Glossary
What is a transaction fee?
In one sentence
A transaction fee is what you pay the network to include and confirm your transfer — separate from anything an exchange charges you.
Blockchains have limited capacity, so fees ration it. When you send crypto, you attach a fee that compensates the miners or validators who include your transaction in a block. Pay more and you are generally confirmed sooner; pay less and you may wait.
Fees are set by network demand, not by the size of the amount you are sending. Moving $10 and $10,000 can cost the same, which makes small transfers disproportionately expensive during busy periods.
Do not confuse this with exchange fees. An exchange charges you for the trade; the network charges for the transfer. Withdrawing from an exchange usually incurs both, and some platforms mark up the network fee well above what it actually costs them.
For example
Check the withdrawal fee before moving crypto off an exchange — some charge several times the real network cost.