What a bitcoin purchase costs

Understand first: Why bitcoin has a price

A bitcoin purchase has up to three costs: a trading fee, a spread, and a withdrawal charge. On a small purchase they can take a larger share than the fee alone suggests.

Type what you plan to pay and what your service charges. The calculator shows what is left in your own wallet.

The three costs

The trading fee is what the service charges for the order. It can be a percentage, a flat amount, or both. The order preview usually shows it before you confirm.

The calculator takes a percentage or a dollar amount. When a service charges both, or adds a fee for the way you pay, add them up in dollars and type the total.

The spread is the gap between the price the service gives you and the market price. It is seldom labeled as a cost.

To estimate it, take the dollars left after the fee. Compare the sats the order preview shows with the sats those dollars buy at the market price at that moment. If the market price buys 1,000 sats and the service gives you 990, the spread is about 1%.

The withdrawal charge is what it costs to move bitcoin from the service to your own wallet. Some services charge a flat amount of bitcoin, some pass on the network fee, and some charge nothing. A flat charge weighs most on a small purchase.

How the calculator counts

1. The trading fee comes off the dollars you pay.
2. What is left buys bitcoin at the market price plus the spread.
3. The withdrawal charge comes off the bitcoin you bought.

Money is counted to the cent and bitcoin to the whole sat. Sats are counted at the market price shown under the calculator, so the figures move when the price does.

What it leaves out

• A fee your bank or card issuer adds on its side.
• A change in the price between the preview and the purchase.

The calculator gives an estimate. The order preview from your service is the quote. How to buy your first sats walks through the purchase itself.