1. The platform fee
This is what the terminal, bot or app charges, as a percentage of each buy and each sell. It's the biggest cost for most traders, and the numbers vary more than people think. From the tools we list, checked against their own docs:
- 1% per trade: Axiom (minus 0.05% to 0.25% cashback by tier), GMGN, Trojan, BONKbot
- Under 1%: Trenchers.AI 0.75%, Moby 0.75% with a $0.90 minimum, MevX 0.9% falling to 0.7% by rank, DBot 0.6% on its free plan
- Swaps: Jupiter 0% to 0.5% on Ultra depending on the pair, 0% on manual swaps
- Bonding curves: pump.fun charges 1.25% per trade on the curve, of which 0.30% goes to the coin's creator
It's charged on both sides, so a round trip at 1% costs about 2%. At 50 SOL of volume a month, that's around half a SOL in platform fees alone. Our trading terminal comparison lines up the rates side by side.
2. Slippage and price impact
Price impact is how much your own buy moves the price. On a thin new coin, a 2 SOL buy can push the price several percent against you. Slippage is the limit you set on how much worse a price you'll accept. Neither shows up as a "fee" line, but both come out of your position, on the way in and on the way out.
3. Priority fees and tips
Solana's base fee is tiny: 0.000005 SOL per signature. When a coin is hot, though, everyone is trying to land in the same block, and validators pick the trades that pay more. A priority fee and a tip (many terminals call it a bribe) buy you a better place in line. They're flat amounts in SOL, so on small trades they can cost more than the platform fee. Paying 0.005 SOL in tips on a 0.1 SOL buy is 5%, each way.
4. Token account rent
The first time you buy a token, Solana opens a token account for it and locks a small deposit called rent. It's refundable: close the empty account after you sell and you get it back. According to Sol Incinerator, accounts opened before September 2026 return about 0.002 SOL each and newer ones about 0.00145 SOL.
5. Cashback and referral rebates
Many tools give part of the fee back. Axiom pays SOL cashback by tier, Trojan by rank, Telemetry returns 5% to 25% of fees, and Trenchers.AI 10% to 50% rakeback. Cashback is real money, so always compare net rates after cashback.
How to pay less
- Pick a platform on its net rate at your volume, using the fee widgets on each tool page
- Size up rather than making lots of tiny trades: flat tips hurt small buys most
- Use a plain swap on Jupiter for normal trades that don't need speed
- Keep slippage as tight as the coin allows
- Reclaim rent from empty token accounts every few weeks
FAQ
How much do memecoin trading bots charge?
Most charge about 1% per trade, on both buys and sells. Some charge less: Trenchers.AI 0.75%, MevX from 0.9% down to 0.7%, DBot 0.6% on its free plan. Network, priority and tip fees come on top.
What is a priority fee on Solana?
An extra amount in SOL you pay so validators include your transaction sooner. It matters most when a coin is busy, and on small trades it can cost more than the platform fee.
Do I get token account rent back?
Yes. Rent is a refundable deposit. Close empty token accounts after you sell, with a tool like Sol Incinerator, and the SOL returns to your wallet.
Nothing here is financial advice, and we never call a coin or tool safe. We say what we checked and when.