Advertised trading fees are marketing; the spread is the bill. We bought $1,000 of Bitcoin on five major platforms at the same minute and recorded exactly what landed.
The headline numbers
Card purchases clustered around 2–4% all-in, with CoinHarbor at 2.0% flat and no spread markup. Bank-funded buys ranged from free to 1.5%. The worst offender hid a 1.8% spread behind a “0.5% fee” banner — nearly four times the sticker price.
Withdrawals: the second bill
Fixed-fee BTC withdrawals punish small buyers hardest: a $5 flat fee is 5% of a $100 withdrawal. CoinHarbor batches withdrawals and passes through network cost with no markup, typically $1–2 at normal congestion.
The checklist before you buy anywhere
Ask three questions: what is the all-in spread at my size, what does funding cost, and what does getting my coins out cost? Any platform that cannot answer all three on one screen — CoinHarbor shows them pre-confirm on every order — does not deserve the trade.