life is the more useful half of the clause: it means a ladder read on the first of the month is, absent a legal override, the ladder for that month. The September 1, 2026 date on the current page is the reason this review exists; the same clause is the reason it carries a read date.
Who you contract with
The fee page’s footer names two entities: Gemini Trust Company, LLC, NMLS #1518126, and Gemini Moonbase, LLC, NMLS #2403509, with copyright to Gemini Space Station, LLC. An NMLS number is a registry identifier. It tells you the entity exists in that registry; it does not, by itself, tell you what that entity is licensed to do or where. Which of the two an ActiveTrader user contracts with is not stated on the fee schedule, and this review did not read the user agreements, so we do not say. Custody arrangements, proof-of-reserves and insolvency treatment are outside the schedule and outside this piece; the proof-of-reserves state of play is covered separately on this desk.
Questions readers ask
What are Gemini ActiveTrader fees?
Per the ActiveTrader Fee Schedule dated September 1, 2026, the base tier is 0.600% maker and 1.200% taker. Thirteen tiers step down from there to 0.000% maker and 0.020% taker at $250M of trailing 30-day volume. Three stablecoin pairs (RLUSD/USD, USDC/GUSD, GUSD/USD) trade at 0.00% both sides; other stablecoin pairs are 0.00% maker and 0.01% taker. Derivatives run on a separate ladder from 0.02%/0.07% at $0.
Does Gemini charge a fee to cancel a maker order?
No. The ActiveTrader Fee Schedule dated September 1, 2026 states that maker fees are only charged when a maker order is matched and that there is no fee for cancelling a maker order. A partially matched order pays the taker rate on the portion that fills immediately and the maker rate on the remainder when that later matches. Fees are charged in the quote currency of the pair.
Is Gemini free?
No. ActiveTrader charges a published maker-taker fee on every matched order, from 0.600%/1.200% at the base tier. The only zero-fee lines on the September 1, 2026 schedule are three stablecoin pairs at 0.00% both sides and the maker side of large-volume tiers. The standard Gemini Mode interface, per its February 15, 2026 fee page, charges a fee shown at trade review plus a spread on Instant, Recurring and conversion orders.
The two columns
Verdict
Gemini ActiveTrader’s fee schedule is a document that rewards being read and punishes being assumed. Assume the base tier and you overpay by a factor of two against a resting order; assume the old figures from a review dated April and you are off by a multiple. What the September 1, 2026 page actually says is above, tier by tier, and it will be true until Gemini posts otherwise. Whether a 0.600% maker rate is worth paying for whatever else Gemini offers is a question this review does not answer, because the schedule does not.
Crypto assets are high risk on every venue, including the ones that print their prices. Nothing here is financial advice; it is a reading of one fee page on one date. Open that page yourself before you size an order, and open it again after any email that begins with “changes to our fee schedule”.