Commission

Some accounts charge only through the spread. Others, often labelled raw, ECN or zero-spread accounts, pass on a tighter underlying spread and charge a commission per trade instead. Neither is automatically cheaper; you have to add them up.

How it is quoted

• Per side: charged when you open and again when you close. "3.50 per lot per side" means 7.00 for a full round turn.
• Per round turn: the total for opening and closing. "7 per lot round turn" is the same as above.
• As a percentage or per million traded: some brokers quote, for example, a fixed amount per 100,000 or per 1 million units of notional.
• For shares: often a percentage of trade value with a minimum per trade.

Commission is usually charged in your account currency or in the currency of the account's pricing, so check which.

Worked example

Illustratively, a raw account charges 3.50 dollars per lot per side and EUR/USD averages 0.2 pips. On one standard lot, the spread costs 2 dollars and the commission 7 dollars: an all-in cost of 9 dollars. A standard account with a 1.1-pip average spread and no commission costs 11 dollars per lot. If you trade 0.10 lots, both figures scale down by ten.

Practical notes

• Compare like for like: commission per round turn plus typical (not minimum) spread.
• Commission is fixed while spreads vary, so the balance between account types can shift at different times of day.

See spreads and commissions and broker account types explained.