Definition
Maker-taker is a venue fee structure that pays a rebate to the counterparty providing liquidity (the maker, who posts a resting limit order) and charges a fee to the counterparty removing liquidity (the taker, who executes against the resting order). The model incentivizes passive order posting and is used across traditional equity exchanges and many digital asset venues. Institutional trading desks optimize routing and execution algorithm selection partially around maker-taker economics, because rebates and fees can materially affect total execution cost.
Example
An exchange charges 0.10% to takers and pays 0.05% rebate to makers. A trader using a TWAP algorithm with patient posting captures the maker rebate on most fills, while a Sweep algorithm that hits displayed depth pays the taker fee. The difference across high-volume trading compounds into basis points of performance.
How Liquid Mercury Handles This
Mercury Pro's SOR factors per-venue maker and taker fee schedules into routing decisions, including volume-tier thresholds and rebate-qualified order types, so total execution cost (not just displayed price) drives venue selection.