VALR fees explained

The short answer

VALR’s fees depend on three choices: which screen you trade on, which pair you trade, and how you move rand. On the exchange, a Tier 1 account pays 0.18 % as a maker and 0.35 % as a taker on fiat-quoted pairs such as BTC/ZAR and USDT/ZAR, but only 0.08 % / 0.10 % on crypto-quoted pairs such as BTC/USDT and 0.05 % / 0.10 % on stablecoin-to-stablecoin pairs. Simple Buy/Sell/Swap and Auto-Buy cost 1.6 %. Rand deposits by EFT are free with no minimum; card deposits cost 3.9 %. Individual clients get 30 free normal ZAR withdrawals per calendar month and pay R8.50 each thereafter, or R30 for a fast withdrawal. Crypto deposits are free; crypto withdrawals carry a network-dependent fee quoted before you confirm, which VALR says can exceed what it pays the network. There are no monthly, custody or account-opening fees.

Every number is copied from VALR’s “What are VALR’s charges?” article, updated on 4 September 2026 and read on 6 September 2026.

Who this guide is for

Anyone holding or opening a VALR account who wants the full cost of a transaction rather than the headline rate. VALR (Pty) Ltd appears as entry 270 on the FSCA’s December 2025 list of licensed crypto asset service providers (FSP 53308, Category I & II), so this page is about price only, not about whether the platform is licensed.

How we evaluated the fees

We read the fee schedule and the withdrawal, free-withdrawal and verification-level help articles and recorded each number as printed. We have not opened an account or placed orders; the worked examples are arithmetic on published rates under stated assumptions. Our methodology explains what “verified” means here.

Spot trading fees: four pair classes and nine tiers

VALR assigns each account to one of nine tiers by its rolling 30-day volume across spot and futures, measured in USDT and aggregated across sub-accounts; the same most favourable tier applies to both spot and futures. A tier upgrade applies the next day at 10:00 UTC, and a downgrade is delayed by a seven-day protection period.

At Tier 1 (0 USDT of 30-day volume), the rates are:

• Fiat pairs (any pair with a fiat leg, e.g. BTC/ZAR, USDT/ZAR): 0.180 % maker / 0.350 % taker.
• Crypto-quoted pairs (e.g. BTC/USDT): 0.080 % / 0.100 %.
• Stable-to-stable pairs: 0.050 % / 0.100 %.
• Perpetual futures: 0.030 % / 0.070 %.

Fiat-pair rates fall to 0.10 % / 0.25 % at Tier 2 (50,000 USDT) and 0.04 % / 0.13 % at Tier 3 (250,000 USDT); at Tier 9 (250,000,000 USDT) makers receive a 0.01 % rebate and takers pay 0.05 %. For most personal accounts 50,000 USDT a month is out of reach, so Tier 1 is the rate to plan around.

Worked example: a R10,000 bitcoin purchase

Assumptions: Tier 1, the order fills in full, the price does not move.

• Market (taker) order on BTC/ZAR: 0.35 % × R10,000 = R35.00.
• Limit (maker) order on BTC/ZAR that later fills: 0.18 % × R10,000 = R18.00.
• Two-step route: buy USDT on USDT/ZAR as a taker (0.35 % = R35.00), then BTC on BTC/USDT as a taker (0.10 % of R9,965 = R9.97). Total R44.97, so on VALR the two-step route is more expensive than a direct BTC/ZAR order, the opposite of the position at Luno.

Simple Buy, Sell, Swap and Auto-Buy: 1.6 %

The one-tap screens cost 1.6 % per transaction, more than four times the Tier 1 taker rate. A R10,000 Simple Buy costs R160.00; selling the same amount back the same way costs another R160.00, so a round trip is about R320 against about R70 for two taker orders or R36 for two maker orders. Whether the Simple Buy price includes a spread on top of the 1.6 % is not stated, so treat 1.6 % as the floor.

Rand deposits: EFT free, card 3.9 %

An EFT deposit is free with no minimum and no VALR-imposed limit (your bank may set one); VALR says funds may take up to 48 hours to clear. A South African card deposit costs 3.9 %, so R10,000 by card costs R390.00 before you trade. The daily card limit is shown only on the deposit screen. The schedule also lists USD wire deposits at 0.10 % (minimum $5) and EUR wire or SEPA deposits at 0.10 % (minimum €1); VALR’s help articles state these are credited as USDC or EURC stablecoins rather than fiat balances.

Worked example: funding R5,000

• EFT: R0.00 from VALR (your bank’s EFT fee, if any, is unknown to us).
• Card: 3.9 % = R195.00.

Rand withdrawals: 30 free, then R8.50; fast R30

Individual clients receive 30 free normal ZAR withdrawals per calendar month; the 31st and later cost R8.50 each, unused free withdrawals do not roll over, and corporate clients are excluded. A fast withdrawal through the real-time clearing (RTC) network costs R30 and is not covered by the free allowance. Withdrawals go only to a South African bank account in your own name that you have linked and authorised first. There is no minimum rand withdrawal.

Two examples: R30 on a R2,000 fast withdrawal is 1.5 % of the amount; on R50,000 it is 0.06 %. A normal withdrawal within the monthly allowance is 0 % at any amount.

Crypto deposits and withdrawals

Crypto deposits are free. For withdrawals VALR quotes a fee on the withdrawal screen that depends on the coin and the activity level on its blockchain, and states plainly that the fee can be more than it pays the network, with the difference funding its cold, warm and hot wallet infrastructure. The minimum withdrawal for any coin is generally three times the quoted fee. Transfers between VALR accounts and payments through VALR Pay are free. Daily crypto withdrawal limits follow verification level: 0.2 BTC or equivalent once fully verified, 100 BTC once authenticator-app 2FA is enabled.

Futures, margin and other products

Perpetual futures cost 0.03 % maker / 0.07 % taker at Tier 1, and liquidation orders on spot margin and perpetuals cost 0.5 %. The schedule references spot-margin borrowing and OTC trading, but borrowing rates and OTC pricing are not printed as fixed numbers, so we do not state them. Futures are provided by group entity VALR DAM (Pty) Ltd, which VALR states holds FSP 54897; we did not check that number on the FSCA list, and VALR says the product may be restricted for some account holders.

What VALR does not publish

• The rand cost of withdrawing any specific coin (quoted on screen only).
• Whether Simple Buy prices include a spread beyond 1.6 %.
• The daily card-deposit limit.
• Spot-margin borrowing rates and OTC pricing.

Advantages and disadvantages, on fees alone

Strengths: the lowest verified Tier 1 rates on rand pairs among the FSCA-licensed order books (0.18 % / 0.35 % against 0.40 % / 0.60 % at Luno and 0.50 % / 0.60 % at AltCoinTrader), free EFT deposits, 30 free withdrawals a month, and cheap crypto-to-crypto trading. Weaknesses: the 3.9 % card fee and 1.6 % Simple Buy rate cost several times the exchange rate, crypto withdrawal fees are set above network cost by design, and no instant EFT rail exists, so the free route is also the slow one.

KYC and the limits that follow

Fees are the same at every level, but you must be fully verified (government-issued ID plus tax information) to deposit or trade at all, and crypto withdrawal limits rise from 0.2 BTC to 100 BTC per day only once authenticator-app 2FA is enabled. Rand must come from, and return to, a bank account in your own name.

Risks

VALR’s schedule states that fees may change at any time without notice, and the article was updated three days before we read it. Percentages compound on small amounts: a card deposit plus a Simple Buy on R5,000 costs R275 before the asset has moved. Crypto prices are volatile and nothing here is financial advice.

Next steps

Put your own amounts through the fee calculator, read the VALR data profile for licence, KYC and availability details, compare with Luno’s fees, or see both in VALR vs Luno.