Crypto order routing
When you buy or sell crypto through your Robinhood Crypto account, we send your order to third-party liquidity providers for execution. If you trade in the app, you can choose to have your orders routed to non-exchange liquidity providers (“market makers”) or through exchange liquidity providers (“partner exchanges”). If you trade on Robinhood Legend, your orders will be routed via smart exchange routing. If you trade using web classic, only market maker routing is available.
Market maker routing is the default setting for orders placed in the app and on web classic. For orders using market making routing, Robinhood receives a portion of the dollar value of each executed order from its market makers. That amount is included in the spread. As of July 24, 2025, for every $100 of notional crypto order volume executed through market maker routing, Robinhood Crypto receives $0.85 from its market maker.
Robinhood Crypto doesn't disclose the names of partner market makers.
If you place a $100 buy order and the buy spread is 0.86%, Robinhood Crypto will receive $0.85 of the $0.86 buy spread. The same applies to sell orders. For example, with a $100 sell order, Robinhood Crypto receives $0.85 of the $0.86 sell spread.
Orders are filled at the bid or ask price, not at the mid price. The buy spread is the difference between the ask and mid prices, while the sell spread is the difference between the bid and mid prices. Let’s break down what those prices mean:
You can view the current bid and ask prices on the order review screen before placing a trade.
When you trade using the app, you can choose to have orders of certain crypto routed to partner exchanges via smart exchange routing.
This setting evaluates multiple partner exchanges and routes your order to get the best available price across them. Robinhood Crypto doesn’t receive a rebate from its partner exchanges. Instead, these orders qualify for fee tiers based on your 30-day trading volume of smart exchange routing orders. As your trading volume increases, your fee rate decreases. Learn more in Crypto fee tiers.
You can set your default to smart exchange routing from the order type menu. Once smart exchange routing is on, it will remain your default for orders of supported crypto until you turn it off.
Smart exchange routing is the only routing setting available for crypto orders placed on the mobile ladder and Robinhood Legend. It isn’t supported for recurring investments or on web classic.
You can turn smart exchange routing on and off each time you place an order of supported crypto in the app. Once the setting is on, it will remain on for future in-app orders until you turn it off.
If smart exchange routing is unavailable, your order will be routed to market makers.
Smart exchange routing is currently unavailable for residents of North Carolina.
Use this table to compare key features of Robinhood Crypto’s order routing settings.
| Feature | Smart exchange routing | Market maker routing |
| Trading venue routed to | Exchanges | Market makers |
| Rebate Robinhood Crypto receives from trading venues | 0.00% | 0.85% |
| Fees | 0.10%-0.85% | No fees |
| Traditional in-app trades | Available for certain tradable crypto. | Available for all tradable crypto. |
| The mobile ladder | The only routing setting available | Unavailable |
| Robinhood Legend | The only routing setting available | Unavailable |
| Web classic | Unavailable | The only routing setting available |
Your all-in costs may be higher or lower with smart exchange routing compared to market maker routing, depending partly on volume traded. Pricing may vary across routing settings, and neither guarantees better pricing execution.
View the Fee schedule for the latest rates. Customers may have access to lower fees depending on access to promotions.
Review Crypto availability for the full list of crypto currently available with each routing setting.
For orders of certain crypto placed in the mobile app, you can choose between market maker routing and smart exchange routing. You can’t change the routing type for a given order after the order has been placed, but you can turn it on and off between orders.
Smart exchange routing is the only routing setting available for crypto orders placed on the mobile ladder and Legend. It isn’t supported for recurring investments or on web classic.
You’ll be charged a percentage fee (minimum $0.01) on the dollar value of the executed amount. Robinhood Crypto doesn't receive a rebate from its partner exchanges. Instead, these orders qualify for fee tiers based on your 30-day trading volume of smart exchange routing orders. As your trading volume increases, your fee rate decreases. Learn more in Crypto fee tiers and review the Fee schedule for more details.
For buy orders, the total cost is equal to the notional value of the order (i.e., the dollar value of the coin amount) plus the fee. For sell orders, the total credit is equal to the notional value of the order minus the fee.