it really depends on the your profit taking appetite. people who want short term gains or require funds or people who earn small profits like to save as much as possible on the other hand for traders who trade a lot have a lot of experience and know they can recover whatever they lost are less concerned 'bout the fee.
No, I don't think that whales and big players never put concern with the fees. Of course, they will also as they want to gain more profit but are less considerate than those small players. As a matter of fact, everyone is looking for exchanges that could give them to the minimum that is why most reputable sites have to lower their fees for them to still gain the loyalty of their traders rather than to see them flew away because of the fees.
There is something we need to build between traders and exchange owners and that is reputation where we can fully trust this one as the listen and prioritize the needs of their clients rather than to looked their own benefits.
Many exchanges are reducing the transaction fees for investors but if the exchange has a low trading volume, that exchange will never be chosen by the investor. I think the transaction fee does not affect profit much because the fee is usually at 0.1% to 0.2% so there is no need to worry. I have been involved in a lot of different exchanges and there is not so much difference in transaction fees.
In my opinion any exchange will do business in this way and if that exchange is trusted by many investors, that exchange will always be their first choice when participating.