How do you price in the spread before entry?

Beginners plan entries and stops on the mid-price and forget that they buy at the ask and stop out at the bid. The spread is a cost on entry and exit, and on some pairs it's a big one.

How do you price in the spread before entry? — bid-ask spread diagram
The bid-ask spread on a currency pair

How do you account for it?

  • whether you plan on the chart price or the executable price
  • how spread changes your stop distance maths
  • the pair where spread matters most for you
How do you price in the spread before entry? — central bank rate path diagram
A central bank's policy rate path across recent meetings

The trading costs guide shows the full entry-and-exit bill.

Background: The real cost of a forex trade: spread, commission and swap

Every trade has costs, and they are easy to underestimate. Here is how to add up the spread, commission and overnight swap on a position.

What is a spread in forex?

The difference between the bid (sell) and ask (buy) price. You pay it every time you open a trade, and it widens when the market is less liquid.

Is a raw spread account cheaper?

Not automatically. Add the spread and the round-trip commission together and compare the total with a spread-only account's typical spread on the pairs you trade.

Read the full guide

Comments

Log in to join the discussion. Comments follow the community guidelines.

Log in to comment

Loading comments…