{"id":35,"date":"2026-09-20T16:22:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T16:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brokerspulse.com\/guides\/spreads-commissions-and-swaps\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T16:22:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T16:22:03","slug":"spreads-commissions-and-swaps","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/brokerspulse.com\/en_gb\/guides\/spreads-commissions-and-swaps\/","title":{"rendered":"Spreads, commissions and swaps: the real cost of a trade"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-group bp-art-meta is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"bp-pill wp-block-paragraph\">Costs<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"bp-meta wp-block-paragraph\">2 min read \u00b7 Updated September 2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"bp-lead wp-block-paragraph\">A broker that advertises zero commission is not necessarily the cheapest, and a broker with a commission is not necessarily expensive. What matters is the total cost of opening, holding and closing a trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The four costs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Spread:<\/strong> the difference between buy and sell prices, paid every time you open and close.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Commission:<\/strong> a fixed charge per lot, usually per side, on raw-spread accounts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Swap (overnight financing):<\/strong> a charge or credit for holding a position past the daily rollover. IG&#8217;s UK charges page, for example, describes overnight funding as the benchmark interbank rate plus an IG admin fee. Many brokers apply triple swap on Wednesday for the weekend.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Other fees:<\/strong> currency conversion (for instance 0.8% at IG and up to 0.7% at Plus500), and inactivity or dormant-account fees (Plus500 up to US$10 a month, XM US$5 a month, AvaTrade 50 after three months).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A worked comparison<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Using FP Markets&#8217; published September 2026 EUR\/USD averages, one standard lot with a pip value of about US$10:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table bp-tbl\"><table><thead><tr><th>Account<\/th><th>Spread cost<\/th><th>Commission<\/th><th>Total to open and close 1 lot<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Standard, average 1.2 pips, no commission<\/td><td>1.2 \u00d7 US$10 = US$12<\/td><td>None<\/td><td>About US$12<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Raw, average 0.1 pips, US$3 per side<\/td><td>0.1 \u00d7 US$10 = US$1<\/td><td>US$3 \u00d7 2 = US$6<\/td><td>About US$7<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The raw account is cheaper per lot here, but only if you trade often enough to benefit, and only if the average spread you pay matches the published average. A &#8216;from 0.0 pips&#8217; headline is a best case, not a typical case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to compare fairly<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ask for the average spread on the pair you trade most, not the minimum.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Convert commission to a per-lot, round-turn figure.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Add typical swap if you hold trades overnight.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Check for conversion, inactivity and withdrawal fees.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Compare live spreads on a demo account at the time of day you trade.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group bp-callout is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Key takeaway<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Add up spread, commission, swap and account fees for the way you trade. Compare averages, not headlines. See also <a href=\"https:\/\/brokerspulse.com\/en_gb\/raw-spread-accounts-compared\/\">raw-spread accounts compared<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group bp-next is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"bp-next-l wp-block-paragraph\">Next guide<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"bp-next-t wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/brokerspulse.com\/en_gb\/guides\/mt4-vs-mt5-vs-ctrader-vs-tradingview\/\">MT4 vs MT5 vs cTrader vs TradingView: which should you use? \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"bp-ar-disc wp-block-paragraph\">General information for education only, not financial advice. Trading forex and CFDs carries a high risk of loss. <a href=\"https:\/\/brokerspulse.com\/en_gb\/disclaimer\/\">Read the disclaimer<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How to add up everything a trade costs before you place it.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":31,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-article","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-35","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Spreads, commissions and swaps: the real cost of a trade - brokerspulse<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/brokerspulse.com\/en_gb\/guides\/spreads-commissions-and-swaps\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spreads, commissions and swaps: the real cost of a trade - 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