What is a spread? |
When a price for a market is quoted, you will actually see two prices. The first price, known as the bid, is the sell price and the second price is the buy price, known as the offer. The difference between the sell and buy price is called the spread.
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Where can I find my cost per trade? |
Advanced Desktop Platform
Information about your ‘Cost per trade’ is made available directly on the trading platform under “Trade History”. Cost per trade is comprised of Spread Cost and Commissions. The ‘Spread Cost’ value displayed on the platform, is the “Mid-Point Spread Cost” as defined by NFA.
MetaTrader 4
MetaTrader 4 - Information about your ‘Cost per trade’ is made available directly on the trading platform under the ‘Account History’ tab. ‘Cost per trade’ is also available in a report available on the MT4 platform. To access the report of your Spread Cost, click on the ‘Company’ tab on MT4 and then ‘Cost per Trade’ from the list of links on the left side of the window. The ‘Spread Cost’ value displayed on the platform, is the “Mid-Point Spread Cost” as defined by NFA.
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How is my spread cost calculated? |
The NFA defines spread cost based on the “mid-point spread cost.” In typical market conditions, this is the difference between the rate at which your order was executed and the mid-point of the bid/offer spread at the time your market order was received. Keep in mind that conditional orders become market orders once they are triggered. Mid-point spread cost typically reflects the cost of your trade outside of any commissions.
During extreme market conditions, the time period from when a market order is received as compared to when the order is ultimately executed may increase. This increase in time period can result from many factors including but not limited to: market volatility, available liquidity, pre-trade available margin check, and price validation etc.
The potential delay in order execution during extreme market conditions may cause wide variations of your spread cost at time of execution measured as the difference between bid/offer vs. the mid-point at time of execution. For example, these variations may result in a smaller than normal cost figure, or even a positive cost figure, in the case of limit orders filled at a better rate than the rate at which your limit was triggered. Conversely, these variances may reflect a larger than normal cost if your stop order rate was executed worse than the rate at which it was ultimately triggered. As noted above, these variations can result from many factors, including but not limited to market volatility, available liquidity, pre-trade available margin check, and price validation, etc.
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Are there any data exchange fees associated with forex trading? |
FOREX.com does not charge data exchange fees. However, you may incur a financing/rollover charge if you hold your positions overnight. Learn more about rollovers.
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What is a financing/rollover fee? |
Financing fees, also known as rollovers, are charges that you pay in order to hold a position open overnight. The daily financing fee is automatically applied to your account each day that you hold an open position (including weekends). Learn more about our rollover rates.
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Does FOREX.com charge inactivity fees? |
A fee of $15 (or 15 base currency equivalent) per month is charged to accounts after there is no trading activity for 12 months.
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Do you offer fixed spreads? |
No, FOREX.com does not offer fixed spreads.
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Do I need to pay taxes on my trades and transactions? |
Yes, forex and options trading are subject to taxes. Please contact a tax professional for more information.
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Is there a currency conversion charge? |
Trading in markets that settle in a different currency from your account's base currency may incur a currency conversion charge. For example, if your account base currency is US Dollars and you trade USD/JPY, your realized profit or loss as well as any associated fees, charges, and commissions will be automatically converted from JPY back to US Dollars before posting to your account. Our standard charge for this conversion is +/-0.5% from the market rate at the time of conversion. Conversely, you will not incur this charge if you only trade products that settle in your account’s base currency, such as EUR/USD in a US Dollar based account.
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