Forex spreads vs commissions: compare a trade’s total cost

Translate the spread into account currency

For a currency pair whose pip value is $10 per standard lot in a USD account, a 1.2-pip spread has an approximate $12 cost on a one-lot round trip, ignoring price movement and other fees. If another account shows a 0.2-pip spread plus a $7 round-trip commission, the illustrative cost is $2 + $7 = $9.

Those dollar amounts are example assumptions, not current broker pricing. Pip value depends on pair, account currency and contract. Always state the conversion and the observation date.

Variable spreads need a time window

An advertised “from 0.0 pips” may refer to the best moments rather than a typical trade. Spreads can widen around releases, during the transition between trading sessions or when liquidity is thin. Compare observed averages for a defined period and the same instrument.

Do not forget financing and account costs

An overnight position can incur a swap or financing adjustment. Deposit/withdrawal fees, conversion costs and inactivity charges may also matter. A high-frequency bot is especially sensitive to spread and commission while a long-hold strategy can be more sensitive to swaps.

• Account type and exact legal entity.
• Same pair, lot size and pip value.
• Observed spread window, not only the minimum.
• Round-trip commission plus any per-side charges.
• Holding-period swaps and currency conversion.

Our review method

We will record both sourced tariff figures and independently observed numbers, labeling which is which. We will not claim to have measured live spreads unless we actually collected the market observations.