How to read a crypto platform's fee schedule: a 5-point checklist

The first is whether the fee charges your balance or only your activity. The rest cover what the fee applies to, whether a margin sits inside the price you are quoted, what a withdrawal costs, and how a P2P route is priced.

Run all five on any platform, this one included, before you fund an account.

What a fee page leaves out

GST rarely appears in the rate a platform advertises. 18 percent GST applies to a crypto exchange's service and transaction fees in India, on top of whatever rate is quoted. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs clarified the rule from July 2025.

Other costs hide the same way. A spread can sit inside a quoted price with no separate line item at all. A withdrawal that looks free on the fee page can still force a P2P route priced above the market rate.

So the test is whether you can predict, before you commit a rupee, exactly what leaves your account and when. Five checks answer that, on any platform, including this one.

The five-point framework

1. Separate a balance fee from a transaction fee

A balance fee charges you for holding money on the platform, whether you act or not. A transaction fee charges you only when you do something: a buy, a sell, a rebalance, a convert. This single distinction decides whether staying invested and doing nothing costs you money over time.

Qatobit charges the second kind only. The 0.35 percent basket fee applies when a Crypto Index buys, sells, or rebalances.

A Crypto Index rebalances on a fixed monthly schedule, so the fee follows that schedule and ignores how long you have held the basket. There is no annual management fee on the balance itself. Holding an index quietly from one month to the next costs nothing.

A fee on your balance compounds against you through every month you sit still. That is the cost this check looks for. Find it before you put money in.

2. Find the base the rate is measured against

A stated rate means little until you know its base. A fee applied to your full balance costs more, every month, than the same rate applied only to what moves. On Qatobit, the 0.35 percent basket fee applies only to the amount transacted at a rebalance. It never touches the rest of the account's balance.

Put 20,000 rupees into QSI Growth. At the next monthly rebalance, the methodology buys or sells whatever portion of the basket it needs to bring weights back to target. The 0.35 percent fee applies to that portion alone. If nothing needs adjusting, nothing is charged. The rupees sitting inside untouched holdings are never charged.

A Crypto Index at Qatobit is a basket with documented construction, and those published rules decide where the fee can land. The basket fee runs on the transaction, tied to an event the methodology controls and publishes.

On any platform's fee page, the lower-looking number earns a second look. Check whether it is measured against your whole balance or only against what moved.

3. The spread hiding inside a quoted price

A spread is the gap between the price you are quoted and the reference market price. It works as a cost even when no fee line appears anywhere. A platform can advertise a low or near-zero fee and still take its margin here, built into the number you see before you confirm.

On Qatobit you can verify two things. The fee percentage is shown before you confirm a transaction. The same stated rate applies to the transaction amount every time, at the rates set out above.

If a platform will not show you its rate before you commit, you cannot run this check on it at all.

4. What leaves your account when you want your money back

Withdrawal terms decide how liquid your money really is. Check the minimum, the fee, and the processing time together, because a platform can waive one of the three and quietly keep another.

On Qatobit, INR withdrawal carries a 200 rupee minimum and no fee, paid out directly to your linked bank account. Crypto and USDT withdrawals are also supported alongside the INR route, though the network, minimum, and timing for those are not yet published here. If a withdrawal's timing is not stated anywhere on a platform, do not assume one. That gap is worth asking about before you rely on it.

There is no cost to leave an index, at any holding period. The only charge on a basket is the 0.35 percent fee when a rebalance happens. Closing a position or moving your money elsewhere adds nothing.

TDS gets mistaken for a platform fee often enough to need its own line here. The 1 percent TDS withheld on the sale itself is deducted under Section 194S and passed to the government. The platform keeps none of it. Tax withheld by law and a charge a platform sets for itself belong in different columns on any fee page you read.

5. Check how a P2P route is priced

P2P routes let two people exchange crypto directly, and the price on offer is whatever the two of them agree to. No regulator sets that rate. That price can run meaningfully above the market rate the rest of the world is trading at, and the gap is invisible until you compare it yourself.

USDT has traded at a 7 to 10 percent premium over its dollar value on Indian platforms, a gap exchanges attribute to local demand outrunning available supply. That premium is baked into an investor's entry price the moment they buy, before any stated fee even applies.

Qatobit's INR rails run through direct bank transfer, NEFT, RTGS, or IMPS, with no P2P step at any point. That is how the INR route is built, and it removes one specific place a premium could otherwise hide.

Running the checklist on this fee page

The basket fee is a transaction charge of 0.35 percent, applied at a rebalance. It touches only the amount transacted at that rebalance, and the rest of the holding sits untouched. The rate is shown before you confirm. Leaving an index costs nothing at any holding period, and the INR withdrawal route has no P2P step.

One item stays open. The crypto and USDT withdrawal detail is not published yet, and this piece leaves it unstated.

Before your next deposit

A fee schedule is usually simple arithmetic sitting on an incomplete page. These five checks force the missing pieces into view. Run them on any platform before you fund an account, this one included. You will finish knowing what leaves your account and when.

A fee schedule still cannot tell you what you keep after tax, since that runs on a separate rule entirely. How much tax you actually pay on crypto gains in India is worth reading once the fee page has stopped surprising you.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between a balance fee and a transaction fee?

A balance fee charges you for holding money on a platform, whether you act or not. A transaction fee charges you only when you buy, sell, rebalance, or convert. Qatobit charges the second kind: 0.35 percent per rebalance on a Crypto Index, and no annual charge on the balance itself.

Does GST apply on top of a crypto platform's stated fee?

India applies 18 percent GST on a crypto exchange's service and transaction fees, a rule the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs clarified from July 2025. Ask any platform whether the rate you see already includes this before you compare two numbers side by side.

Is there a fee to leave a Qatobit Crypto Index?

No. There is no cost to leave an index, at any holding period. The only charge on a basket is the 0.35 percent fee applied when a rebalance happens, and nothing else applies to closing a position.

Does Qatobit use P2P pricing for INR deposits or withdrawals?

No. INR moves through direct bank transfer, NEFT, RTGS, or IMPS, with a 200 rupee minimum and no fee on either side. There is no P2P step in that route, which removes one specific place a pricing premium could otherwise hide.

Is the 1 percent TDS on a crypto sale a platform fee?

No. The 1 percent TDS under Section 194S is withheld on the sale itself and passed to the government. The platform keeps none of it, and the deduction applies whether the sale ends in a profit or a loss.

Crypto investments are subject to market risk. Not financial advice.