Standard Spread Account Testing

Tight spreads are vital to reducing the cost of forex trading. To determine which brokers with the tightest spreads, CompareForexBrokers did testing on 15 forex brokers’ live accounts using MetaTrader 4. For this test, we compared the “standard” account

Test window: 14 to 15 March 2026. Next scheduled run: to be confirmed.

We measured standard-account spreads across a continuous 30-hour window, sampling every broker simultaneously through an MT4 indicator that wrote to CSV at one-second intervals. Every figure on this page comes from that run. We publish the raw sample, the calculation and the time zone so the test can be reproduced rather than taken on trust.

Spreads move with liquidity and with volatility, so a single window describes conditions during that window rather than a permanent ranking. Current live spreads sit on each broker’s own pricing page, and our broker comparisons carry the figures we verified most recently.

Finalists for Tightest Spreads

Across that 30-hour sample, IC Markets, CMC Markets and Fusion Markets recorded the tightest standard-account spreads

1. IC Markets Review
2. CMC Markets Review
3. Fusion Markets Review

The brokers we chose

• have “standard” accounts that charge zero commission but have a variable bid/ask spread for all forex trades
• are well covered on our website
• represent a mix of No-dealing Desk (NDD) brokers and market makers
• support MT4 as we wanted to use freely available indicators and scripts for testing

Tightest Spreads

This table summarises our test results with the average spread shown in pips. Since this is the average spread across all six major currency pairs, we have also converted the spreads to a standard USD cost. Our overall winner for the Lowest Spread Forex Brokers category was IC Markets.

These follow our testing to find the brokers with the fastest Execution Speeds and VPS Speeds.

Raw spread accounts and standard accounts, side by side

ECN / raw account and Standard account on 6 compared features, each derived from this site’s own per-account fee dataset.

Feature	ECN / raw account	Standard account	The difference
Cost
Spread cost, one standard lot of EUR/USD	US$1.00 median Source, read 2026-09-08	US$9.00 median Source, read 2026-09-08	US$8.00 more on Standard account
Commission, one standard lot of EUR/USD	US$3.50 median Source, read 2026-09-08	US$0.00 median Source, read 2026-09-08	US$3.50 more on ECN / raw account
Total cost, one standard lot of EUR/USD	US$4.50 median Source, read 2026-09-08	US$9.00 median Source, read 2026-09-08	US$4.50 more on Standard account
Accounts charging no commission	0 of 20 Source, read 2026-09-08	5 of 5 Source, read 2026-09-08	0% against 100%
Cheapest account of this type on total cost	Tickmill, US$3.00 Source, read 2026-09-08	Markets.com, US$6.00 Source, read 2026-09-08	The two differ
Coverage
Accounts of this type priced in the dataset	20 of 28 priced in USD Source, read 2026-09-08	5 of 14 priced in USD Source, read 2026-09-08

Every figure is a median over the accounts of that type our fee dataset prices, on EUR/USD, one standard lot, one trade, priced in USD, and each cell states how many accounts it covers. An account the dataset does not price in that currency is excluded from the median rather than counted as zero.

Why do tight spreads matter?

The spread represents the amount a trade must move before generating profit. For instance, if you buy 1 lot (100,000) using IC Markets, the trade must increase by $9.63 before you earn any profit. This cost is comparable to commissions in “raw” accounts. Lower trade costs result in higher profits.

For trading strategies that rely on small pip profits (e.g., scalping) or automated trading, narrow spreads are crucial for success.

Average spreads for currency pairs

In our analysis, EUR/USD had the smallest spread, averaging 1.11 pips across all brokers, equal to a USD spread cost of $11.13.

As the world’s most traded pair (often representing a quarter of global FX volume), it’s no surprise that EUR/USD has the tightest spread.

The table displays the average spread and corresponding USD spread cost for the six major currency pairs we examined, across all brokers.

Cheapest brokers for each currency pair

Our tests also show the cheapest brokers for each of the six currency pairs.

CMC Markets and IC Markets are among the cheapest 4 brokers for all currency pairs. Admiral Markets is second cheapest for EURUSD and GPBUSD.

FX Pro is among the most expensive 2 brokers for all currency pairs. Blackbull Markets is among the most expensive 3 brokers for AUDUSD, USDCHF and USDJPY.

Average Spread For Each Currency Pair In Pips

What factors influence spreads?

Factors that can influence the spreads offered by different brokers include

1. The currency pair being traded 2. The volume of trades in the currency pair being traded 3. The volatility of the currency pair being traded 4. The time of day the trade is made

Volumes and the time of day

To see how volumes, volatility and the time of day affect spreads, we must look at some examples.

If we take the cheapest broker in our tests, IC Markets, we can see a typical picture. During the 30 hours of our tests, GBPUSD spreads peak around $35 at midnight Brisbane time. Midnight Brisbane time happens to be 2 PM London time and two hours into the New York Session. This is just when you’d expect GBPUSD volumes to be at their highest.

Volatility

To see how volatility affects spreads, we recorded the hourly volatility for each currency pair at every broker. We did this by recording the hourly Average True Range (ATR) with a period of 24 hours. Again, using IC Markets data for GBPUSD, we see volatility at its highest around 3 PM Brisbane time and around 10 PM to midnight, in the middle of the London session. In all our data, spikes in spreads happen when high volumes coincide with high volatility. These conditions cause spreads to double, or even triple at some brokers.

Brokers with the most stable spreads

As traders, we don’t enjoy seeing spikes in spreads like the ones in the charts above. We’d much prefer the spreads to be stable regardless of the volumes traded, the time of day or the volatility. So, which are the brokers with the most stable spreads?

To measure spread stability for each broker, we calculated the highest spread cost (spike) for each broker, averaged across the currency pairs.

From the table below, we see that the cheapest broker in our tests, IC Markets, also has the second lowest spike, so it’s the best example of tight, stable spreads.

How we tested

We used live “standard” accounts (as opposed to “raw” or fixed-commission accounts) for our testing. The six major currency pairs, AUDUSD, EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF and USDJPY were used to conduct our testing. We used hourly (H1) data over a 30-hour period.

To record the spreads, we used a freely available MT4 indicator, IceFX SpreadMonitor, that displays the current minimum, maximum and average spread values for a chart (currency pair). The indicator’s screen output looks like this on an AUDUSD chart for H1 (hourly) data:

The indicator also writes the results to CSV files, providing us with data to perform our analysis. A typical CSV (for GBPUSD data at IC Markets) looks like this:

To record the volume and volatility history, we modified an open-source MT4 script, ExportHistoryCSV.mq4. The critical data we wanted to record was the hourly close, the hourly volume and the hourly Average True Range (ATR), which we used to measure volatility. The code snippet below enabled us to do that.

iDigits=MarketInfo(Symbol(),MODE_DIGITS);

dSymClose = (iClose(dSymbol,Period(),i)); dSymVolume = (iVolume(dSymbol,Period(),i)); dSymATR = (iATR(dSymbol,PERIOD_H1,24,i));

WriteData(DoubleToStr(dSymClose, iDigits)+”,”); WriteData(DoubleToStr(dSymVolume, iDigits)+”,”); WriteData(DoubleToStr(dSymATR, iDigits)+”,”);

A sample from the IC Markets data for GBPUSD looks like this:

How we calculated the spread cost (in USD)

This table shows the calculations we used to compare spread costs across the currency pairs. A standard USD spread cost allows us to compare spreads from different brokers and different currency pairs.

In forex trading, spreads are always expressed in pips, with a pip being 1/10,000th (0.0001) of a standard “lot.” A “lot” consists of 100,000 units, so for an AUDUSD trade, a pip equates to USD $10 (0.0001 x 100,000).

Suppose the average spread for AUDUSD is 0.821 pips (as per IC Markets); the spread cost amounts to USD $8.21 (0.821 x $10). This calculation method can be similarly applied to determine USD spread costs for EURUSD and GBPUSD spreads.

Calculating USD spread costs for USDCAD and USDCHF spreads is slightly more complex. Pips are expressed in the quote currency or the second currency in the pair. Hence, USDCAD pips are in CAD, and USDCHF pips are in CHF.

To convert CAD and CHF to hourly USD spread costs, we utilized the hourly closing prices of USDCAD and USDCHF, respectively. For instance, if USDCAD closed at 1.374, a pip’s value is USD $7.27 (10 / 1.374).

Lastly, to calculate USD spread costs for USDJPY, we employed the same method as for USDCAD and USDCHF. However, a pip for USDJPY is 1/100th (0.001) rather than 1/10,000th.

The time zones of our tests

We ran our tests across a 30-hour period from 9:00 AM on 14th March, 2026 to 2:00 PM on 15th March, 2026. These times are in time zone UTC + 10.

As we can see from the Time Zone Converter, 9:00 AM Brisbane has the lowest volume of all times during the forex day, meaning spreads should be at their lowest and most stable.

We kept our tests running overnight, during the highest volumes of trading and through all the major forex sessions, Sydney, Tokyo, London, and New York. These 4 markets all have different Trading Hours for forex trading. Our tests stopped at 2:00 PM Brisbane time, about half-way through the Tokyo session.

A second test to confirm our results

To confirm our test results, we ran another test exactly a week later. We expected increased volatility, and perhaps wider spreads since the market was still reacting to the banking crisis and the fall of Credit Suisse and Silicon Valley Bank.

Overall, however, the spread costs were very similar, as we can see below. Some highlights are:

• IC Markets and CMC Markets were still the cheapest brokers, while FXPro was still the most expensive
• FXCM was $1.94 cheaper on average in the second week of testing
• Pepperstone Spreads were $1.94 more expensive on average in the second week of testing

Tightest Spread Standard Accounts for Australian Traders

The regulator overseeing forex brokers depends on the market: the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the National Futures Association (NFA) in the United States, the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) in Canada, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in Singapore, Securities Commission Malaysia in Malaysia, and the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) in New Zealand. In each of these markets, brokers regulated by the relevant authority are legitimate and trustworthy. These are the five tightest spread, brokers.

The table shows the Average Spread and equivalent Spread Cost (in USD)

Tightest Spread Standard Accounts for UK Traders

The regulator overseeing forex brokers depends on the market: the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the National Futures Association (NFA) in the United States, the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) in Canada, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in Singapore, Securities Commission Malaysia in Malaysia, and the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) in New Zealand. In each of these markets, brokers regulated by the relevant authority are legitimate and trustworthy. These are the five tightest spread, brokers.

The table shows the Average Spread and equivalent Spread Cost (in USD)

Cheapest Accounts for US Traders

In the United States, the National Futures Association (NFA) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have regulatory oversight of forex brokers. These are the five cheapest brokers. Note MT4 is not offered by all brokers.

The table shows the Total Trade Cost (Commissions plus Spread)

Best Forex Brokers In USA

Key Takeaways

• IC Markets, CMC Markets and Fusion Markets had the tightest spreads across the major currencies in our testing, against “standard” accounts.
• High volume (coinciding with high volatility) in the middle of trading sessions caused spreads to spike upwards for all brokers.
• IC Markets is the best broker for tight and stable spreads.
• A second test showed similar results to our first test run, adding to our confidence in the outcomes.

It’s worth noting that you should pick a low spread broker regulated in your region.

Published Standard Account Forex Spreads

We consider our testing results with those published by the forex brokers. This is sourced either from their website, product disclosure statements or direct communication. The last update was in February 2026.