How to Calculate GMX Trading Fees (Open, Close, Borrow, Price Impact)

GMX’s headline fee isn’t one number, whether you pay 0.04% or 0.06% on a trade depends on whether that trade helps or hurts the platform’s long/short balance, a dynamic-fee design most competitor exchanges don’t use.

This guide is part of TradeOnDEX’s GMX how-to series within Perpetual Futures, and ties together fee-related details mentioned throughout this series.

Disclosure: TradeOnDEX may earn a commission from links to GMX on this page, at no extra cost to you. Full details at the end of this article.

The four cost components, one at a time

1. Position fee (open/close/increase/decrease). Charged as 0.04% or 0.06% of position size, not a flat rate, but dependent on the trade’s effect on GMX’s open interest balance (see below).

2. Borrow fee. Accrues continuously, every second, and settles when you modify or close a position. Only the side with larger open interest pays it, if longs exceed shorts in a given market, longs pay the borrow fee; if shorts exceed longs, shorts pay instead.

3. Price impact. Trades that increase the open interest imbalance pay a price impact cost; trades that reduce it can actually receive a better price instead.

4. Execution fee. A separate, smaller fee covering the keeper-based execution of your order request, distinct from the position fee itself.

The open interest imbalance mechanic, explained

GMX’s fee design actively rewards trades that balance the platform’s book: if your trade reduces the absolute gap between total long and total short open interest in a market, you pay the lower 0.04% position fee. If your trade widens that gap instead, you pay the higher 0.06% fee, and you’re also more likely to face negative price impact.

This means for you, concretely: the same trade (say, opening a $10,000 long) can cost you a different fee depending on whether the market you’re trading is currently more heavily long or short overall. Check the current imbalance before assuming a fixed fee rate applies.

A worked example

Say ETH’s market on GMX currently has more open long interest than short interest. If you open a new long, you’re widening that imbalance, you’d pay the higher 0.06% position fee, and potentially face negative price impact too. If you open a short instead, you’re narrowing the imbalance, you’d pay the lower 0.04% fee, and might even receive favorable price impact.

Risk: what this fee structure means for your actual costs

The position fee isn’t a fixed number you can assume in advance, it depends on real-time market conditions. Don’t budget for a trade assuming the lower 0.04% rate without checking the current open interest balance for that specific market first.

Borrow fees accrue continuously and compound the longer you hold, independent of price movement. As covered in the liquidation-avoidance guide, this same fee accrual also erodes your liquidation buffer over time, the fee cost and the risk cost are two sides of the same mechanic.

Only one side of a market pays the borrow fee at any given time, but that side can change. If a market’s long/short balance flips (shorts becoming the larger side, for example), the borrow-fee obligation flips with it, a position you opened when your side wasn’t paying could start accruing borrow fees later if the balance shifts.

Price impact on an already-imbalanced market compounds with the higher fee tier. A trade that increases an already significant imbalance can face both the higher 0.06% position fee and meaningful negative price impact simultaneously, the total cost of trading against the prevailing imbalance can be considerably higher than the headline fee alone suggests.

GMX’s fee components at a glance

See it for yourself

Before opening a position, check the current long/short open interest balance for that specific market, trading in the direction that reduces the imbalance can genuinely lower your costs, not just your risk profile. You can review live fee and open interest data at gmx.io or stats.gmx.io.

Frequently asked questions

Is GMX’s trading fee always 0.04% or always 0.06%?

Neither, it depends on whether your specific trade reduces or increases the platform’s current open interest imbalance for that market at the time you trade.

Who pays the borrow fee on GMX?

Only the side (long or short) with larger open interest in that market at a given time, the obligation can shift if the balance changes.

Does price impact always work against me?

No, a trade that reduces an existing open interest imbalance can receive favorable price impact, while one that increases it faces unfavorable impact.

What’s the execution fee, and is it the same as the position fee?

No, it’s a separate, smaller fee covering the cost of keeper-based on-chain execution of your order request, distinct from the position fee itself.

Affiliate disclosure

TradeOnDEX may earn a commission if you trade through a link on this page, at no extra cost to you. GMX’s own affiliate/referral terms are still being confirmed for this site, so links here are direct and untracked for now. This article is educational and is not financial advice. See our disclaimer for the full risk warning.