Is higher cashback always better?

No. A card with 1% cashback and no FX fee can beat a 3% card with a 1.5% FX fee and a low monthly cap, depending on how much you spend abroad.

How do I calculate real cashback?

Subtract FX, ATM and monthly fees from cashback earned. OpenRate's calculator does this automatically for any spend profile.

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Fees & Calculators

Best Crypto Cards Are Not Always the Best After Fees

Name: OpenRate stablecoin market dataset — P2P rates, crypto card spend, on-chain flows
Creator: OpenRate
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Keywords: p2p rate, usdt p2p rate, stablecoin card spending, crypto card volume, binance p2p, p2p arbitrage, on-chain card data

8 min read

A 3% card can lose to a 1% card once FX, ATM and monthly fees are included. Here's how to read past the headline.

The headline-cashback trap

Marketing pages lead with the highest possible reward tier — often gated behind a token stake or a premium membership. The rate most users actually earn, after caps, is far lower.

The four costs that eat rewards

Net value is cashback minus the costs you actually incur.

FX fee on foreign-currency spend
ATM fee on cash withdrawals
Monthly or plan fees
Cashback caps that throttle high spenders

Compare net value, not headline rate

Use the OpenRate net-value calculator on any card or comparison page: enter your spend, FX share and ATM usage, and the ranking re-sorts by what you'd keep. At $2,000/month with 30% foreign spend, low-FX cards routinely beat higher-cashback cards.

FAQ

Is higher cashback always better?: No. A card with 1% cashback and no FX fee can beat a 3% card with a 1.5% FX fee and a low monthly cap, depending on how much you spend abroad.
How do I calculate real cashback?: Subtract FX, ATM and monthly fees from cashback earned. OpenRate's calculator does this automatically for any spend profile.