> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://whitepaper.after-bell.uk/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://whitepaper.after-bell.uk/economics/trading-fees.md).

# Trading Fees

Defines AFTERBELL’s 0.5% trading fee and its place in protocol economics.

### Fee rate

AFTERBELL specifies a **0.5% trading fee**. The fee applies to trading activity.

This is a protocol-level rate. The provided model does not specify maker and taker differences, fee tiers, rebates, discounts, exemptions, or referral adjustments. Readers should therefore treat 0.5% as the stated rate for the model.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Source fact:** the trading fee is 0.5%.\
**Model arithmetic:** multiplying trading volume by 0.5% produces trading-fee revenue.
{% endhint %}

### How the fee works

Trading volume measures the value traded. It is not protocol revenue. The trading fee is the smaller amount calculated from that volume.

```
$1,000 trading volume × 0.5% = $5 trading fee
```

The same rate scales directly with volume:

| Trading volume |     Calculation | Trading-fee revenue |
| -------------: | --------------: | ------------------: |
|           $100 |     $100 × 0.5% |               $0.50 |
|         $1,000 |   $1,000 × 0.5% |                  $5 |
|        $10,000 |  $10,000 × 0.5% |                 $50 |
|       $100,000 | $100,000 × 0.5% |                $500 |

These are illustrative calculations. They do not describe realized volume or realized revenue. A market can have different trading activity on different days. The source does not state that any listed scenario has occurred.

The source’s break-even model uses approximately $100,000 of daily trading volume. At the stated rate, that volume produces:

```
$100,000 daily trading volume × 0.5% = $500 daily trading-fee revenue
```

That $500 is **gross trading-fee revenue only**. It is not net revenue. It does not include resolution-fee amounts, and it does not establish total operating costs.

### Role in the economic system

The trading fee converts market activity into protocol fee revenue. It contributes to the fee pool used by the stated allocation model:

```
Trading activity
        ↓
0.5% trading fee
        ↓
Protocol fee pool
        ↓
70% Treasury | 20% Market Maker Subsidies | 10% Keeper Bot
```

The model therefore links trading activity to three named destinations. It retains a treasury allocation, reserves a share for market-maker subsidies, and allocates a share to keeper operations. The source does not provide further treasury spending categories.

At $1,000 of trading-fee revenue, the stated allocation would produce $700 for the treasury, $200 for market-maker subsidies, and $100 for the keeper bot. This allocation calculation applies to protocol fees as a pool. It should not be read as a separate fee charged on each trade.

### Relationship to the order book

AFTERBELL uses a central limit order book, or CLOB. A CLOB depends on actual bids and asks. Trading activity occurs when orders meet available counterparties.

The 0.5% fee is associated with that trading activity. The source does not define separate maker or taker pricing. It also does not describe a rebate program. This keeps the economics statement narrow: the specified trading fee is 0.5%, regardless of any unprovided order-role distinctions.

Order-book liquidity matters because fee revenue requires trading activity. If a market has limited available orders, users may have fewer counterparties. Trading may become less practical. Lower activity would reduce fee revenue under the stated arithmetic.

Conversely, more trading volume produces more gross trading-fee revenue at the fixed 0.5% rate. This is a mathematical relationship, not a claim that activity will grow. Organic liquidity is not guaranteed.

### Relationship to liquidity support

New markets can begin with limited or zero organic orders. The source plans to bootstrap liquidity through a market-maker bot that places bids and asks. It estimates this at approximately $500 per market per week.

The 20% market-maker-subsidy allocation connects the fee pool to that liquidity bootstrapping objective. The model’s intended loop is:

```
Trading activity → protocol fees → market-maker subsidies
→ initial order availability → more usable markets → potential trading activity
```

This is an intended economic mechanism. It does not guarantee more volume, tighter spreads, sufficient depth, or successful liquidity formation. The source does not provide a bot strategy, quote size, spread target, or subsidy-payment schedule.

### Revenue distribution context

The trading fee is one input to the protocol fee pool. The complete allocation is:

| Destination            | Share of protocol fees |
| ---------------------- | ---------------------: |
| Treasury               |                    70% |
| Market Maker Subsidies |                    20% |
| Keeper Bot             |                    10% |

For a simple example, $5 in trading-fee revenue implies $3.50 to the treasury, $1.00 to market-maker subsidies, and $0.50 to the keeper bot. This is direct percentage arithmetic. It does not show when allocations occur or how funds are operationally transferred, because the source does not specify those mechanics.

### Important distinctions

Three categories should remain separate:

* **Trading volume** is the value of trading activity.
* **Gross trading-fee revenue** is 0.5% of that volume.
* **Net revenue** is what remains after costs and other model components.

The distinction is material. For example, $100,000 in daily volume is not $100,000 in protocol revenue. Under the stated fee, it is $500 of gross daily trading-fee revenue. It cannot independently establish a daily net result.

The source also specifies a separate 0.1% resolution fee. Resolution fees are associated with market resolution, not described as an additional trading-fee tier. The applicable resolution-fee base is not specified by the provided material. It should not be assumed that all daily trading volume is also subject to that fee.

### Limits of the model

The fee rate is a source fact. The revenue examples above are model arithmetic. Neither is evidence of realized protocol performance.

AFTERBELL remains under development. Smart contracts are not yet audited, and an audit is planned before mainnet. Actual volume may differ from modeled volume. Organic liquidity is not guaranteed, while liquidity bootstrapping has an estimated operating cost. Regulatory uncertainty also remains.

The source identifies AFTERBELL as a product, not a token launch. It does not currently describe a token. Nothing on this page implies token utility, yield, or a revenue guarantee.


---

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