diff --git a/src/commands/fetch.ts b/src/commands/fetch.ts
index 4d7c60c..7bb713f 100644
--- a/src/commands/fetch.ts
+++ b/src/commands/fetch.ts
@@ -106,17 +106,28 @@ export function registerFetch402Command(program: Command) {
         // the only supported rail is BTC/sats over lightning — the cap is
         // inherently a sats spend limit — but it goes through the shared
         // classifier so the surface matches the rest of the CLI and can grow.
+        // The classifier speaks the whole CLI's vocabulary (fiat codes, chain
+        // networks), so its raw errors would advertise rails fetch doesn't
+        // accept and contradict this command's help; collapse any rejection —
+        // and any non-BTC/sats rail it does classify — into one message that
+        // matches what fetch actually supports.
         if (options.maxAmount !== undefined) {
-          const rail = classifyRail({
-            currency: options.currency,
-            unit: options.unit,
-            network: options.network,
-          });
+          const capRailError = new Error(
+            "fetch's --max-amount spend cap currently supports only " +
+              "--currency BTC --unit sats --network lightning",
+          );
+          let rail;
+          try {
+            rail = classifyRail({
+              currency: options.currency,
+              unit: options.unit,
+              network: options.network,
+            });
+          } catch {
+            throw capRailError;
+          }
           if (rail.kind !== "bitcoin" || rail.unit !== "sats") {
-            throw new Error(
-              "fetch's --max-amount spend cap currently supports only " +
-                "--currency BTC --unit sats --network lightning",
-            );
+            throw capRailError;
           }
         } else if (options.currency || options.unit || options.network) {
           throw new Error(
diff --git a/src/test/fetch-max-amount.test.ts b/src/test/fetch-max-amount.test.ts
index 530379b..a1c1663 100644
--- a/src/test/fetch-max-amount.test.ts
+++ b/src/test/fetch-max-amount.test.ts
@@ -46,4 +46,28 @@ describe("fetch --max-amount strict parsing", () => {
       "currently supports only --currency BTC --unit sats --network lightning",
     );
   });
+
+  // The cap goes through the shared amount model, whose errors speak the whole
+  // CLI's vocabulary (fiat codes, chain names like "arbitrum"). Those would
+  // advertise rails fetch can't pay a cap in and contradict its help, so every
+  // rejected combination must surface fetch's own single message instead.
+  test.each([
+    ["--max-amount 5", "no denomination at all"],
+    ["--max-amount 5 --currency USD --unit sats", "fiat with a sub-unit"],
+    ["--max-amount 5 --currency BTC", "BTC without --network"],
+    ["--max-amount 5 --currency USDC --network arbitrum", "a token on a chain"],
+  ])(
+    "surfaces fetch's own cap message, not the shared classifier's, for %s (%s)",
+    (flags) => {
+      const result = runCli<ErrorOutput>(`fetch http://example.invalid ${flags}`);
+      expect(result.success).toBe(false);
+      expect(result.output.error).toBe(
+        "fetch's --max-amount spend cap currently supports only " +
+          "--currency BTC --unit sats --network lightning",
+      );
+      // None of the shared model's cross-rail vocabulary leaks through.
+      expect(result.output.error).not.toContain("arbitrum");
+      expect(result.output.error).not.toContain("BTC|USD|EUR|USDC");
+    },
+  );
 });