Fees and Billing
This page explains every fee on the platform -- what you pay, when you pay it, and where the money goes. No hidden costs, no surprises.
The short version
- Backtesting is free. Always.
- Paper trading is free. Always.
- Live trading has a small fee on profitable trades only. Losing trades are never charged.
- Subscribing to a strategy is free. You only pay fees when you run it live and it makes money.
- Signal subscriptions can be free or paid monthly, depending on what the creator sets.
Live trading fees
When you run a strategy in live mode, fees are calculated on each trade that fills profitably. If a trade loses money, no fee is charged -- the fill is recorded but your wallet isn't touched.
This applies whether the trade was triggered by a buy/sell block, a stop loss, a take profit, or any other mechanism. The only thing that matters is whether the trade was profitable.
How fees are calculated
Fees are a percentage of the exchange's trading commission, not the trade value. This keeps fees very small.
Example: You trade $10,000 of BTC on an exchange with 0.1% commission.
| Amount | |
|---|---|
| Trade value | $10,000 |
| Exchange commission (0.1%) | ~$10 (about 10,000 sats) |
| Creator fee (5% of commission) | 500 sats (~$0.50) |
| Platform fee (5% of commission) | 500 sats (~$0.50) |
| Total you pay beyond the exchange fee | 1,000 sats (~$1.00) |
The creator fee percentage is set by the strategy creator when they publish. You see the exact fee before subscribing.
Platform fee
The platform takes a fee on every profitable live trade, even on your own strategies. The platform fee is:
The greater of 1% of the exchange commission or the creator's fee percentage.
| Scenario | Exchange Fee | Creator Fee | Platform Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your own strategy | 1,000 sats | 0 sats (0%) | 10 sats (1%) |
| Subscribed strategy at 1% | 1,000 sats | 10 sats | 10 sats (1%) |
| Subscribed strategy at 5% | 1,000 sats | 50 sats | 50 sats (5%) |
| Subscribed strategy at 10% | 1,000 sats | 100 sats | 100 sats (10%) |
Running your own strategies live costs 1% of the exchange fee on profitable trades. That's it.
When fees are settled
Fees accumulate while your strategy runs. When you stop the strategy, all accumulated fees are settled in one atomic transaction:
- Your wallet credits are debited for the creator's share and the platform's share
- The creator's wallet credits are credited
- The platform records its share in an immutable audit ledger
If you don't have enough credits to settle when you stop, the settlement fails and the fees stay pending until you deposit more credits. No partial settlements -- it's all or nothing.
What about losing trades?
Nothing. If a trade loses money, the fill is recorded but zero fees are charged. You only pay when you profit. This applies to every type of trade exit -- stop loss hits, manual close, strategy exit, or any other trigger.
Signal subscription fees
Signal subscriptions work differently from strategy fees. They're flat monthly charges, not per-trade.
How signal pricing works
Signal creators set a monthly price in USD ($0.00 to $1.00 in $0.05 increments). When you subscribe, the USD price is converted to satoshis and charged from your wallet credits immediately. The subscription renews automatically every 30 days.
Free signals have no charge -- subscribing just grants you access.
Platform fee on signals
The platform takes 1% of the signal fee, with a minimum of 10 sats.
| Signal Price | Creator Receives | Platform Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Free | - | - |
| 100 sats | 90 sats | 10 sats (minimum) |
| 500 sats | 490 sats | 10 sats |
| 1,000 sats | 990 sats | 10 sats |
What happens if you run out of credits?
If your wallet doesn't have enough credits when a renewal is due, the subscription expires. You lose access to the signal. You can resubscribe later when you have credits.
Cancellation
- Free signals: Removed immediately when you unsubscribe.
- Paid signals: Access continues until the end of your current billing period. You can resubscribe before it expires to undo the cancellation.
Your wallet
All fees are handled through the platform's Bitcoin wallet system. Your wallet has:
- Fee Address -- A platform-managed Bitcoin address. Deposit BTC here to add credits.
- Sweep Address -- Your own Bitcoin address. When your fee address balance exceeds the cap (~$50), excess is automatically sent here.
- Credits -- An internal balance for instant fee deduction. No blockchain transaction needed for each fee -- credits are debited internally.
See Account Settings for wallet setup details.
For strategy creators
When someone subscribes to your strategy and runs it live, you earn your fee percentage on every profitable trade they make. Fees accumulate during the strategy run and are settled to your wallet credits when the subscriber stops the strategy.
You set the fee percentage when publishing your strategy. The fee is locked into the version snapshot -- you can't change it for existing subscribers. New versions can have different fees, but subscribers stay on the version they subscribed to.
For signal creators
You earn your signal's monthly subscription fee minus the platform's cut (1%, minimum 10 sats). Earnings are credited to your wallet immediately when a subscriber pays, and again at each renewal.
Track your earnings at /marketplace/earnings.
What's never charged
- Backtesting -- always free, unlimited
- Paper trading -- always free, unlimited
- Subscribing to a strategy -- free (fees only apply when running live)
- Free signals -- no charge
- Losing trades -- never charged, regardless of mode
- Strategy editing, publishing, and marketplace browsing -- all free