A taker is a trader who executes a trade using market orders. Such traders significantly reduce liquidity because the number of orders from makers decreases.

A taker can not only make purchases. If you place a market order to sell at the current price — you are still a taker. Taker orders never appear in the order book; they essentially agree with the current price, and the trade happens instantly.

It is important to understand that, according to the logic of exchanges, a taker removes liquidity, which is crucial for exchange trading. Therefore, taker trades are subject to higher fees than orders placed by makers. Although many traders disagree with this fee distribution, considering the roles of makers and takers equally significant.

Based on these principles, cryptocurrency exchanges implement the «maker-taker» mechanism. Its existence helps minimize the spread between buying and selling prices of a specific token. This creates small spreads that allow cryptocurrency trading with a high degree of liquidity, which is essential for a market where top tokens have substantial value. The fundamental and established idea is to divide traders into two sides — providers and consumers of market liquidity.