Study Reveals Retail Traders Face Higher Fees in Crypto Perpetual Futures

A recent study conducted by researchers at Stanford University and Columbia Business School has found that retail traders incur significantly higher fees when trading perpetual futures on platforms such as Hyperliquid. Released on September 18, 2026, the research highlights that individual traders, who are often speculating on price movements, predominantly execute trades on the more expensive taker side of the order book, as opposed to their institutional counterparts who benefit from lower fees.

The study explains the maker-taker fee structure commonly used in trading platforms. Makers, who provide liquidity by placing limit orders, generally pay lower fees, while takers, who execute market orders that remove liquidity, face higher costs. The findings indicate that retail traders frequently opt for immediate market orders, prioritizing speed over cost efficiency, which leads to a systematic disadvantage in trading costs compared to more experienced market participants.

This behavior creates a structural transfer of value from less experienced retail traders to more sophisticated traders and market makers, who earn rebates or pay reduced fees. Although the study does not disclose specific fee percentages or individual tokens, it emphasizes the behavioral patterns that contribute to the cost disadvantage faced by retail traders in the perpetual futures market. Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange specializing in perpetual futures, has gained traction in the crypto market, providing transparency that facilitated this research.

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Source: KLEA News