What's up with this spread?

Beginner Questions
1

I have noticed over the past few weeks that the spread on some of the pairs have increased fairly substantially. I utilize Oanda as my platform, if that makes a difference.

Currently the GBP/JPY seems to be a high 7 pips per trade versus a typical EUR/USDspread of 1. Recently, the GBP/USD spread has gone from 3 to 4.5.

Is the reason for this strictly due to the volume of players either playinng in that market (narrow spread) versus not playing (wider spread) or is it also related to volatility in that pair?

2

man that would suck… i was looking forward to changing to oanda when i got the $$ up as they advertise lower spreadss… maybe i stick with my fixed spreads for now…

3

Historically Oanda’s Sterling crosses have always been high,
G/Y +7, G/U +3, whereas the Euro crosses have been considerably
lower, E/U +0.9, E/Y +2 to 3.

Of course at times of high volatilty or low volume the spreads widen.

4

Oanda’s spreads also vary depending on the time of day.
In Oanda trading platform click Resources > Spread statistics
You can see the history

5

thanks for that tip, its good to know you can look that info up…