Minimums: why a small swap can cost more than it returns

Updated 11 September 2026 · compiled by the editorial team from the services' own pages

Every swap has a minimum, and just above it the network fee can eat a painful share of the payout. On some pairs a swap of twenty dollars returns less than it cost to move.

The minimum is set by the coin and the network, not by goodwill: below it the outgoing transfer would cost more than it carries. Two practical rules:

• Compare the fee with the amount, not with the rate. A 1 % difference in the quote is nothing next to a fixed network fee on a small transfer.
• Pick the cheap network when the amount is small. TRC-20 and BEP-20 exist for exactly this case.

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