Trading Fees
Balchemy has no subscription plans, pricing tiers, Stripe billing, or locked product features. Every user gets the same standard product access.
Balchemy earns from executed swaps through a global swap-fee model. If you do not trade, there is no monthly platform charge.
Current standard rate
Balchemy's current standard swap fee is 1% (100 basis points) of the swap input amount.
The fee applies only when an authorized swap executes. A shadow observation, held decision, blocked action, rejected approval, or failed pre-submission request does not create a completed swap fee.
The action preview and final order record are authoritative for a specific execution.
| Item | Treatment |
|---|---|
| Balchemy standard swap fee | 1% / 100 bps of the input amount |
| Monthly subscription | None |
| Product tiers or paid feature gates | None |
| Network, gas, priority, provider, or routing costs | Separate where applicable |
| Partner or referral share | Comes from configured attribution; it does not add a second trader fee |
Example
For a swap with an input amount of 100 USDC:
- Balchemy standard fee: 1 USDC.
- Amount remaining for the swap route before separate network or routing costs: 99 USDC.
- The preview should show the current quote, fee, and any separate costs before authorization.
Integer-safe accounting is used in the execution path, so smallest-unit rounding can apply.
Global swap-fee model
The standard rate applies globally. Legacy policy fields do not change the fee, product access, or feature availability.
The public product rule is simple:
- No monthly subscription.
- No plan-based feature gates.
- No enterprise-only access behavior.
- The 1% standard fee applies when swaps execute.
Fee calculation
Fee calculation is handled with integer-safe token accounting in the trading path. Public docs should not treat fee internals as a user-configurable pricing surface.
At a high level:
- A trade request enters the execution pipeline.
- Policy and risk checks run first.
- If execution is authorized, the swap path calculates the platform fee.
- The trade result and fee records are stored for reconciliation and analytics.
Signal Source attribution and partner metadata
Hub Signal Sources such as Telegram or Discord contexts can carry attribution and optional partner metadata where implemented.
This means a source or integration can be tracked as the origin of trading activity. It does not mean every source automatically has a live payout rail.
Safe way to think about it:
- Signal Source attribution is tied to activity attribution and configuration.
- It is separate from referral codes.
- Payout or settlement details depend on the configured product flow and should be verified before being promised.
Referral rewards
Referral rewards are a separate system from Signal Source attribution. A referral code can track referred users and reward/commission records where the referral product flow is enabled.
Referral rewards do not add a separate fee to the trader. They are a partner-growth mechanism, not a plan or subscription system.
Rate limits and quotas
Balchemy may enforce application, MCP, and AI usage limits to protect reliability. These are stability limits, not paid access tiers.
When you exceed a rate limit, retry after the indicated window or reduce request volume. If your integration makes frequent programmatic calls, prefer direct scoped tools over repeatedly routing every action through a conversational AI step.
MCP scopes are not paid tiers
MCP scopes are permissions, not pricing plans.
| Scope | Meaning |
|---|---|
read | Observe, inspect, and retrieve read-only state. |
trade | Submit trade actions allowed by policy. |
manage | Sensitive management actions with tighter controls. |
A scope controls what a key can do. It does not change monthly pricing or unlock a paid plan.
Summary
| Topic | Balchemy behavior |
|---|---|
| Subscription | None |
| Product tiers | None |
| Feature gating by plan | None |
| Swap fee | 1% / 100 bps of the input amount on executed swaps |
| Signal Source attribution | Attribution/configuration where implemented |
| Referral rewards | Separate referral-code/reward system |
| Rate limits | Reliability controls, not paywalls |