Crypto exchange fees in South Africa explained

Direct answer

A South African crypto exchange charges up to five separate fees on one purchase: a fee for getting rand onto the platform, a trading fee (a maker/taker percentage on the order book, or a larger flat percentage on an instant-buy button), a fee for getting rand back to your bank, a network fee when you send crypto off the platform, and, on quote-based platforms, a spread hidden inside the price. The headline trading rate is usually the smallest of the five. At the entry tier the published order-book rates are 0.18 % maker / 0.35 % taker at VALR (fiat-quoted pairs), 0.40 % / 0.60 % at Luno (crypto/ZAR pairs), 0.50 % / 0.60 % at AltCoinTrader, 0.10 % / 0.10 % at Binance, and 0 % at Ovex, where the cost is the spread. Instant-buy buttons cost 1.6 % at VALR and 2 % at Luno, and deposit rails range from free (EFT at VALR and Luno) to 7 % (international cards at AltCoinTrader).

Every number on this page was read on the platform’s own fee page on 6 September 2026. Where a fee is not published we say “unknown”.

Who this guide is for

Anyone who has looked at a fee schedule, seen “0.35 %”, and assumed that was the whole cost. It is also for people comparing two platforms on their advertised rate without checking the deposit and withdrawal charges that sit on either side of the trade. If you already know how maker and taker orders work, skip to the worked examples.

Layer 1: getting rand in

The cheapest rail everywhere is an ordinary EFT from your own bank account, which is free at VALR (no minimum) and Luno (no limit), costs 0.5 % capped at R95 per transaction at AltCoinTrader, and is free at Ovex with a R98 minimum. Every faster or more convenient rail is priced: Luno’s instant deposit through Stitch and Absa Pay cost 1.4 % (up to R100,000 per deposit), Capitec Pay at Luno costs 1.25 % under R1,000 or a flat R9.00 above it, and Apple Pay 2.5 %; AltCoinTrader charges 2 % capped at R95 for Capitec Pay, 2.5 % for Absa Pay, 5 % for local cards and 7 % for international cards, and adds 5 % to cash deposits; VALR charges 3.9 % on South African card deposits. Binance’s South Africa page lists Instant EFT and bank transfer with no minimum deposit, but the current rand deposit fee is not printed on any official page we could read, so it is unknown.

The practical rule: if you can wait a day or two for an EFT to clear, the deposit layer costs nothing at VALR and Luno. Paying for speed costs more than the trade itself.

Layer 2: the trading fee

Maker and taker

Order-book exchanges charge two rates. A taker order fills immediately against orders already in the book (a market order, or a limit order priced to fill at once) and pays the higher rate. A maker order rests in the book until someone else trades against it and pays the lower rate, sometimes a rebate. All three tiered South African schedules make the maker rate cheaper: VALR 0.18 % versus 0.35 %, Luno 0.40 % versus 0.60 %, AltCoinTrader 0.50 % versus 0.60 %.

Pair classes

The pair you trade can matter as much as the side. VALR charges 0.18 % / 0.35 % on fiat-quoted pairs such as BTC/ZAR but 0.08 % / 0.10 % on crypto-quoted pairs such as BTC/USDT and 0.05 % / 0.10 % on stablecoin-to-stablecoin pairs. Luno charges 0.60 % taker on BTC/ZAR and other crypto/ZAR pairs but 0.20 % taker on USDT/ZAR and USDC/ZAR, where makers receive a 0.01 % rebate, and 0.10 % taker on crypto/crypto pairs. AltCoinTrader publishes one schedule for all pairs. Binance’s Regular User rate is 0.10 % for both sides, or 0.075 % when fees are paid in BNB.

Volume tiers

Rates fall as your 30-day volume rises: VALR has nine tiers measured in USDT (Tier 2 starts at 50,000 USDT), Luno has 13 tiers measured in rand (Tier 1 covers R0–R20,000), and AltCoinTrader has six tiers (Tier 1 covers R0–R100,000, Tier 3 from R1 million is 0.20 % / 0.30 %). A new account pays the entry tier, and most personal accounts stay there, so the entry tier is the honest number to compare.

Instant buy buttons

Every platform also sells a one-tap purchase that skips the order book. VALR’s Simple Buy/Sell/Swap and Auto-Buy cost 1.6 %; Luno’s buy and sell from the Portfolio screen cost 2 % each way; Ovex’s request-for-quote screen charges 0 % but earns from the spread in the quoted price, which is not published as a number. Convenience is the most expensive layer on a small trade: 2 % of R5,000 is R100, against R30 for a Luno taker order on the same amount.

Layer 3: getting rand out

Withdrawal pricing is where platforms differ most. Luno’s normal withdrawal is free and takes up to two business days; express costs R20.00 to real-time-clearing banks or R80.00 to others. VALR gives individual clients 30 free normal withdrawals a calendar month, then R8.50 each, and charges R30 for a fast withdrawal. AltCoinTrader charges R16 + 0.5 % (the percentage capped at R95) with a R17 minimum, plus R60 or R140 for near-instant processing. Ovex charges a flat R60 with a R100 minimum. Binance’s rand withdrawal fee is unknown. All four licensed platforms pay out only to a South African bank account in your own name.

Layer 4: crypto network fees

Sending coins off a platform costs a network fee that the platform sets. VALR quotes a network-dependent fee before you confirm and states that it can be more than it pays the network. Luno charges a dynamic send fee shown at confirmation. AltCoinTrader and Ovex publish flat per-asset fees, for example 0.00012 BTC at AltCoinTrader and 0.00015 BTC at Ovex, or 5 USDT on the Tron network and 2 USDT on Arbitrum and Solana at AltCoinTrader against 8.0 USDT on Ethereum at Ovex. Binance says withdrawal fees are dynamic and paid to the network. Crypto deposits are free on all five platforms. Which network you choose can change this fee by a factor of four, which is the subject of our guide to the cheapest network for sending USDT.

Layer 5: spread

Spread is the gap between the price you pay and the price you could sell at a moment later. On an order book you can see it; on a quote screen it is invisible until you compare the quote with the order-book price elsewhere. Ovex’s 0 % fee, and the instant-buy buttons at VALR and Luno, should be read with this in mind: the published percentage is a floor, not the full cost. We could not verify how large any platform’s spread is, and it changes constantly, so no figure is given here.

Worked examples (assumptions, not quotes)

Assume R10,000 deposited by EFT, one taker buy at the entry tier, one taker sell later, and one normal rand withdrawal, ignoring spread, price movement and your bank’s charges.

• VALR: deposit R0; buy 0.35 % = R35; sell R35; withdrawal R0 (within 30 per month). Total about R70.
• Luno: deposit R0; buy 0.60 % = R60; sell R60; withdrawal R0. Total about R120. Trading USDT/ZAR instead: R20 per side.
• AltCoinTrader: deposit 0.5 % = R50; buy 0.60 % = R60; sell R60; withdrawal R16 + R50 = R66. Total about R236.
• Ovex: deposit R0; 0 % per side but an unpublished spread; withdrawal R60. Total R60 plus spread.
• Binance: buy 0.10 % = R10; sell R10; deposit and withdrawal fees unknown, so no total.

Swap the taker orders for instant buttons and the picture changes: R160 per side at VALR (1.6 %) and R200 per side at Luno (2 %). Swap the EFT for an instant rail and add R140 (1.4 % at Luno) or R390 (3.9 % card at VALR) before you have traded. You can run your own amount, side and number of trades through the fee calculator; it models a percentage trading fee plus a flat withdrawal fee and uses no live prices.

Availability and licensing limitations

Four of the five platforms on this page, VALR (FSP 53308), Luno (FSP 53314), AltCoinTrader (FSP 53614) and Ovex (FSP 53922), appear in the FSCA’s list of licensed crypto asset service providers dated December 2025. Binance does not; its South Africa page describes its application as in process, and it contracts with Abu Dhabi entities. A lower fee at an unlicensed platform is a different kind of trade-off from a lower fee at a licensed one, and our guide to FSCA-licensed exchanges explains what the licence does and does not cover.

KYC and fees

No platform we checked charges for verification itself, but limits follow verification level, and a limit can force you into a more expensive route: for example, Luno’s Level 1 allows only R15,000 of lifetime deposits, so a larger purchase requires full verification first. Our KYC guide lists each platform’s documents and limits.

Risks

Fee schedules change without notice: VALR updated its charges article on 4 September 2026 and Luno its fees article on 3 September 2026, three days before we read them. Percentages are small on large amounts and large on small ones, and each layer is paid whether the asset rises or falls. Nothing here is financial advice; confirm every figure on the platform before you trade.

Next steps

Read the full schedules in VALR fees explained and Luno fees explained, compare the two side by side in VALR vs Luno, or filter platforms by deposit method in the exchange finder.