How much does it cost to trade on the XRP Ledger?

The network fee is about 0.000012 XRP a transaction ($0.000016). On top come the pool’s fee if an AMM pool fills the trade (up to 1%), the token’s transfer fee if it has one, and your app’s fee if it charges one.

Are XRP Ledger transaction fees burned?

Yes. The fee is destroyed: no validator or anyone else receives it, so the total amount of XRP shrinks slightly with every transaction.

Do I get the reserve back?

Yes. The reserve is XRP your account cannot spend while it owns the object it covers: 1 XRP for the account itself and 0.2 XRP for each trust line, open order or other object. Remove the object and that XRP is spendable again.

Insights

XRPL DEX Fees Explained

A trade on the XRP Ledger can carry up to four costs: a tiny network fee that is destroyed, a pool fee when an AMM fills it, a transfer fee on some tokens, and whatever the app you use adds. Plus XRP set aside as a reserve, which you get back.

Every cost, and who gets it

Cost	How much	Who gets it	When you pay it
Network fee	0.000012 XRP (12 drops), about $0.000016	Destroyed: nobody receives it	Every transaction, traded or not
Pool fee	0–1% of the trade, 0.48% on average	The pool’s liquidity providers	Only the part of a trade an AMM pool fills
Order book	None	—	Trading against resting orders costs only the network fee
Transfer fee	0–100%, set by the token’s issuer	Nobody: it leaves circulation	Every move of that token between two holders
App fee	Whatever the app charges; xrpl.to: 0.4% on swaps	The app	Only when you trade through that app

Refreshed hourly. Average pool fee across every AMM pool; a token’s page shows its transfer fee when it has one.

The network fee

The minimum is 10 drops (0.00001 XRP); most apps pay 12. It is destroyed rather than paid to anyone (xrpl.org). When the network is busy the fee needed to get into the next ledger rises, and falls again once the load passes; right now it is 10 drops. Paying more gets a transaction into an earlier ledger, never ahead of others inside the same one, because the order within a ledger is shuffled.

Transfer fees

An issuer can charge a fee, up to 100% (a few that set theirs before a 2017 rule change can charge more), whenever its token moves from one holder to another, including when you sell. The sender sends the extra, the recipient never sees it, and it is not credited to anyone: it is burned and leaves circulation, so the issuer simply owes less (xrpl.org). Sending to or from the issuer itself is exempt. Check a token’s page before buying: a high transfer fee is taken again on every sale.

Reserves: XRP you get back

The account itself	1 XRP · $1.29	until the account is deleted
Each trust line	0.2 XRP · $0.26	until you remove it
Each open order	0.2 XRP · $0.26	until it fills or you cancel it
A signer list, whatever its size	0.2 XRP · $0.26	until you remove it

The amounts the ledger enforces today, read hourly; validators can vote to change them (xrpl.org: reserves).

What fees do not buy

No fee buys a place ahead of another trade in the same ledger, so there is no bidding war for position. Front-running still happens: bots race to get into the same ledger and sometimes win, which is why a tight slippage limit matters (sandwich attacks). How this compares with other chains, with today’s fees: what one trade costs on each chain.

Questions

How much does it cost to trade on the XRP Ledger?: The network fee is about 0.000012 XRP a transaction ($0.000016). On top come the pool’s fee if an AMM pool fills the trade (up to 1%), the token’s transfer fee if it has one, and your app’s fee if it charges one.
Are XRP Ledger transaction fees burned?: Yes. The fee is destroyed: no validator or anyone else receives it, so the total amount of XRP shrinks slightly with every transaction.
Do I get the reserve back?: Yes. The reserve is XRP your account cannot spend while it owns the object it covers: 1 XRP for the account itself and 0.2 XRP for each trust line, open order or other object. Remove the object and that XRP is spendable again.