You have 100 USDT in your account, but when you place a buy order, Binance says "Insufficient balance." This is not a platform bug — you did not include the trading fee.
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Binance spot trading fees are deducted directly from the coin you buy. If you have exactly 100 USDT and want to buy 100 USDT worth of BTC, Binance deducts the fee from the BTC you receive. But here is the key point — when you place the order, Binance first checks whether your USDT balance can cover the total cost: order amount + fee. The fee itself is taken from the coin you are buying, not from USDT.
That is why the order is blocked.
How to check the fee reserve
1. Check whether you pay fees with the coin you receive or with BNB
By default, spot trading fees are paid with the coin you receive from the trade. So if you buy BTC, the fee is deducted from BTC. If you sell BTC, the fee is deducted from USDT.
If you enable "Use BNB to pay for fees" in account settings and keep at least 0.1 BNB in your spot account, fees can be paid with BNB, and you also get a 25% discount on spot fees. But if this option is on and your BNB balance is too low, Binance will show "Insufficient balance", even if you have enough USDT.
[What to do]: Check which method you currently use to pay fees.
[How to check]:
Open the Binance app or website → profile icon in the top right → "User Center" → "Account Settings" → find the "Use BNB to pay for trading fees" switch and see if it is on or off.
If it is on, go to "Assets" → "Spot Account" and check whether the "Available" BNB balance is greater than 0.
[Done when]: You know which fee method you are using and whether your BNB balance is enough.
2. Estimate how much fee reserve this order needs
Default rate: for regular users, spot maker and taker fees are both 0.1%.
Example: you use 100 USDT to buy BTC. At 0.1%, the fee is BTC worth 0.1 USDT. When placing the order, Binance checks your total USDT balance to make sure it covers the order amount plus the fee converted to USDT at market price. The safest approach: do not use all your USDT in one order. Leave a 1–2 USDT buffer.
[What to do]: Leave enough room for the fee when placing an order.
[How to do it]: Use "order amount × 0.1%" to estimate the fee value in USDT. Do not place an order larger than "available balance - fee value." Or simply use the system's 75% or 50% buttons instead of manually filling in the maximum amount.
[Done when]: You confirm that after placing the order, there is still some USDT left in your account, not exactly zero.
BNB discount trap: If you use BNB to pay fees, you get a 25% discount, but Binance still reserves the full fee amount first when you place the order. If your BNB balance is too low, the order will fail. It will not automatically switch back to USDT fee payment. Keep an eye on your BNB balance.
Three common error scenarios
BNB fee payment is on but BNB is not enough: Turn off the "Use BNB to pay for fees" switch, or buy a small amount of BNB first.
USDT balance is exactly equal to the order amount: Leave a 1–2 USDT buffer. Do not fill in the full balance.
Funds are in the Funding Account or Futures Account: Binance wallets are separated. Spot trading can only use money in your Spot Account. Go to the "Assets" page and transfer funds to your Spot Account first.
Withdrawal fees and trading fees are different. Withdrawal fees are a fixed gas fee per withdrawal, and the amount depends on the coin and network. This is not the same as trading fees.
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How to verify after you fix it
After completing the steps above, go to "Orders" → "Spot Order History" and open your latest filled order. In the fee section, check whether it shows "BNB deduction: enabled" or whether the fee was taken from the coin you bought. If the actual fee does not match what you expected, go back to account settings and check the BNB fee payment switch.
