Wish to hear your thoughts on a better option out of the 2 for a European and its overall impact on the trades.
European trader here, and a big advocate of fixed spreads. Here’s why:
- There are no hidden surprises. As a trader you’ll know what’s in it for you.
- News trading is easier with fixed spreads. This is especially true for highly volatile conditions.
I never trust fixed spreads, fixed spreads are generally offered by market makers. Instead i prefer variable ECN spreads the broker I am using is offering me spreads from 0.0 pips. For sure its not like i get 0.0 pips spread with them, but they are pretty tight and at times also go 0 for a fraction of second. 
On the other hand, fixed spreads for sure eats up your major chunk of profits both while opening and closing. I just hated when this is used to happen with me in the beginning.
Now that I have been trading for a while, my trades have never been this good with dynamic spreads.
So I would personally suggest variable spreads over fixed spreads.
which spreads is more appropriate for you it depend on your trading concept , if love doing scalping should choose the broker which allows trading concept such as this.,
Blah! Would you ever get 0.1 pips with fixed spread brokers? If you time it right then you can save so much more with low spread brokers vs ones with fixed spreads.
I am not European but I don’t like fixed spreads. I am ready to give commission but prefer zero spreads account that starts with zero and upto .1 pips or lower.
I prefer ECN brokers with dynamic spreads and staying out of the market when i know there will be higher spreads
I somewhat agree with the no-surprise bit. Being a new trader I find it easier to calculate my costs for every transaction if the spreads are fixed. Calculating spreads can be a pain otherwise. I demoed for almost 6 months before just recently starting live. I was using 2 accounts, easy markets and fxview. Former gave me fixed spreads and the other one variable. Frankly I didn’t see much difference (except like I spoke about the calculation bit). But is it true that trading in volatile environment like the current one where we have a new incumbent in the White house calls for using fixed spreads? Is there any particular strategy to be used? FYI I’m looking at very short term returns.
I use price action strategy for trading intraday and find fixed value spreads as more conducive. Primarily because I’m not at the complete mercy of the market. My trades don’t have to depend on “market phenomenon”!
Name 1 broker that gives 0 spreads as advertised! Bet you can’t!
That’s the most stupidest thing I’ve ever heard! For how long have you actually been trading? And where? Trading independent of the market swings?!
Variable spreads are undoubtedly better than fixed spreads
Both have its own pros and cons. What makes a difference is how much is your total trading cost. If your spreads are fixed but too high, your trading cost would be ultimately high. Thus, check the total trading cost and choose.
I have a preference for variable spreads over fixed spreads as they are provided by the market makers and I do not trust it. In variable spreads, when they are high, I can not place any trade, it will not be much of a problem.
@stanley.marco confusion is between known fixed spreads vis-a-vis sometimes high/sometimes low variable spreads. What to go for? Is the known devil better than the unknown one?
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I’m totally with you on this one. When spreads are low I’d trade and when they are wide I would just stay put.
Got you David. I would go for variable spreads any day as they are characterized as completely market phenomenon. And you can trade when the spreads are tight and good and can just avoid and move out of the market if you are afraid of a little wider spreads.
Depends on your trading style, however, under normal market conditions, I would prefer to go with a floating spread as it would be more beneficial.
I know for a fact that I will not be holding position overnight, nor would I be trading smaller timeframes, what you will call an intraday trader I guess. Would a variable spread broker be better in this case?
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I would say yes. Variable spreads would be better.