Forex Spreads - With And Without A Commission Charge
Forex can be traded either with or without a commission charge. The commission charge is an additional charge which is added to the spread normally when the trader makes the trade. It can be expressed as per side (that is at open and close) or round trip (one charge for the trade). A commission may be charged for different reasons. Generally it is charged because the broker is offering Forex spreads which reflect Interbank spreads in some way, thus the commission charge is an additional charge taken by the broker. Traders who want to trade with high speed order execution may wish to consider this kind of trading, which includes those who trade with online trading robots.
At some brokers Forex commissions may be charged because the broker is offering low fixed Forex spreads. However, many brokers do not charge Forex commissions. These can include market maker brokers (though market maker brokers may also offer Forex trading with a commission charge). Trading without a commission charge means that the broker has in effect included a commission charge in the spread, therefore spreads will tend to be higher. But over the years the spreads offered by zero commission Forex brokers have tended to reduce their minimum, thus brokers can offer competitive spreads less than 1 pip for the more liquid Forex pairs (which tend to have the lower spreads).
Provided below are sign up links for three brokers, all of which offer zero commission Forex trading. FOREX.com is a broker which provides Forex trading without a commission charge and has reduced its minimum spreads over the years. It now offers EUR/USD (a highly liquid Forex pair) spreads from 0.8 pips. This is a competitive minimum (as these are variable spreads) even with brokers which have a separate commission charge.
FOREX.com as its name might suggest evolved as a Forex broker, and offers 90+ Forex pairs (a relatively large number). FOREX.com provides its Advanced Trading Platform and a user friendly Web Trader. On MT4, traders can trade using automated trading robots. FOREX.com does offer trading for those who want to trade with a commission charge, on its separate DMA account.
Plus500 is a broker which focuses on providing a user friendly trading platform. It offers tools to support those who execute their own trades, including fundamental data affecting Forex pairs (i.e. for news traders). Plus500 does not charge Forex commissions.
easyMarkets is a long established Forex broker. It provides fixed spreads with no commission charge on its user friendly trading platform, TradingView and MT4 (its lowest spreads are from 0.7 pips fixed on MT4).
