Binance Alpha Points not increasing after a trade? Cutoff time, uncounted buys and the $100 rule
A purchase that did not score can usually be traced to one line of the official FAQ: the day ends at 23:59:59 UTC, payment coin, pair and wallet type each have a rule, and a zero balance score cancels the day's volume points.
If you bought an Alpha token and your Binance Alpha Points total did not move, the official Frequently Asked Questions on Binance Alpha Points page explains almost every case. Either the purchase was never counted — wrong day, wrong payment coin, wrong pair, wrong wallet, or a zero balance score that wipes out the day's volume points — or it was counted and something else cancelled it out: an expired bonus, a day rolling out of the 15-day window, or a deduction from yesterday.
Work through them in that order. The basic formula (balance tiers, the doubling table for volume) is covered in how Alpha Points are calculated; this page is only for when the numbers do not add up.
Bought after midnight UTC? It counts for the next day
The FAQ has a single question on timing, and the answer is short: points are calculated from a daily snapshot at 23:59:59 UTC, and every transaction is dated in UTC. Its example: if you are in UTC+8 and trade at 02:00 on 23 April, the trade is recorded as 18:00 UTC on 22 April and counted towards 22 April.
Two things follow. A purchase made late in your evening and one made early the next morning may land in different points days, or in the same one, depending on where you live; check against UTC, not your local date. And since volume points are worked out on each day's total purchases, splitting a buy across the cutoff gives you two smaller totals, each of which may fall short of the next doubling step.
The balance score is taken on the same UTC clock (“Snapshot timezone: UTC”). Move assets out just before the snapshot and that day's balance tier is based on what was left.
Under $100 in eligible assets? Your volume points are zeroed
This one catches small accounts. The lowest balance tier is $100 to under $1,000 for 1 point a day; below $100 the balance score is zero. The English FAQ adds: “starting 22-10-2025, if your daily Balance Points are zero, your trading Volume Points and task points will not count towards your Binance Alpha Points accumulation unless and until your Balance Points reaches 100 USD equivalent or more.”
Suppose you hold $85 of USDT and buy $64 of an Alpha token. On the doubling table that purchase is worth 6 points. At the snapshot your eligible assets are still under $100, so the balance score is 0 and the 6 volume points are recorded as 0 too.
“Eligible” is narrower than “everything in the app”. Per the FAQ, it covers tokens listed on Binance spot or supported for Alpha trading, held across all exchange accounts (including the Alpha account) and Binance Wallet; unrealised futures PnL at the snapshot; RWUSD; and a named list of DeFi receipt tokens such as slisBNB and Booster Earn staking receipts. It excludes tokens supported by neither spot nor Alpha (the FAQ's example is LSD-type tokens) and PancakeSwap LP positions, unless the pair is an Alpha token against a spot-listed token.
Five kinds of purchase that never count as volume
Volume points are defined as “the total trading volume of Alpha tokens purchased through Binance Exchange and Binance Wallet (Keyless)”, followed by a set of conditions:
- The payment coin is not listed on Binance spot. “The transaction is credited to trading volume only if the payment currency is a token that is already listed on Binance's spot market. Transactions paid in other currencies will not be credited.”
- Both sides of the pair are Alpha tokens. This rule sits in the notes of recent Alpha trading competition announcements rather than in the points FAQ: from 17 June 2025, volume generated between Alpha token pairs no longer counts towards Alpha Points.
- The token has moved to spot. Once an Alpha token is listed for spot trading, the FAQ says, “transactions made after listing are not counted toward Alpha volume.” Same ticker, same screen, different status.
- The wallet was imported or exported. Only trades via Binance Wallet (Keyless) and the centralised exchange qualify, and “re-imported wallets are no longer considered keyless”. Exporting the recovery phrase once is enough to lose keyless status for good. The difference between the wallet and your exchange account is explained here.
- It was a sale. “Selling Alpha tokens does not affect Binance Alpha Points.” Only purchases score; equally, buying $600 and later selling $500 still counts as $600.
Same $500 buy, two points fewer: the 30-day bonus ran out
A rule change effective 4 September 2025 (00:00 UTC) gives tokens that went through a Binance Alpha airdrop or TGE a 30-day boost: purchases count at 4× volume for BSC tokens and 2× for tokens on other chains. After 30 days, or for tokens that never had an airdrop or TGE, raw volume applies. The FAQ clarifies that the 30 days start when the token enters circulation, not when a Pre-TGE event opens. The same change retired the older BSC-purchase and Alpha 2.0 limit-order bonuses, so guides from mid-2025 describing them are out of date.
The multiplier applies to volume, and volume points only rise by one per doubling. So 4× adds two points and 2× adds one, whatever the amount:
| Bought that day | 4× (BSC, within 30 days) | 2× (other chain, within 30 days) | No bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| $100 | 8 | 7 | 6 |
| $500 | 10 | 9 | 8 |
| $1,000 | 11 | 10 | 9 |
| $5,000 | 14 | 13 | 12 |
The figures extend the FAQ's table ($64 = 6, $128 = 7, and so on), taking the lower step for amounts in between. As for which tokens currently carry 4× or 2×, the FAQ answers only with a screenshot of where to look and does not spell the path out in text.
The points were added, but something else was taken away
The total on the events page is not today's score. It is the sum of the last 15 days, including points spent. Each day's points expire 15 days after their snapshot date, and points spent on an event only show up in the total the following day.
So imagine you earned 9 points today, the day that just dropped out of the window had earned 11, and yesterday you claimed an airdrop that cost 15. Today's total is 17 lower than yesterday's, and your purchase was counted all along. To see it, compare what you should have earned today (balance tier plus volume points) with the day-on-day change, then account for the expiring day and any deduction. Which events cost points is listed in this guide, and the points simulator projects the next few days.
What about sub-accounts?
The FAQ covers balances only: just the main account earns Alpha Points, and sub-account balances are merged into it. Whether purchases made in a sub-account count as main-account volume is not stated there, and no other help-centre page says so either. Until it is, buy in the main account if you want the volume scored. More on sub-accounts and the four reward lines in this article.
A five-step check
1. Which UTC day did the trade fall on? 2. Was the payment coin spot-listed, was the pair Alpha-to-Alpha, had the token moved to spot, has the wallet ever been imported or exported? 3. Were eligible assets at least $100 at the snapshot? 4. Is the token still within 30 days of entering circulation? 5. Did a day expire, or was there a deduction the day before?
If all five check out and the points are still missing, contact support with the trade time and order details. Bear in mind the FAQ's disclaimer: the points Binance calculates under this method are final and binding on users, and the calculation criteria can change without notice. Rule changes tend to appear in announcements before the FAQ is updated, so when the two disagree, go with the newer announcement.
Short of a threshold by a few points? See why the TGE score line moves. Had enough points but no airdrop? The list is in nine reasons people miss an airdrop.
Sources: Binance help centre, Frequently Asked Questions on Binance Alpha Points (English version updated 2026-07-09; Chinese and Russian versions also checked); the Binance Alpha Points rule adjustment announcement effective 4 September 2025; notes in Alpha trading competition announcements from October 2026. Checked on 17 October 2026.