Forex brokers spread comparison

105 comments

The most recent and regularly updated Forex spreads comparison table.

Compare and get the best deal!

Notes:
Many brokers offer the same spreads on Mini and Standard accounts.
If spreads on those accounts differ, we list spreads for STANDARD accounts.

Read more...

105 comments

Broker discussion area


BrokerGuru October 28, 2009

Spreads widen.
Especially quite noticeably if the volatility is caused by significant economic news impact.


trader November 4, 2009

Thanks for this site! Can you add the AUDNZD pair?


BrokerGuru November 6, 2009

I'd love to say "Yes", but unfortunately can't. There are hundreds of brokers waiting to be listed.
In the upcoming 3-6 months I won't be able to add any more details to the spreads page.


trader November 17, 2009

Hi,
Very good site you have created here BrokerGuru and it is getting better and better over time with more reviews from users.

I have used your Cyber Search feature, searching for brokers with ECN and MT4 plattforms and suddenly there only two handfulls of brokers left to check out in the world.

True ECN/MT4 brokers are few, I have only find ATC Brokers (USA), MB Trading (USA), PFG Best (USA), Pronetfx (UK) and FXCBS (UAE). These brokers charge commission and no spread.

There are also many more brokers offering ECN/STP/MM (Market Maker) with MT4 like FXopen (Cyprus), Broco (Cyprus), MasterForex (?) etc.

FXCBS (ECN) offer it's clients the interbank spread of 0.1 pip, but FXopen offer 0.5 pip spread with there ECN/MT4 account and say 0.5 pip is the lowest there is and they do not charge any spread, that is very hard to understand. Is there different levels off spreads in the ECN system? What is the lowest tick (spread) banks can put into the ECN system? If 0.5 pip was the smallest spread banks where allowed to offer how come FXCBS can offer it's clients 0.1 pip spread? There seems to be no agreement among banks to offer buy and sell orders with 0.5 pip as the smallest price difference, since 0.1 pip actually exists, as I was once told by an arbitrage banker, the bank who offers you the tightest spread between their buy and sell is the best. FXopen also charge $7 commission with it's 0.5 pip minimum spread, not so good.

I am going to down load MT4 demo software from ATC Brokers (USA), Pronetfx (UK) and FXCBS (UAE) and see how the spreads are behaving. ATC Brokers offer $8 commission for a R/T (Round Trip, buy and sell or sell and buy) for standard lot of 100.000 EUR/USD, Pronetfx offers $12.50 but lowered it to $7.50 for a R/T and FXCBS offer also $8 in commission, but might be flexible mention they were considering $0.60 or $0.40 on mini lots (10.000). We will see how it all turns out.


trader November 17, 2009

Hi,

I am demo testing FXCBS (UAE) and Pronextfx (UK) on their ECN/MT4 platform simultaneously.

There is significant difference in spreads. Both are showing six digit pricing (1.48617) with last digit printing
anything between 0-9, so price is displayed in 0.1 pips as smallest number.

FXCBS shows spreads around 0.9-1.1 pips for the last 5 min.

Pronetfx shows spread between 1.6 to 1.9 pips for the last 5 min.

I wounder how this ECN network really works. I first thought that all banks and brokers was connected to it
and everybody was sending their buy and sell orders for everybody to see. But it seems that every broker has
made separate deals with different banks, so one broker may have Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan feeding them buy and sell orders and another may have Goldman Sachs and Barclays and some may even have the same but may have
different agreement of spredas etc. I am only speculating out laud because I do not know exactly how it works. Please enlighten me.

If one is paying $8.00 in commission for a round trip ($4.00 per side) for one lot (100.000) and 1 pip is $10.00, that is
the same as paying 0.4 pip spread. The question is who has the tightest spread?


BrokerGuru November 18, 2009

Hi there,

I don't have such precise data about the tightest spreads, I'm truly sorry.

Great posts and research, by the way.
Everything you've mentioned here is exactly the way it works.
You have few truly competing brokers to go with after you do a proper search with your own criteria. Regarding ECNs, they all have different and some common liquidity providers among banks. Last ones quote spreads according to the agreement they have with a dealer. The lowest spread is 0 pips, which happens sometimes, rarely, but it does. If you most of the time get a spread lower than 1 pip with an ECN, that's a good result.
ECNs charge commission, so you should be adding it to a spread, as you did, after that you'll get a true value of a trade cost. Just to keep in mind that when you compare the final trade cost with other brokers, with ECN (comparing to a dealing desk) you still have an advantage and better trading conditions overall.


ForInvest Group November 25, 2009

ForInvest Group: Swiss Forex broker ( www.forinvests.net )
USD Pairs: 2 pips spread (Fixed)
All other pairs: 5 pips spread (fixed)


BrokerGuru November 26, 2009

Thank you!
The listing has been created.


trader November 27, 2009

Admiral Markets made serious horrible changes in the last months increasing spreads and increasing them even more at asian session.


Rahman S. December 5, 2009

BG,

One thing I don't understand.

Since we have your list of spread comparison, why doesn't every trader simply sign-up with the Forex Trading company who offers the most competitive spread? Or is this not as simple as it looks?

Regards

Rahman S.


BrokerGuru December 6, 2009

Hi Rahman,

spreads is definitely one of the key factors, but not the only one.
We also have regulatory questions and safety of deposits, we have different funding/withdrawal options, which might change a lot to some traders; then we have various lot sizes, where if you don't want to risk a lot, you'll be looking for a specific lot size, with it comes leverage question and so on, not to mention the last but not least a minimum deposit requirement to open a live account.
There are lots of variables to consider besides the lowest spread, and what's good for one trader might not suit another trader.


Rahman S. December 19, 2009

BG,

Thanks for your clarification.

I've been practicing on EasyForex demo account for almost 3 months now, and, after losing almost usd200k of play money, there is a lot of truths in the saying, "Making profits is easy. Keeping it is not!".

EasyForex platform is very easy and straight forward to use and I've got so use to it that I find it difficult to use other forex trader's platform. However, I find EasyForex spread a bit high which makes it difficult to make much money on scalping.

I came across another forex trader called "FOREX.Com", and their spread looks much better than EasyForex.

Anybody have any dealings with FOREX.com?? I am thinking of using them for my real live trading account if they are trust worthy and reliable.

BG, thanks again for this fantastic site, and I don't see any comparison in other web site in quality and information.

Thanks & regards

Rahman S.

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