Maker Rebate
A small credit paid to resting limit-order providers on Polymarket when their order is filled by a taker.
Definition
A maker rebate is a payment credited to the maker side of a matched trade. Polymarket offers 0% maker fees and a positive rebate to incentivize liquidity provision. The rebate is a fraction of the notional value of the matched shares, making passive quoting economically attractive relative to aggressive taking.
In practice
A bot quoting a GTC bid at $0.48 for 100 YES shares and getting filled earns a rebate on the $48 notional. Across many small fills in a liquid market, the rebates compound into a meaningful income stream even without directional edge. The maker-rebate model is why strategies like poly5m-v3 operate in a two-phase loop: post quotes first, collect rebates, then switch to directional taker mode only when the Binance signal is strong enough to justify the taker fee.