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What trading actually costs
A headline spread is one part of the bill. This page walks through the charges that make up the rest, in the same words the desk uses when it reads a broker's fee schedule.
What do trading costs actually look like?
Spreads
The spread is the gap between the bid and ask price, and it is the most common cost of a trade. It varies by account type, pair and time of day, so a single advertised figure rarely tells the full story.
Commissions
Some brokers charge a fixed commission per trade on top of a tighter spread, common on ECN-style accounts. Ask for the exact figure per lot rather than a general claim of being commission-free.
Per-lot fees
Certain account types charge a fixed fee per lot instead of a wider spread. The trade-off can favour high-volume traders and cost casual ones more, so compare it against your own trade size.
Non-trading fees
- Overnight fees
- Charged for holding a leveraged position past the end of the trading day.
- Inactivity fees
- Applied to accounts that sit unused for an extended period.
- Currency conversion
- Charged when you fund or withdraw in a currency different from your account's base currency.
Why the comparison matters
A headline spread is only part of what a trade costs: commissions and non-trading fees are added on top of it, and an account with a wider spread and no commission can work out lower overall. Add the parts together to get the total cost at the position size you actually trade, rather than comparing the figure on a homepage.
What our records do not settle
Our broker records carry non-trading fees — deposit and withdrawal charges, and inactivity fees — read from each broker's own schedule on a stated date. They carry no spread or commission figure, so nothing here compares one broker's trading cost against another's.