# Maker and taker

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Canonical: https://novigapi.com/learn/maker-taker

A maker posts a resting order that waits on the book, and a taker submits an order that matches a resting order immediately.

```
Novig taker fee = c x P x (1 - P) x N; maker credit = 25% of the taker fee on live game fills
```

On an exchange every trade has two sides. The maker is the trader whose order was already resting on the book; the taker is the trader whose incoming order matched it. Makers supply liquidity by quoting prices and waiting. Takers consume it by accepting a quoted price right away. Exchanges usually charge takers more than makers, or pay makers, to encourage tight, deep books.

## How it works

If you place a limit order at a price nobody is currently offering, it rests on the book and you become a maker when someone later matches it. If you place an order at a price that crosses a resting order, it fills immediately and you are the taker. The same trader can be a maker on one trade and a taker on the next; the role belongs to the order, not the person.

## On Novig

Per [Novig trading fees](https://docs.novig.com/api/concepts/fees) (checked 12 Nov 2026), the taker pays a fee on each fill and the maker never pays. The fee is c x P x (1 - P) per $1 of payout, where P is the fill price and c is the market's coefficient, 0.06 on game markets and eligible futures. On game markets the fee is charged only while the event is in-game; on futures in NFL, NCAAF, NCAAB, NCAAWB, MLB, NBA, WNBA and NHL it is charged always. Since 22 Oct 2026, makers earn a credit of 25% of the taker's fee on game markets and 50% on those futures. Novig's book holds bids only, so a taker buying No at 60% is matched against a maker's resting Yes bid at 40%.

> Units: this page counts a contract as $1.00 of payout, as Novig's [fees page](https://docs.novig.com/fees) does. In Novig's v3 API one contract pays 1 cent, so each $1.00 unit here is 100 API contracts; divide API quantities by 100 before using these numbers.

## Worked example

A live fill of 1,000 contracts at 40% on a game market

| Party | Action | Cash out | Fee | Credit |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Maker | Rested a Yes bid at 40% | $400.00 | $0.00 | +$3.60 |
| Taker | Bought No at 60% | $600.00 | $14.40 | $0.00 |


```
fee = 0.06 x 0.40 x 0.60 x 1,000 = $14.40; credit = 0.25 x $14.40 = $3.60
```
The fee is symmetric: a fill at 40% costs the same as a fill at 60%.

If the same fill happened before the game started, neither side would pay or earn anything. The [Novig fee calculator](https://novigapi.com/novig-fee-calculator) gives the fee and the credit for any price and size.

## When it matters

- Timing: on game markets, resting a bid pregame that fills in-game earns the credit, while taking pregame pays nothing.
- Resting orders do not survive the start: Novig's docs say every go-live event voids every resting order, so pregame bids must be re-posted in-game.
- Edge: a maker saves the spread and the fee, but risks being filled only when the price is moving against them.

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