Current spread is irrelevant as it’ll change at various times.
So you want to know the average (well, median would be better) spread over a given time period.
And that needs to further be broken up into the different trading sessions (asia, europe, etc).
Myfxbook has somewhat of a system but it’s crappy to use, I can’t seem to get the chart to show (and therefore summarise average data) for any more than the last 7 days…
Emailing all the brokers and I get either a link to their average spreads but average over what time? for what session?, a link to myfxbook spreads, or a response saying they don’t have average data.
How on earth can I pick a broker when I can’t get spread information?!?!
Open accounts with lots of brokers and see what spreads you get with your strategy with all of them. As I have looked around, what I have found is that they all claim to be the lowest and they are all about the same. If your strategy is to trade with 10 pip stops and targets, then I can see why the spread is such an issue to you. But I don’t care what dealer it is, the time will come when his spread will widen to 60 pips. And every dealer out there had a 1000 pip spread in swiss pairs on January 15. If your profitability depends on a constant tight spread, you don’t have a dependable strategy.
Ya, that’s where median should come into play as a median (as opposed to an average) excludes the outliers (really large / small numbers) so Jan 15th issues don’t skew the results.
how about opening an account with a broker that offer fix spread ?
You also have to consider the slippage, execution speed, sometimes during high volatility or low liquidity it can become very high with some brokers.
A few brokers have detailed information about their spreads. This is also where transparency is appreciated. A transparent broker gives you the minimum and average spreads clearly listed on the website. This is how we do it. What you see on the website is what you get.
You always have the option of fixed spread or even zero spread where you get charged with commission, however from my point of view Adrian has provided the best solution test a few of them and see if what they offer actually exists and which one of them suits your style most!
You always can check forex contract specifications on a broker’s website. For example, my broker freshforex says that spread for a Classical account is from 2 pips, so I go to this page and check the spread for particular pair I trade (EURUSD=2 pips).
Some brokers are offering fixed spread account. And you can check other brokers spreads at: Spreads | Myfxbook or contact them how do they calculate spreads? It’s a popular site so I trust them.
I only don’t know one thing, Fxpro is sponsor broker but their spread looks so high.
minor detail, dont forget to tick “include commission” while compare brokers spread. since these are real transaction cost beside low spread given. some trading condition may seem give very tight spread, but not with their roundturn transaction cost. myfxbook are much more trusted because they have more brokers listed rather than any broker review website. since the fxpro are their current sponsor their information would always added while compare any brokers, even there’s many brokers who offer lower cost, including my ECN account with tickmill still had better condition and lower cost.