Forex Brokerage Fees

Fusion Markets Best Commission Rates For Forex Broker

Charging Commissions

Commission fees are usually found with NDD brokers, so the spread they can offer traders is the same as quoted their liquidity providers. Therefore, you will find markets makers do not charge commissions, market makers are your counterparty to your trades so make money by profiting through your losses (however some market makers may offer NDD trading account options).

The commission fee is typically charged by the broker when you open your position and when you close your position, however, some brokers may charge the opening and closing commission fee when you open your position. In either case, your final commission cost is the same.

Commission – Relative Fee

With relative commission, the commission fee advertised is based on one standard lot. If you are trading with mini, micro or even the rare nano lots, then the commission cost will usually be a relative or pro rata amount based on the commission for a standard lot. Some brokers, however, may charge slightly more commission for smaller lots to encourage larger trades.

If the commission is based on the forex contract size, then:

• Mini Lots will be calculated as $ per standard lot * 0.10
• Micro Lots will be calculated as $ per standard lot * 0.01
• Nano Lots will be calculated as $ per standard lot * 0.001

Commission – Fixed Fee

Some brokers charge a fixed commission instead of relative commission. This means you will be charged the same regardless of the size and volume of your trade. This method is less common than relative commission.

Tiered Commission

While most brokers charge the same relative commission regardless of volume. Some brokers offer commission discounts when trading in large volumes. This means the more you trade, the lower your commission will be. This is known as variable or tiered commission.

Commission Currency Conversion

Most brokers advertise the commission costs in USD. Unless stated by the broker, you will need to convert your commission costs to your home currency to determine your final costs.

Brokers Commission Fees

The table below shows commissions for 13 different brokers ECN pricing accounts. Fusion markets come out on top when it comes to commission costs being around 36% cheaper than many competitors.

When trading with Fusion Markets you will be charged the following commission:

• Standard lot – $4.50 * 1 =$4.45 (round turn) or $2.25 side ways
• Mini lots – $4.50 * 0.10 =$.45 (round turn) or $.25 side ways
• Micro lots –  $4.50 * 0.01 = $0.045 (round turn) or $.025 side ways

Compare All Spreads >>

Fusion Markets Is Our Best Broker For Commissions

Fusion Markets is a trading name of Melbourne-based Gleneagle Asset Management Limited and is regulated by the ASIC.

The broker has the following features:

• No minimum deposit requirement for opening a live account
• No fees on deposits and withdrawals.
• Two account types (ZERO Account and Classic Account) – The Zero account has STP/ECN pricing and Classic is a Standard Account
• Access to financial markets via the popular MetaTrader 4 platform (with desktop, web-based and mobile variations)
• Ultra-fast order execution speed of 0.02ms.

Fusion Markets also allow clients to open a Demo Account, which may have the features of either a ZERO or a Classic Account. Another option is to open multiple Demo Accounts (one functioning as a ZERO and one functioning as a Classic).

The broker offers:

• over 90 Forex pairs
• 5 Cryptocurrency CFD contracts
• 10 Stock Index CFDs
• 3 Energy CFDs
• 9 Metals

Fusion Markets Spreads and Commissions

Fusion Markets is among the best Forex brokers for commission fees. Its trading commission rate is nearly 36% lower compared to its competitor’s commissions. Fusion Markets charges a commission of as low as AUD$4.50 per round turn for 1 Standard lot traded on its ZERO Account, while spreads have no mark-up and start from 0.0 pips for Forex, Metals and Commodities.

In order to trade Forex in another base currency on the ZERO Account, clients will be charged a commission as presented in the table below.

Note* Apart from the spread and the trading commission, there are no other (hidden) charges.

We should note that Fusion Markets will charge no commissions on its Classic Account since they are included in the spread itself. Spreads are variable and start from 0.8 pips on major currency pairs such as EUR/USD and USD/JPY. Grab your demo account 100% risk-free for you to try it out by clicking the button below.

Fusion Markets Full Review >>Visit Fusion Markets >>

Pepperstone Has The Top Low Spreads For Automated Trading

70% of the $6.6 trillion daily forex trading volume is attributed to automated trading. This type of trading refers to the use of existing technologies such as computers, software and the internet to manage one’s trades in the forex marketplace. Automation tools can analyse more markets at one time that possible manually and then execute trades. Types of traders using automation include:

• Algorithmic traders – Software that analysis charts to open and close trades according to trading parameters
• Social Traders – traders that use software to copy other traders signals
• Scalpers and day traders – traders that set parameters for request short-term trading

Automation trading present opportunities not easily achieved by manual traders. These features include:

• Scalping – The frequent buying and selling of small volumes in a short period
• Hedging – The investment in opposing assets to balance risk
• High Volume trading – the purchase of high volumes in Fx at one time.

The main thing in common with these features is the increase in buying and selling opportunities than what would be typical with positional or long-term traders. This means saving on costs is important, as costs will add up the more you trade, especially when using high leverage which can greatly accelerate your costs as it represents a percentage of your trading capital.

Why Low Spreads Matter

The below example shows why it’s important to choose a broker with the lowest possible spreads.

If you are a long terms trader with an expensive broker and you buy 1 lot of AUD/USD with $50k and your spread is 2 pips, then your cost will be $20. This is not a big deal if you hold your position long term and the pair moves 10% in your favour. $20 isn’t much as you will still have $4980.

On the other hand, if you are a frequent trader then you might buy 10 lots of ten different currencies pairs in one day at 1 pip using $5,000k for each trade making your cost $100. then you will be relying on an average of more than 10% across the ten currencies to earn more than the long-term trader.

In this example, even though you have invested the same amount in both scenarios and the long-term trader has spent more on the spread, the long-term trader has come on top.

If you are using automation and plan to trade frequently with high volumes, then it is important to choose a broker with the lowest spreads.

The below table shows Pepperstone is one of the best brokers when it comes to low spreads.

Pepperstone MT4 Spread Comparison	AUD/USDEUR/JPYUSD/JPYUSD/CADEUR/USD	AUD/USDEUR/JPYUSD/JPYUSD/CADEUR/USD	AUD/USDEUR/JPYUSD/JPYUSD/CADEUR/USD	AUD/USDEUR/JPYUSD/JPYUSD/CADEUR/USD	AUD/USDEUR/JPYUSD/JPYUSD/CADEUR/USD
	0.27	0.34	0.16	0.28	0.16
	0.20	0.30	0.20	0.50	0.10
	0.20	0.30	0.10	0.30	0.10
	0.20	n/a	0.20	0.30	0.20
	0.42	0.30	0.20	0.83	0.44
	0.30	0.68	0.24	N/A	0.17
	0.40	0.70	0.30	0.70	0.20
	0.50	0.80	0.30	1.10	0.10
	0.50	0.50	0.30	0.60	0.30
	1.03	0.75	0.32	1.16	0.40

Data taken from broker website. Accurate as at 05/01/2021

Compare All Spreads >>

Pepperstone Is The Best Broker For Automated Trading With Low Spreads

Pepperstone is the best forex broker for automated trading strategies and automated copy trading platforms.

While most forex brokers technically support automated trading, some might come with restrictions, including:

• No scalping allowed
• No hedging allowed
• No high-frequency trading allowed
• FIFO rule
• Higher spread for scalping
• No backtesting capabilities

Pepperstone doesn’t come with any types of restrictions and allows its clients to gain access to the foreign exchange market, including a good selection of CFDs. Pepperstone’s main goal is to keep the spreads low while giving FX traders access to a wide range of automated trading options, including:

• MetaTrader 4 trading platform with integrated programming language MetaQuotes Language 4 (MQL4)
• MetaTrader 5 trading platform, which supports the MetaQuotes Language 5 (MQL5) programming language
• cTrader trading platform which supports C# programming language for developing cBots
• A range of third party automated social trading platforms (Myfxbook, Mirror Trader, MetaTrader Signals and DupliTrade)

Note* Pepperstone’s automated trading platforms support different programming languages that can be used for developing trading bots, Expert Advisors (EAs), custom indicators, MT4 scripts, algorithms and backtesting capabilities.

Automated Trading Strategies With Low Spreads

The top-notch technology for automated trading offered by Pepperstone comes with low spreads for trading forex and trading CFDs. Algorithmic trading is a great opportunity to build a source of passive income, but it comes with strings attached. The automated trading strategies are profitable if the broker charges tight spreads. The difference between the bid price and ask price can play a major factor in your profitability as a trader.

Pepperstone low spreads enable clients to use algorithmic strategies more efficiently and come with the following advantages:

• Limit the total transaction costs
• Trade forex with flexibility
• Can make small trades more profitable
• Suitable for scalping algorithms and high-frequency trading (HFT)
• Earn small profits without worrying the spread will eat a portion of your profits

At Pepperstone, spreads are determined by the account types they offer (Standard vs Razor account). Generally, online brokers can offer tight spreads if:

• They have a good network of liquidity providers (Pepperstone has prime relationships with tier-one liquidity providers)
• How much the broker markups the spread (Pepperstone Razor account offers raw spreads with no-markups)
• Trading conditions in the forex market (market volatility can impact the spread)
• The available liquidity in the currency market

During prime hours when the forex liquidity abounds, the spreads can go as low as 0 pips on EUR/USD. However, the average spreads offered by Pepperstone are 0.13 pips on EUR/USD and USD/JPY, while the AUD/USD average spread is 0.18 pips.

Automated Trading with Fast Order Execution Speed

Pepperstone also accommodates automated forex trading with fast order speeds, which reduces slippage for automated trading. In the world of currency trading, fast order entry is necessary for automated trading systems. Pepperstone handles high amounts of trading volume with an average execution speed of 80 milliseconds (for market orders).

Note* The execution speed simply measures the time from the moment you submit your order until the order reaches the broker’s servers and it’s executed internally or by the broker’s liquidity providers.

Pepperstone’s lightning-fast ECN execution speed will ensure the following advantages:

• Less slippage
• Fewer order rejections
• Less re-quotes

Below, we’ve ranked the best forex brokers and the real order execution speed, not the advertised numbers by each online broker.

Pepperstone Features Overview

Pepperstone is the go-to forex broker for automated trading with low spreads. There is no one size fits all when using automated trading software, which is why Pepperstone offers different programming languages (MSQL 4, MSQL5 and C#). Forex traders can develop automated strategies and benefit from significant advantages including:

• Some of the best technical analysis tools
• Real-time and free historical forex quotes
• Application Programming Interface API trading
• FIX capabilities
• VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting 24/7
• FXVM with low latency of 1ms
• Autochartist
• Smart Trader Tools can be used for strategy optimization
• Multiple order types including risk management tools like stop-loss orders

If you’re searching for the cheapest FX broker for automated trading, you can open a demo account by clicking the button below before you risk any real money. Your money is safe with Pepperstone,  which is a regulated broker by the world’s most powerful financial watchdogs Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

View Pepperstone Review >>Visit Pepperstone >>

IG  Offers The Lowest Spread-Only Commission Free Standard Account

Most brokers, regardless if they are an A-Book or B-Book broker, will offer what’s commonly called a standard account. This type of account is a spread only account, meaning there are no commission costs. Rather than charge commissions, spreads are widened so brokers can earn profits.

Standard Accounts With NDD Brokers (ECN, STP, DMA)

NDD brokers, much like with commission accounts, connect you with liquidity providers using ECN, STP or DMA trading execution. Unlike with commission accounts, the broker (or liquidity provider) will artificially widen the spread, this is done as there are no commission charges.

The number of pips added to each spread will vary with each broker. Some brokers add the same amount of pips for all currency pairs they offer, and others will have a variable number of pips which can change through the trading day. Brokers that vary their pips will usually add fewer pips to major currency pairs and widen more for minor and exotic pairs.

Most brokers will typically add around 1 pip to the spread. If the market rate for a currency pair is 0.3 pips, then the standard account rate will be 1.3 pips.

Standard Accounts With Dealing Desk Brokers (Market Makers, B-Book)

Dealing Desk (DD) brokers own or sources the liquidity you will trade with. This allows DD brokers to set their own bid and ask prices and are your counter-party for each trade you do. This type of broker profits when you lose and loses when you profit.

While DD broker certainly has their own interests as your counter-party, a good market marker can still offer competitive spreads. The forex broker industry is competitive, so it’s not in the broker’s interest to offer spread that is not competitive with the market. Some DD brokers even peg their prices to prices set by liquidity providers.

Standard Account Spreads Comparison

Spreads with Standard accounts are always going to be wider than with commission accounts. So you will pay more for the spread however there is no commission. Overall costs will generally be higher than an ECN pricing account.

Standard accounts are popular with:

• Beginner traders: The simpler cost structure without the need to factor in commission may appeal to beginners who are still learning forex
• Extra inclusions: Some DD brokers may include free inclusions with these accounts, such as risk management tools and education.

Standard Account Spreads	EUR/USDAUD/USDAUD/JPYEUR/GBPEUR/JPY	EUR/USDAUD/USDAUD/JPYEUR/GBPEUR/JPY	EUR/USDAUD/USDAUD/JPYEUR/GBPEUR/JPY	EUR/USDAUD/USDAUD/JPYEUR/GBPEUR/JPY	EUR/USDAUD/USDAUD/JPYEUR/GBPEUR/JPY
	0.86	1.07	2.02	1.83	1.96
	0.70	1.30	3.00	1.30	1.40
	0.80	0.90	2.80	1.70	2.30
	1.80	1.20	2.40	3.10	3.80
	1.30	1.50	2.30	2.00	2.40
	1.10	1.20	1.40	1.40	1.30
	1.10	1.20	1.40	1.40	1.50
	1.20	1.30	1.80	1.60	1.40
	1.16	1.27	1.50	1.35	1.34
	1.20	1.20	1.40	1.40	1.20
	1.20	1.20	1.40	1.40	1.40
	1.20	1.50	2.30	1.50	1.60
	1.40	1.10	2.30	2.30	2.10
	1.20	1.40	1.50	1.40	1.60
	1.58	1.96	3.36	1.74	2.09
	1.40	1.20	3.10	2.20	3.00
	1.70	1.90	3.30	2.00	2.30

Data taken from broker website. Accurate as at 05/01/2021

Compare All Spreads >>

IG Is The Best Broker For Standard Spreads

IG traders can choose between over 17,000 financial markets with spreads for the following

• EUR/USD and AUD/USD Forex pairs starting from 0.6 points
• Gold (Metals) from 0.3 points
• US 500 Indices having a minimum spread of 0.4 points.

The table below demonstrates the range of markets and spreads IG offers:

As a world-leading CFD provider, IG is required to meet the tighter regulatory frameworks imposed by local financial authorities, including the UK’s FCA, the USA’s CFTC and NFA and the Australian ASIC. Besides tight spreads, a wide selection of CFD instruments and strong regulation, other major IG features include:

• Award-winning platforms available across multiple devices (MetaTrader 4, ProRealTime, L2 Dealer and IG’s web trading platform)
• Risk management tools with advanced order types including guaranteed stop loss
• Multiple channels for support including phone, email, live chat, Twitter and the IG community forum
• Online trading courses through IG Academy (free courses, webinars, quizzes and live sessions)
• Money protection through segregated accounts at tier-one banks
• Premium services for professional traders
• Advanced charting package
• Integrated Reuters news into IG trading platform
• IG platform handles on average over 7 million orders each month
• 38% of orders have positive slippage
• IG uses 256-bit SSL encryption
• Real-time trading signals from Autochartist and PIA-First. Trading signals are only offered in selected forex currency pairs, indices and commodities.

IG is a well-established FTSE 250 company that has strong relationships with a wide network of liquidity providers. IG’s access to deep liquidity allows this brokerage trading firm to offer some of the lowest spreads in the forex industry. IG’s liquidity venues include Tier 1 banks, exchanges, MTFs, investment banks and non-bank liquidity providers.

With IG, there is no minimum account balance to create an account.

View IG Markets Review >>Visit IG Markets >>

AvaTrade Offers Good Fixed Spreads For Predictable Costs

ECN and Standard accounts use variable spreads (sometimes called floating spreads) which means they are constantly changing in line with liquidity supply and demand. As the prices are changing so fast, you will occasionally experience slippage, which means you the quoted buy or ask price can’t be filled due to the execution lag time. Slippage means there is a risk of large losses should be the market change against you suddenly and dramatically with little warning.

Fixed spreads provide certainty as the broker’s spreads do not fluctuate. This provides cost predictability, transparency and a level of protection from surprise when the market is volatile and therefore prevents unexpected losses.

Why Fixed Spreads Are Wider Than Other Accounts

If you choose to trade with fixed spreads, you will find the spreads are wider than with ECN and Standard account which means they are more costly. This is because the broker needs some margin or reserve as they will bear the costs differences between the market price and fixed price when the market prices differ to quoted prices.

While fixed spreads are wider and will cost you more in normal trading conditions, they can save you on costs in volatile conditions when variable spreads may become wider than the broker’s fixed spreads.

Comparing Brokers Fixed Spreads

The below table is compiled using the spreads advertised on the website of forex brokers that offer fixed spreads. As they are fixed, there is no need to find the average.

Of the brokers compared, AvaTrade clearly offers superior spreads than other brokers. Some spreads AvaTrade offers are better than many of the average spread brokers offer for Standard Accounts and even some poorer performing ECN brokers.

Fixed Spreads	EUR/USDAUD/USDEUR/GBPEUR/JPYGBP/USD	EUR/USDAUD/USDEUR/GBPEUR/JPYGBP/USD	EUR/USDAUD/USDEUR/GBPEUR/JPYGBP/USD	EUR/USDAUD/USDEUR/GBPEUR/JPYGBP/USD	EUR/USDAUD/USDEUR/GBPEUR/JPYGBP/USD
	0.90	1.10	1.50	1.80	1.60
	1.20	1.50	2.00	2.20	1.70
	1.60	1.70	1.70	1.80	1.80
	1.60	1.90	1.70	2.40	2.10
	1.80	2.50	3.20	3.70	2.50
	3.00	3.00	3.00	3.00	3.00
	4.00	4.00	3.00	5.00	5.00
	3.00	4.00	4.00	6.00	4.00

Data taken from broker website. Accurate as at 05/01/2021

Compare All Spreads >>

AvaTrade Is Our Best Broker For Fixed Spreads

AvaTrade offers fixed spreads across all its account types and across 7 different financial markets. You can review below AvaTrade’s trading conditions for each asset class and their spread cost:

• Forex currency pairs – 55 major, minor and exotic pairs with EUR/USD spread of 0.9 pips, GBP/USD spread of 1.6 pips and AUD/USD spread of 1.1 pips
• Stock CFDs – 627 stocks (major exchanges include NYSE, NASDAQ and London Stock Exchange) with 0.13% spread on Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook
• Commodities CFD – 18 soft and hard commodities (Gold spread of $0.35 and Crude Oil fixed spread of $0.03)
• Indices CFDs – 22 leading US, European & Asian stock indices with S&P 500 spread of 0.25 over-market
• FX Options – 44 options contracts
• ETFs CFDS – 5 ETFs with spread starting from 0.13%
• Bonds CFDs – 2 bond contracts with spread starting from 0.03 over-market
• Cryptocurrencies CFDs – 14 digital currencies with Bitcoin spread of 0.35% over-market

There are five global regulatory bodies that oversee AvaTrade and authorized this brokerage trading firm to offer financial services, including the CBI, ASIC, FSCA, FSA and FRSA.

Note* AvaTrade fixed spreads come with 5 major advantages, including transparency, lower total costs, compatible with news trading, protection against volatility (spreads don’t widen) and efficient for scalping.

AvaTrade clients also have the option to choose between a wide range of trading platforms, including:

• Most popular forex trading platforms MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5
• AvaTradeGO App that comes with AvaProtect, which give traders protection against losing trades in exchange for a small AvaProtect fee
• AvaOptions a dedicated and proprietary forex options trading platform
• Social trading platforms, including DupliTrade, ZuluTrade and MQL5 Signal Service
• WebTrader designed for beginner traders and it can be accessed from any browser

With AvaTrade Education centre, both beginner and advanced traders can fine-tune their skills. AvaTrade offers top-notch educational materials, including trading video tutorials, trading e-books, articles, free webinars and daily market analysis.

AvaTrade also has excellent customer support that is available in over 21 languages. On top of that, AvaTrade is the official partner of Manchester City, one of the best football teams in Europe.

Traders can open a live trading account with a minimum deposit of only USD 100 (for accounts with US Dollar as their base currency) or 100 euros for the EUR-based accounts.

Visit AvaTrade >>

ThinkMarkets Has A Top Swap-Free Islamic Account

With 1/3 of the world’s population of Muslim faith, many forex brokers offer a swap-free account which meets the sharia law requirements of Islam. Islam forbids business profiting through usury (called a riba in Islam) fees. That is any financial transaction where interest is involved in the transaction. In Islamic law, the lender must share in the borrower’s risk, when interest is charged, all the risk is taken by the borrower which is considered exploitative by the lender in Islam.

In forex trading, brokers apply a swap fee (also called rolling interest or overnight fee)  where a trader keeps their position open after closing (usually 5 pm New York time).  With this swap rate, you will either receive or be charged interest on all your open positions held overnight based on the differential in market interest rates for the currency pairs held. This fee is not acceptable in sharia law.

How Swap-Free Accounts Charge You

In place of a swap fee, brokers will use other means to recover the costs. This is will usually be in the form of a daily, weekly or monthly administration fee (sometimes called a carrying charge) for the currency pairs you own, this usually is usually applied only if you have held your position for minimum 3 or 5 nights or with wider spreads (less common).

When researching brokers, ensure the broker offers an Islamic account that meets your needs.

• Some brokers may limit the spread types you can use (ie standard or ECN),
• Some Broker may limit the currency pairs available
• Some Brokers may limit the home or base currency
• Some Brokers may restrict regions available
• Some brokers may limit the day you can hold your position open
• You are eligible for an Islamic Account (most brokers require proof you are of Muslim faith)

Islamic Account Fee

ThinkMarkets offers great Islamic Account. Fees are charged only every 6 days, and you can choose spreads that match either their zero or standard account.

ThinkMarkets Is Our Best Broker For Swap Free Islamic Account

ThinkMarkets is our top pick for Muslim traders that want access to swap-free forex trading. ThinkMarkets Islamic accounts are compliant with the Islamic Sharia law. However, in order to compensate for not charging its clients overnight interest rate, ThinkMarkets will charge its clients a “weekly administrative fee.” The ThinkMarkets administrative fee varies between:

• $5 for major currency pairs
• $10 for minor and exotic currency pairs
• $0.002 and $5 for cryptocurrencies

For a detailed overview of ThinkMarkets’ fees for Islamic traders, please study the table below.

Note* Muslim traders will not have access to swap-free trading the following currencies: CNH, HKD, HUF, MXN, PLN, TRY, ZAR.

As one of the top Islamic forex brokers, ThinkMarkets offer the following advantages:

• Trading with a multi-regulated broker – authorized by the FCA, ASIC and FSCA
• Wide range of instruments – +1,200 CFD instruments including FX, cryptocurrencies (excluding UK traders due to the FCA ban on crypto assets), indices, metals commodities and shares
• A powerful range of trading platforms, including MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and proprietary trading platform ThinkTrader
• Autochartist a powerful market screener (PowerStats, key levels, percentage probability indicators, customized searches, timesaving trading and custom alerts)
• ThinkZero account with raw spreads and $3.5 commission per 1 standard lot
• Maximum leverage up to 500:1
• Daily market commentaries by ThinkMarkets expert analysts
• Free $50,000 of paper money with ThinkMarkets demo account
• $1 million insurance protection scheme with Lloyd’s of London in case of bankruptcy
• Deposit and withdrawal methods – besides the traditional payment methods (credit cards, debit cards, bank transfer, Skrill, etc.) it also accepts Bitcoin deposits

ThinkTrader Mobile App

One of the most powerful features offered by this multi-asset brokerage trading firm is the in-house mobile platform ThinkTrader. ThinkTrader is an award-winning mobile app that uses the latest software technologies that can be accessed directly from the palm of your hand.

ThinkTrader has been downloaded more than 240,000 times and has over 15,000 5-star reviews on the App store. Additionally, ThinkTrader platform can be accessed from multiple devices including phones, tablets and desktop. According to the data collected from April 2019 through January 2019:

• 69.19% of orders received no-requotes
• 52.02% of orders received positive slippage
• 18.82% of orders received negative slippage
• 109ms order execution speed

Click the button below and don’t miss the chance to get your free $50,000 in virtual funds.

View ThinkMarkets Review >>Visit ThinkMarkets >>