Some brokers may offer tight spreads but they may charge additional commissions. Or they can charge monthly fees that you can avoid only if you keep a minimum deposit or a minimum trading volume every month.
Sometimes I ask myself if anyone other than the company itself is being paid as a result of my trading activity. Since some brokers inflate spreads to cover the costs of brokers who bring in clients, I usually wonder if the firm pays its IBs and sales agencies in proportion to the firm’s profit on my transactions. If it’s so, that’s a conflict of interest that raises inevitable questions about the actual quality of execution.