Methodology

What we estimate

Augea estimates the total cost to buy a specific amount of crypto on each exchange. Each estimate combines four components:

• Trading fees — the percentage or flat fee charged per trade.
• Spread — the difference between the exchange buy price and the mid-market reference price.
• Payment method — card and bank transfer have different cost structures. Augea tracks both separately.
• Amount sensitivity — some exchanges apply minimum fees that affect smaller purchases disproportionately.

Card vs bank estimates

Card and bank routes have materially different cost structures. Augea estimates each separately using exchange-specific route costs.

Card route estimates typically include

Exchange trading fee, exchange spread or markup, card processing surcharge, and any instant-buy or convenience fee where applicable.

Bank route estimates typically include

Exchange trading fee and exchange spread or markup. Bank-route estimates usually reflect exchange-side trading and spread costs; external bank fees may still vary and are not included.

Why convenience routes often cost more

Many exchanges offer both a simpler, faster buying flow and a lower-cost advanced or pro trading interface. Card routes often reflect higher-cost convenience or instant-buy-style paths. Bank routes often reflect lower-cost deposit-then-trade paths. The gap can be several times larger on the same exchange.

• Convenience or instant-buy flows are faster but typically carry higher fees and wider spreads.
• Advanced or pro trading interfaces often have lower maker/taker fees and tighter spreads, but require more steps.
• Augea currently ranks top-level card and bank routes, not advanced or pro as a separate lane. Availability of pro interfaces varies by exchange and country.

What estimates exclude

Augea estimates are exchange-side route costs. They do not include fees charged by your bank, card issuer, or other external parties:

• Your bank's own fees (wire fees, international transfer charges).
• Card issuer fees (cash-advance charges, foreign transaction fees).
• FX conversion costs applied by your bank or card issuer.
• Withdrawal fees (moving crypto off the exchange).
• Tax implications.

Payment rails

Augea currently ranks exchanges across two top-level payment methods: card and bank transfer. Some local and digital payment rails inherit from these where confirmed by exchange documentation.

• Apple Pay and Google Pay inherit card estimates where confirmed as the same fee category.
• Interac, iDEAL, PayNow, and PayID inherit bank estimates where confirmed as deposit-then-trade with free or negligible deposit.
• These inherited rails are not yet separate top-level ranked payment methods.

Ranking modes

Augea supports two ranking modes, surfaced as the user's explicit choice rather than a hidden default.

Lowest estimated cost

Ranks exchanges by lower estimated total cost for your amount. This is the default ranking mode.

Estimate confidence

Ranks by data confidence first, then cost as the tie-breaker. Prioritises freshness and completeness over raw cost.

What "estimate confidence" means

High

Data is recent and complete. Estimate range is more likely to reflect current conditions. Updated within 1 day.

Medium

Data is usable but may be older or partially inferred. Helpful for comparison, but expect more variance. Updated 2 to 30 days ago.

Low

Data may be old or limited. Use as a directional guide only. Verify on the exchange before committing. Older than 30 days.

Limitations

• Currency conversion — amounts shown in other currencies are converted estimates and may vary with exchange rates.
• Minimum fees — some exchanges have minimum fees that affect small purchases disproportionately.
• Amount modeling — estimates use percentage-based cost modeling and do not yet reflect per-exchange minimum fees or volume-based fee tiers. Very small or very large purchases may have different actual costs.
• Dynamic pricing — spreads and fees can change throughout the day based on market conditions.
• Regional availability — not all exchanges operate in all countries. Verify availability before comparing.
• Model updates — cost model updated March 2026 with exchange-specific card and bank route costs. Earlier snapshots may show different estimate ranges. See the methodology changelog.

Related

• ARCI v2 frozen methodology — the per-edition, full-matrix methodology behind the Augea Retail Cost Index v2.
• Augea Research — the research umbrella covering the Augea series map, methodology principles, and published editions.
• Reports — the library of published editions (snapshot-backed, methodology-frozen per edition).
• Trust — current data confidence, freshness, and route-by-route evidence state.
• Retail Reality — the user-reported retail-experience program (methodology-first; no surveys live yet).