The VIP 1 requirement in one line: a minimum daily average of 5 BNB and any one of these: 1,000,000 USD of 30-day spot volume, 5,000,000 USD of 30-day futures volume, 100,000 USD in assets, or 100,000 USD borrowed on average over 30 days (Binance's VIP page, checked October 3, 2026, with the daily-average and 30-day wording from its blog post “What Is the Binance VIP Program?”; the live page is what counts). VIP 2 asks for 25 BNB plus 5,000,000 USD spot, 10,000,000 USD futures, 200,000 USD in assets or 500,000 USD borrowed. The table in section 2 has the rest.
If you've searched "how do Binance VIP levels work," the honest answer is that two people can place the exact same order and one pays a third less than the other — and the gap usually isn't skill, it's the VIP tier. Binance sorts users by trading size and holdings into ten levels, VIP0 through VIP9, and the higher you sit, the lower your maker and taker rates run. This guide covers three things: what those ten levels actually are, what it takes to move up one, and — for someone trading at your kind of volume — whether it's worth the trouble at all.
One thing up front: the rates and thresholds below are what Binance's official fee pages showed on September 30, 2026. The real number is whatever those pages show right now. Binance adjusts this ladder with the market, so memorizing any single figure is pointless. And before any of this matters, confirm Binance is available in your country — the platform is restricted in some regions, including limited access from the United States.
1. What VIP0 through VIP9 actually are
A VIP level is really just Binance's tiered fee discount for bigger customers. Anyone newly registered with little volume sits at VIP0 — that's where the vast majority of users are — and the ladder climbs through VIP1, VIP2, all the way to VIP9 for progressively larger accounts. The tier isn't for life, and you can't buy it like a membership. It's recalculated automatically from your recent figures, most of them measured over the last 30 days, and Binance updates VIP levels daily at 08:00 (UTC): hit the threshold and you rise, fall below it and you drop.
New users often confuse VIP with "enabling a service." There's nothing to apply for and no monthly fee. All you do is meet a tier's requirements (section 2 lists them), and the system assigns you to the matching tier. Put another way, a VIP tier is a result, not a product. Get that straight and the "is it worth it" question later stays on the rails.
2. The level-up rule: several tracks, each with a BNB balance
This is the single most important rule in the whole piece. Binance has more than one way into VIP. It calls them tracks, and meeting any one of them qualifies you. The three main ones are Trader, Holder and Borrower, and each of the three also asks for a BNB balance. For VIP1 they look like this:
| Track | What it measures (VIP1) | BNB balance |
|---|---|---|
| Trader | 30-day spot volume ≥ 1,000,000 USD, or 30-day futures volume ≥ 5,000,000 USD | 5 BNB minimum daily average |
| Holder | ≥ 100,000 USD in assets, on average over the last 30 days or on the previous day | 5 BNB minimum daily average |
| Borrower | ≥ 100,000 USD borrowed on average over the last 30 days | 5 BNB minimum daily average |
VIP1 requirements as set out in Binance's blog post "What Is the Binance VIP Program?". Which assets and which loans count is for Binance's own pages to say.
Two more entries sit outside these three. An Options fast-track goes straight to VIP4 on 30-day options volume of at least 100,000,000 USD, with no BNB required. An Invitation programme takes proof of your last 30 days of volume on another platform, also with no BNB required. How the options fee itself is worked out, and why tiers leave it unchanged for now, is covered in our piece on crypto options fees.
On the Trader track, spot and futures volume are counted separately, in USD equivalent: spot volume comes from Spot, Margin, Convert, Copy Trading and Trading Bots; futures volume from USDⓈ-M and COIN-M futures. Either one reaching its figure is enough.
Binance's VIP page gives the numbers for every tier in one table. The first three rows:
| Tier | BNB holding | Spot trade volume | Futures trade volume | Wallet asset | 30-day net borrowing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VIP1 | ≥ 5 BNB | ≥ 1,000,000 USD | ≥ 5,000,000 USD | ≥ 100,000 USD | ≥ 100,000 USD |
| VIP2 | ≥ 25 BNB | ≥ 5,000,000 USD | ≥ 10,000,000 USD | ≥ 200,000 USD | ≥ 500,000 USD |
| VIP3 | ≥ 100 BNB | ≥ 20,000,000 USD | ≥ 50,000,000 USD | ≥ 1,000,000 USD | ≥ 2,000,000 USD |
The BNB column has to be met, plus any one of the other four. Thresholds as read on Binance's VIP page on 2026-09-30. Binance changes them; check the official page for current numbers.
The spot and futures fee tables show only two of these columns, 30-day volume and BNB balance, joined by "and" on every VIP row. That "and" describes the Trader track.
Look at the VIP1 row. The BNB requirement is only 5 BNB. The other half is what takes reaching: 1,000,000 USD of spot volume in 30 days, or 100,000 USD of assets in the account. If your trading comes nowhere near the volume figure, the Holder track is the one to check. Section 4 covers what this means for buying BNB.
To see how far you are from VIP1 on the Trader track, drop your numbers into the VIP tier threshold tool (it defaults to the official spot VIP1 thresholds; swap in the current official figures).
3. How rates step down per tier (sketch)
The direct payoff of a tier up is a lower maker and taker rate, though the two don't always move at the same step. A regular user (VIP0) pays 0.100% maker and 0.100% taker on spot. On spot, VIP1 and VIP2 lower the maker side only; the taker side first drops at VIP3. The table below gives the first rows and sketches the rest:
| Tier | Spot maker / taker | USDⓈ-M futures (USDT pairs) maker / taker | Main threshold |
|---|---|---|---|
| VIP0 (regular) | 0.100% / 0.100% | 0.0200% / 0.0500% | None |
| VIP1 | 0.090% / 0.100% | 0.0180% / 0.0500% | BNB balance plus any one track |
| VIP2 | 0.080% / 0.100% | 0.0160% / 0.0400% | BNB balance plus any one track |
| VIP3 | 0.040% / 0.060% | 0.0120% / 0.0320% | BNB balance plus any one track |
| VIP4–6 | Clearly below regular | Clearly below regular | A larger BNB balance and higher track figures |
| VIP7–9 | Institutional-scale | Institutional-scale | Very high; out of reach for most |
VIP0–VIP3 rates are as read on Binance's official spot and USDⓈ-M futures fee tables on 2026-09-30, before the BNB payment discount; the higher rows are a qualitative trend. Check the official page for current numbers.
Two things are worth pulling out. First, the gap between adjacent tiers is small. Going from VIP0 to VIP1 on spot takes 0.010 percentage points off the maker rate and nothing off the taker rate. What really opens up a gap is the cumulative effect across several tiers, plus the absolute dollars when a small percentage rides on top of large volume. Second, futures rates already run well below spot, so each tier's absolute step down looks smaller on the futures side — but because futures fees are charged on notional value and positions get opened and closed repeatedly, the long-run total is nothing to dismiss. For how spot and futures costs compare, see spot vs futures cost.
4. What the BNB balance does, and what it can't replace
The BNB balance is a condition the Trader, Holder and Borrower tracks share. It is not a track of its own, and it can't stand in for trading volume or for assets. Holding 5 BNB and nothing else leaves you at VIP0: one of volume, assets or borrowing has to reach the tier's figure as well.
If you already trade frequently and in size: your volume may clear the Trader threshold on its own, and what's left is keeping the BNB balance at or above the tier's line: 5 BNB for VIP1, 25 for VIP2, 100 for VIP3. Beyond that, your job is to push the fees you're already paying down with the BNB discount and a referral rebate, not to make extra moves for a tier.
If you don't trade much: look at the Holder track. For VIP1 it asks for at least 100,000 USD of assets in the account (30-day average, or the previous day) plus the 5 BNB daily average balance, and no trading volume. Which assets count toward the 100,000 USD is for Binance's pages to say. If your account is well under that figure, VIP1 is out of reach for now, and buying a few BNB doesn't change it. Moving assets onto the exchange just to hold a tier is a decision about where you keep your money, not a fee saving. And whoever buys BNB to qualify carries one unavoidable catch: BNB is an asset that goes up and down. If the price of the BNB you bought drops, the loss can easily dwarf the fees you saved. So "buy BNB for VIP" is not a fee calculation alone; price volatility is a real risk. Whether BNB is worth holding long-term, and how much to hold for the discount, we cover in the complete BNB discount guide.
5. The break-even question: chase the edge or not
The scenario people agonize over most: it's month-end, your 30-day volume is just short of the next tier — should you place a few more trades to push it over? That's the break-even question, and it belongs to the Trader track. It only arises if your BNB balance already meets that tier's line; if the BNB balance is short, extra volume changes nothing.
The way to judge it is plain: weigh two amounts against each other.
- Cost of forcing the tier = the fees on the extra trades you make just to pad volume + the market risk those trades carry. Only count the "made only to pad volume" part; trades you'd have done anyway don't count as a cost.
- Payoff of forcing it = your volume over the next stretch of time multiplied by the rate difference the tier saves. At spot VIP1 that difference exists on maker orders only. And it only holds if you actually keep enough volume, and the BNB balance, to maintain the tier afterward.
Run the numbers and most regular users find that the fees plus risk on the trades they forced eat up, or exceed, what the higher tier saves — especially if you drop back a tier the next month, which makes the whole effort a wash. So a safe rule: don't force volume. Letting the tier settle in with your real trading rhythm is far healthier than manufacturing turnover. To plug your own numbers into the break-even, use the VIP tier threshold tool, then check the net difference after the BNB discount and rebate with the cost stacking comparator.
6. The bottom line for different traders
Boiling the logic down to a few blunt calls:
- Buy-occasionally, hold-long-term investors: you won't get there on volume. If the assets you already keep on Binance reach the Holder figure (100,000 USD for VIP1) and you hold the 5 BNB, the tier comes without extra trading; if not, staying at VIP0 is fine. Either way, check the BNB discount and referred-user rebate separately, with rebate eligibility, rate and duration governed by the account page and local terms.
- Medium-frequency, decent-size traders: keep an eye on whether you're sitting on the edge of a tier. If you're close and you genuinely keep trading, letting it rise is reasonable — but don't force it.
- High-frequency or large traders: VIP is real money for you. Your volume will likely clear the Trader threshold on its own; the focus is keeping the BNB balance above the tier's line, maintaining the tier, and stacking the BNB discount and referral rebate to squeeze every tier's advantage. For the overall approach to cutting costs at size, see cutting costs on large trades.
At bottom, VIP is a tool that saves money for people whose volume or balances already earn it — not a target a regular user should chase for its own sake. Turn on the basic money-saving switches first, then let the tier settle naturally; that order holds for almost everyone. And if you're still weighing whether to switch platforms for lower fees, first read which exchange has the lowest fees and put Binance — VIP discount included — side by side with its peers. That usually tells you more than forcing a tier ever could.
7. Can you drop a tier? Maintenance and downgrades
Once you've climbed, there's a question people overlook: can you drop back down? Yes. VIP levels are updated daily at 08:00 (UTC); if you qualify under multiple criteria, your level reflects the highest you meet. So it moves both ways. Whichever track you qualified on, if its figure or the BNB balance falls under the tier's threshold, you drop at the next update. On the Trader track, a quiet month that pulls your 30-day volume below the line does it. On the Holder track, an account balance that slips under the asset figure does it. The same goes for BNB: sell or move it so the balance falls under the tier's line, and the tier is no longer met even if everything else held.
That gives two things to watch: your track's figure and the BNB balance. On the Trader track, volume moves with your trading pace, so it can slide the moment the pace slows. The BNB balance stays put as long as you leave it alone, but you carry that BNB's price risk the whole time. An intact BNB balance does not hold a tier through a light month by itself; either the volume is still there, or another track's figure is.
One more detail worth flagging: spot and futures volumes are counted separately, against different thresholds. Spot volume goes against the spot table and futures volume against the futures table, so check your numbers on each. On what a tier then covers, the fee page says: "VIP fees and benefits gained from any VIP program will apply universally to all Binance products." These thresholds, together with the BNB discount and a referral rebate, make up the full set of money-saving levers a regular user can pull. The cleanest way to line them up is to use the complete Binance fee guide and check the current thresholds and settings.
A closing note: rather than fretting over "will I drop a tier," check the BNB discount and referred-user rebate separately. The former follows the account setting; rebate eligibility, rate and duration follow the account page and local terms. VIP depends on your track's figure and the BNB balance.
8. The math: what a tier up really saves
"Saves a bit" doesn't land, so here's an example (rates from the official spot table; check the official page for current numbers). Say you do $1,000,000 of spot volume in a month, which is the Trader track's spot volume line for VIP1, all as taker:
| Scenario | Rate (read 2026-09-30) | Month's fees (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| VIP0 sticker price, all taker | 0.100% | ≈ $1,000 |
| VIP1, all taker | 0.100% (same as VIP0) | ≈ $1,000, no saving |
| VIP1, if the same volume were all maker | 0.090% | ≈ $900 |
| + BNB discount (≈ −25%), all taker, VIP0 or VIP1 | 0.075% | ≈ $750 |
| Referred-user rebate (if eligible) | — | Rate and duration follow the account page and local terms |
For an all-taker trader, VIP1 saves nothing on its own: the spot taker rate is 0.100% at both VIP0 and VIP1, and only the maker rate drops, to 0.090%. The $100 difference appears only if those orders are maker orders. Turning on the BNB discount takes about $250 off the same volume at either tier. VIP's value gets amplified only when your volume is large and you can hold a high tier steadily. So for most people the order is: switch on the discount and rebate first, and let VIP arrive on its own. To see exactly what lands in hand after all three layers, plug your real numbers into the cost stacking comparator. For how the fee structure fits together overall, revisit the complete Binance fee guide.
Further reading: Trading up a tier: does it pay?
FAQ
- How is a Binance VIP tier calculated?
- By track. Meet any one of Trader (30-day trading volume), Holder (account assets) or Borrower (average borrowing), plus that tier's BNB balance. For VIP1 the Trader track is ≥ 1,000,000 USD of 30-day spot volume or ≥ 5,000,000 USD of futures volume, the Holder track is ≥ 100,000 USD of assets, and each needs a 5 BNB minimum daily average balance. Levels are updated daily at 08:00 (UTC); check the official page for current numbers.
- Can I reach a VIP tier by holding BNB alone?
- No. The BNB balance is a condition the Trader, Holder and Borrower tracks share, not a track of its own; you also need trading volume, account assets or borrowing at the tier's level. If you trade little, the Holder track is the one to check: at least 100,000 USD of assets plus 5 BNB for VIP1. If you buy BNB to qualify, its price swings are a real risk.
- How much does one VIP tier lower your rate?
- Less than most people expect at the bottom of the ladder. On spot, VIP1 lowers maker from 0.100% to 0.090% and leaves taker at 0.100%; VIP3 is 0.040% maker and 0.060% taker. Adjacent tiers are close, and the difference shows across several tiers at high volume. Check the official page for current numbers.
- Is it worth forcing volume just to level up?
- Usually not. Padding trades cost fees and carry risk that easily exceeds the small rate difference. Trading on real need and qualifying naturally is safer.
- Do VIP, the BNB discount and a referral rebate conflict?
- No. VIP sets your base rate, the BNB discount is a payment discount, a rebate returns part of the fee — different parts of the cost, generally stackable. The net is what your account shows.