[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":1231},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-spread":3,"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-spread-related":264},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"category":247,"date":248,"description":249,"draft":250,"extension":251,"meta":252,"navigation":253,"path":254,"related":255,"seo":260,"stem":261,"term":262,"updated":248,"__hash__":263},"glossary\u002F5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-spread.md","What Is a Spread in Forex? Definition and Real Costs",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":239},"minimark",[9,13,18,21,32,41,53,69,73,81,84,88,95,102,108,115,122,126,192,196,232],[10,11,12],"p",{},"A spread is the difference between the bid price, at which you can sell, and the ask price, at which you can buy. It is what the broker charges for filling your order, and you pay it on every trade whether that trade wins or loses. On most retail accounts it is the largest single cost of trading and the only one that never appears as a line item on the statement.",[14,15,17],"h2",{"id":16},"how-it-works","How it works",[10,19,20],{},"If EUR\u002FUSD is quoted 1.08432 \u002F 1.08442, the spread is 1.0 pip. You buy at the ask and sell at the bid, so the position opens showing a loss equal to the spread. The trade has to cover that distance before it is flat.",[22,23,28],"pre",{"className":24,"code":26,"language":27},[25],"language-text","Spread (pips)   = (Ask − Bid) \u002F Pip size\nCost per trade  = Spread (pips) × Pip value × Lots\n","text",[29,30,26],"code",{"__ignoreMap":31},"",[10,33,34,35,40],{},"On a standard lot of EUR\u002FUSD the ",[36,37,39],"a",{"href":38},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-pip","pip value"," is $10, so a 1.0 pip spread costs $10 per lot, charged once on the round turn.",[10,42,43,44,48,49,52],{},"There are two ways brokers price it. ",[45,46,47],"strong",{},"Spread-only"," accounts widen the quote and charge nothing else — the cost is buried in your fill price. ",[45,50,51],{},"Raw spread plus commission"," accounts quote close to the interbank price and bill the difference separately. The total can be identical; only the second model makes the cost visible.",[10,54,55,56,59,60,63,64,68],{},"Spreads are either ",[45,57,58],{},"fixed"," (constant, usually wider, quoted by a dealing desk) or ",[45,61,62],{},"variable"," (tracking real liquidity). Variable spreads sit near zero on majors during the London–New York overlap and widen sharply at economic releases, in the thin hour around the daily rollover, and at the Sunday open. The widening happens precisely when your ",[36,65,67],{"href":66},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-stop-loss","stop loss"," is most likely to be hit.",[14,70,72],{"id":71},"why-it-matters","Why it matters",[10,74,75,76,80],{},"Spread scales with turnover, not with skill. A system targeting 5 pips per trade gives away ",[36,77,79],{"href":78},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-cost-percentage","20% of its gross edge"," to a 1-pip spread; a system targeting 200 pips gives away 0.5%. That single ratio decides whether a strategy survives at one broker and dies at another while the logic stays identical.",[10,82,83],{},"It also compounds invisibly. The median account published on ShowMyTrades closes 171 trades. One extra pip of spread across 171 standard lots is $1,710 — money that never shows anywhere except as a slightly worse equity curve.",[14,85,87],{"id":86},"what-the-data-shows","What the data shows",[10,89,90,91,94],{},"Across the public accounts on ShowMyTrades with trading history (August 2026), traders have paid ",[45,92,93],{},"$4,782,670 in commissions",". That is only the visible half of execution cost: the spread portion cannot be totalled the same way, because it is priced into the fill rather than charged as a separate line.",[10,96,97],{},[98,99],"img",{"alt":100,"src":101},"The three broker cost lines: spread charged on every entry and exit and invisible in the P&L column, commission printed per trade, swap charged for time held — $4,782,670 in commissions and $862,547 in swap across public ShowMyTrades accounts","\u002Fimages\u002Farticles\u002Fwhere-costs-hide.svg",[10,103,104],{},[105,106,107],"em",{},"Only one of the three arrives with a number attached to it.",[10,109,110,111,114],{},"The scale of that hidden half is easy to bound. Those accounts have traded ",[45,112,113],{},"1,724,575 lots",". On a $10-per-pip instrument, a difference of just 0.2 pips in average spread across that volume is roughly $3.4 million — more than two thirds of all commissions ever recorded on the platform.",[10,116,117,118,121],{},"And the conditions genuinely differ: those accounts connect through ",[45,119,120],{},"703 distinct broker servers",", and 429 users run accounts at more than one broker precisely to compare them.",[14,123,125],{"id":124},"where-you-see-it-on-showmytrades","Where you see it on ShowMyTrades",[127,128,129,153,164,186],"ul",{},[130,131,132,135,136,139,140,143,144,147,148,152],"li",{},[45,133,134],{},"Advanced Statistics"," shows ",[45,137,138],{},"Total Commissions",", ",[45,141,142],{},"Total Lots"," and ",[45,145,146],{},"Total Pips",". Divide the first by the second and you have ",[36,149,151],{"href":150},"\u002Fguides\u002Fbroker-cost-audit","that account's real commission per lot"," — a number brokers rarely publish in a comparable form.",[130,154,155,156,158,159,163],{},"The most useful check is ",[45,157,146],{}," against net profit. When an account is positive in pips but flat or negative in money, execution cost is consuming the edge. ",[36,160,162],{"href":161},"\u002Fguides\u002Ftrading-cost-percentage","That gap is the spread and commission bill",".",[130,165,166,167,170,171,174,175,178,179,143,182,185],{},"The ",[45,168,169],{},"Closed Trades"," table under ",[45,172,173],{},"Trade History & Balance Progression"," carries a ",[45,176,177],{},"Commission"," column per ticket, alongside ",[45,180,181],{},"Open Price",[45,183,184],{},"Close Price",", so you can see what an individual fill actually cost.",[130,187,166,188,191],{},[45,189,190],{},"account header"," carries the broker badge, with the trade server name in its tooltip, next to the account currency and leverage. That is what makes two accounts running the same strategy comparable at all.",[14,193,195],{"id":194},"common-misunderstandings","Common misunderstandings",[197,198,199,205,211,217],"ol",{},[130,200,201,204],{},[45,202,203],{},"\"Zero spread\" does not mean free."," Zero- or raw-spread accounts move the cost into commission. Compare the total, not the headline.",[130,206,207,210],{},[45,208,209],{},"The advertised spread is a best case."," Brokers quote typical or minimum spreads measured in liquid hours. Your fills during a rate decision are a different number.",[130,212,213,216],{},[45,214,215],{},"Spread is not on the statement, so people assume they are not paying it."," It is deducted at entry, before the trade exists as a row.",[130,218,219,222,223,143,227,231],{},[45,220,221],{},"Spread alone does not rank a broker."," ",[36,224,226],{"href":225},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-swap-in-forex","Swap",[36,228,230],{"href":229},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-slippage","slippage"," belong in the same comparison, and a tight spread with poor execution is the more expensive deal.",[10,233,234,235,163],{},"To put real numbers on your own instrument and lot size, see the ",[36,236,238],{"href":237},"\u002Fguides\u002Fforex-calculators-guide","guide to forex calculators",{"title":31,"searchDepth":240,"depth":240,"links":241},2,[242,243,244,245,246],{"id":16,"depth":240,"text":17},{"id":71,"depth":240,"text":72},{"id":86,"depth":240,"text":87},{"id":124,"depth":240,"text":125},{"id":194,"depth":240,"text":195},"Costs","2026-08-19T00:00:00.000Z","A spread is the gap between the bid and ask price, the cost you pay to enter a trade. Here is how it works, what it costs per lot, and why brokers differ.",false,"md",{},true,"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-spread",[256,257,258,259],"what-is-a-swap-in-forex","what-is-slippage","what-is-a-regulated-broker","what-is-a-profit-factor",{"title":5,"description":249},"5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-spread","Spread","_HiS3N0q5xG6kWJPv01Kjk02mu226hR7wa-SzSCJ0_U",[265,548,813,1016],{"id":266,"title":267,"body":268,"category":536,"date":248,"description":537,"draft":250,"extension":251,"meta":538,"navigation":253,"path":539,"related":540,"seo":545,"stem":546,"term":437,"updated":248,"__hash__":547},"glossary\u002F5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-profit-factor.md","What Is Profit Factor? Formula, Good Values, Real Data",{"type":7,"value":269,"toc":529},[270,273,275,281,284,287,293,296,364,366,369,377,385,387,402,408,413,420,431,433,461,486,488,522],[10,271,272],{},"Profit factor is gross profit divided by gross loss: the total won across all winning trades, divided by the total lost across all losing trades. A profit factor of 1.50 means the account made $1.50 for every $1.00 it gave back. Below 1.00 the account loses money by construction, regardless of how often it wins.",[14,274,17],{"id":16},[22,276,279],{"className":277,"code":278,"language":27},[25],"Profit Factor = Gross Profit \u002F |Gross Loss|\n",[29,280,278],{"__ignoreMap":31},[10,282,283],{},"Note what the formula ignores: how long the account traded, how much capital it used, and how deep it fell along the way.",[10,285,286],{},"It can also be written in terms of win rate and average trade size, which is where it becomes diagnostic:",[22,288,291],{"className":289,"code":290,"language":27},[25],"Profit Factor = (Win Rate × Avg Win) \u002F ((1 − Win Rate) × Avg Loss)\n",[29,292,290],{"__ignoreMap":31},[10,294,295],{},"Two very different systems can land on the same value. A 30% win rate with winners four times the size of losers gives 1.71. An 80% win rate with winners half the size of losers gives 2.00. Both work; they fail differently and feel completely different to trade.",[297,298,299,312],"table",{},[300,301,302],"thead",{},[303,304,305,309],"tr",{},[306,307,308],"th",{},"Profit factor",[306,310,311],{},"Reading",[313,314,315,324,332,340,348,356],"tbody",{},[303,316,317,321],{},[318,319,320],"td",{},"Below 1.00",[318,322,323],{},"Loses money — structurally, not marginally",[303,325,326,329],{},[318,327,328],{},"1.00 – 1.10",[318,330,331],{},"Inside the noise. One bad week erases it",[303,333,334,337],{},[318,335,336],{},"1.10 – 1.30",[318,338,339],{},"Thin but real edge, if the sample is large",[303,341,342,345],{},[318,343,344],{},"1.30 – 2.00",[318,346,347],{},"A working strategy",[303,349,350,353],{},[318,351,352],{},"2.00 – 3.00",[318,354,355],{},"Strong. Check trade count and cost accounting",[303,357,358,361],{},[318,359,360],{},"Above 3.00",[318,362,363],{},"Rare on long histories: usually a short sample, a few outsized winners, or open losers not yet realised",[14,365,72],{"id":71},[10,367,368],{},"Profit factor is the cleanest single answer to \"does this system make money\", and it is much harder to dress up than a win rate, because every loss enters the denominator at full size.",[10,370,371,372,376],{},"It is not, however, a risk measure. Profit factor knows nothing about sequence: an account that made its money in one month and bled for eleven shows the same value as one that ground upward every week. Read it next to ",[36,373,375],{"href":374},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-maximum-drawdown","maximum drawdown",", or you are measuring the destination without the trip.",[10,378,379,380,384],{},"The same caution applies to a profit factor quoted from a ",[36,381,383],{"href":382},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-backtesting","backtest",": optimisers maximise exactly this ratio, so a high backtested value often measures the fitting process rather than the strategy.",[14,386,87],{"id":86},[10,388,389,390,393,394,401],{},"The figures below describe accounts published on ShowMyTrades, not traders in general. Across the published accounts that have trading history (August 2026), the ",[45,391,392],{},"median profit factor is 1.28"," and the ",[45,395,396,400],{},[36,397,399],{"href":398},"\u002Fguides\u002Fwin-rate-is-not-an-edge","median win rate"," is 68.8%",". Both are calculated after costs here: swap and commission are folded into each trade before it is classed as a winner or a loser, so 1.28 is net, not gross.",[10,403,404],{},[98,405],{"alt":406,"src":407},"Medians across public ShowMyTrades accounts: a 68.8% win rate beside a 1.28 profit factor","\u002Fimages\u002Farticles\u002Fwin-rate-vs-payoff.svg",[10,409,410],{},[105,411,412],{},"Two medians from the same set: the win rate looks strong, the edge behind it is thin.",[10,414,415,416,419],{},"That pairing is the point. Nearly seven trades in ten close green on the median account, and the whole edge still amounts to $1.28 earned for every $1.00 lost. Take an account sitting on both medians and invert the formula: its average winner is worth roughly ",[45,417,418],{},"0.58×"," its average loser. Winning often and earning well are separate achievements, and the first is far easier to manufacture — hold losers, cut winners, and the win rate climbs while the profit factor falls.",[10,421,422,423,426,427,430],{},"The median Sharpe ratio on the same set is ",[45,424,425],{},"0.05",", and the median account has ",[45,428,429],{},"171 closed trades",". At that sample size a profit factor above 3.00 is not evidence of a superior system; it is evidence that the sample is too small to have met its worst trade yet.",[14,432,125],{"id":124},[10,434,435,438,439,441,442,139,445,139,448,139,451,139,454,143,457,460],{},[45,436,437],{},"Profit Factor"," sits in the ",[45,440,134],{}," module on every published account page, alongside the numbers that explain it: ",[45,443,444],{},"Win Rate",[45,446,447],{},"Avg. Win",[45,449,450],{},"Avg. Loss",[45,452,453],{},"Expectancy",[45,455,456],{},"Total Trades",[45,458,459],{},"Sharpe Ratio",". The six together say what the single ratio cannot.",[10,462,463,464,467,468,143,470,472,473,143,475,478,479,485],{},"Two product details matter. First, the costs already inside the ratio are itemised separately: the trades table carries ",[45,465,466],{},"Profit (Gross)"," with ",[45,469,226],{},[45,471,177],{}," as their own columns, and Advanced Statistics totals ",[45,474,138],{},[45,476,477],{},"Total Swap Paid",", so you can see how much the net figure absorbed. Across published accounts those totals stand at $4,782,670 in commissions and $862,547 in swap. Second, ",[36,480,482],{"href":481},"\u002Fguides\u002Fcustom-analysis-and-filter-presets",[45,483,484],{},"Custom Analysis"," recomputes the whole statistics block on a filtered subset — by date range, symbol, magic number, direction or lot size — which is how you check whether a profit factor holds up outside its best quarter or without its best symbol.",[14,487,195],{"id":194},[127,489,490,499,510,516],{},[130,491,492,495,496,163],{},[45,493,494],{},"\"Profit factor above 1 means I am profitable.\""," Only if costs are inside the ratio. Where they are not, a high-frequency system at 1.05 gross can be flat or negative ",[36,497,498],{"href":78},"once commission and swap are applied",[130,500,501,504,505,509],{},[45,502,503],{},"\"A high profit factor means low risk.\""," It says nothing about drawdown, position size or sequence. A martingale ",[36,506,508],{"href":507},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-position-sizing","position-sizing"," progression can post 4.00 right up to the day it does not.",[130,511,512,515],{},[45,513,514],{},"\"It is comparable across timeframes.\""," It is not annualised. A scalper's 1.20 over 20,000 trades and a swing trader's 1.20 over 60 are not the same statement.",[130,517,518,521],{},[45,519,520],{},"\"Open trades do not affect it.\""," They do, by absence. Floating losses left open are excluded from gross loss entirely, which inflates the ratio until the position is closed.",[10,523,524,525,163],{},"For which metrics to track over time and in what order, see ",[36,526,528],{"href":527},"\u002Fguides\u002Ftracking-trading-performance","the guide to tracking trading performance",{"title":31,"searchDepth":240,"depth":240,"links":530},[531,532,533,534,535],{"id":16,"depth":240,"text":17},{"id":71,"depth":240,"text":72},{"id":86,"depth":240,"text":87},{"id":124,"depth":240,"text":125},{"id":194,"depth":240,"text":195},"Metrics","Profit factor is gross profit divided by gross loss. Below 1.0 an account loses by construction. Here are the bands and the 1.28 median across thousands of accounts.",{},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-profit-factor",[541,542,543,544],"what-is-drawdown","what-is-maximum-drawdown","what-is-position-sizing","what-is-backtesting",{"title":267,"description":537},"5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-profit-factor","0loLRuqRU0mx9nEOfjdEFW6U1Fb_JAC1jN2JQSkIjuE",{"id":549,"title":550,"body":551,"category":800,"date":248,"description":801,"draft":253,"extension":251,"meta":802,"navigation":253,"path":803,"related":804,"seo":809,"stem":810,"term":811,"updated":248,"__hash__":812},"glossary\u002F5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-regulated-broker.md","What Is a Regulated Broker? What Regulation Covers",{"type":7,"value":552,"toc":793},[553,556,558,574,577,649,656,658,666,676,678,684,696,710,712,755,758,760,786],[10,554,555],{},"A regulated broker is one authorised by a financial supervisory authority in a specific jurisdiction, which sets binding rules on how it holds client money, how much leverage it may offer, and what it must disclose. Regulation constrains the broker's conduct and solvency; it is not an endorsement of its pricing, its execution or its platform. It protects the money in your account against the broker's failure and misconduct, and does nothing at all about the money you lose trading.",[14,557,17],{"id":16},[10,559,560,561,564,565,568,569,573],{},"A licence typically imposes some combination of the following: minimum regulatory capital, ",[45,562,563],{},"segregation of client funds"," in accounts separate from the firm's own money, periodic reporting and independent audit, a ",[45,566,567],{},"compensation scheme"," that pays out if the firm becomes insolvent, access to an ombudsman for disputes, caps on retail ",[36,570,572],{"href":571},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-leverage","leverage",", negative balance protection, and restrictions on how the firm may advertise.",[10,575,576],{},"The specifics vary by regime. Stated factually, without ranking:",[297,578,579,592],{},[300,580,581],{},[303,582,583,586,589],{},[306,584,585],{},"Authority",[306,587,588],{},"Jurisdiction",[306,590,591],{},"Typical retail features",[313,593,594,605,616,627,638],{},[303,595,596,599,602],{},[318,597,598],{},"FCA",[318,600,601],{},"United Kingdom",[318,603,604],{},"Segregated funds, FSCS compensation up to £85,000, leverage capped at 30:1 on major FX, negative balance protection",[303,606,607,610,613],{},[318,608,609],{},"CySEC",[318,611,612],{},"Cyprus (EU)",[318,614,615],{},"Segregated funds, Investor Compensation Fund up to €20,000, the same 30:1 major FX cap under EU rules",[303,617,618,621,624],{},[318,619,620],{},"ASIC",[318,622,623],{},"Australia",[318,625,626],{},"Segregated funds, 30:1 cap on major FX since 2021, no statutory compensation scheme",[303,628,629,632,635],{},[318,630,631],{},"CFTC \u002F NFA",[318,633,634],{},"United States",[318,636,637],{},"Roughly 50:1 on major FX, FIFO order handling, no hedging, no compensation scheme",[303,639,640,643,646],{},[318,641,642],{},"BaFin, FSCA, and offshore regimes",[318,644,645],{},"Germany, South Africa, Seychelles, Belize and others",[318,647,648],{},"Requirements range from EU-equivalent to considerably lighter",[10,650,651,652,655],{},"Two practical points. First, caps and compensation limits change, so the regulator's own public register is the only current source. Second, ",[45,653,654],{},"regulation attaches to a legal entity, not to a brand",": large groups operate several entities under different licences, and the one named on your client agreement is the one whose rules apply to your money — often not the one in the advertising.",[14,657,72],{"id":71},[10,659,660,661,665],{},"Segregation decides whether your balance still exists if the broker fails. The leverage cap decides how far price can move before a ",[36,662,664],{"href":663},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-margin-call","margin call",". The compensation scheme decides what happens after insolvency, up to a limit that is usually far below a funded trading account.",[10,667,668,669,672,673,163],{},"None of it touches performance. A fully regulated broker will process a losing strategy exactly as efficiently as a profitable one, and a licence tells you nothing about ",[36,670,671],{"href":254},"spread",", swap or execution quality — ",[36,674,675],{"href":150},"the three costs that actually differ between firms",[14,677,87],{"id":86},[10,679,680,681,683],{},"Across the 10,000+ accounts connected to ShowMyTrades (August 2026), trades arrive from ",[45,682,120],{},". That is the practical scale of the problem: seven hundred different sets of conditions behind superficially identical account pages.",[10,685,686,687,690,691,695],{},"Traders treat those differences as real. ",[45,688,689],{},"429 users run accounts at more than one broker",", and 699 run more than one account — ",[36,692,694],{"href":693},"\u002Fguides\u002Fsame-strategy-different-brokers","comparing the same strategy across firms"," is a routine use of the platform, not an edge case.",[10,697,698,699,143,706,709],{},"Regulation and evidence are separate questions, and both are thinly held: of the 10,000+ published accounts, ",[45,700,701,702],{},"65 carry ",[36,703,705],{"href":704},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-verified-track-record","Track Record Verified",[45,707,708],{},"264 carry Trading Privileges Verified",". A licence says the broker is supervised. Verification says the numbers on the page came out of that broker rather than out of a form.",[14,711,125],{"id":124},[127,713,714,733,746],{},[130,715,166,716,174,718,721,722,725,726,729,730,163],{},[45,717,190],{},[45,719,720],{},"broker"," badge, with the trade server name in its tooltip, read from the terminal rather than typed in by the owner. Next to it sit the platform, the account currency, the leverage in force, and whether the account is a ",[45,723,724],{},"Real Account",", a ",[45,727,728],{},"Demo Account"," or a ",[45,731,732],{},"Contest Account",[130,734,166,735,738,739,139,742,745],{},[45,736,737],{},"Terminal"," panel shows the live connection to that trade server — ",[45,740,741],{},"Ping",[45,743,744],{},"Retransmission"," and connection state — which is how the same strategy at two brokers stops being an argument and becomes a comparison.",[130,747,166,748,143,751,754],{},[45,749,750],{},"Track Record",[45,752,753],{},"Trading Privileges"," badges in the same header carry the separate claim: Track Record verification means the data comes from the broker over a read-only investor connection, and Trading Privileges verification means the publisher proved control of the account.",[10,756,757],{},"We report which broker and server an account trades on. We do not rate brokers, rank regulators, or check licences — that is the regulator's register, not ours.",[14,759,195],{"id":194},[197,761,762,768,774,780],{},[130,763,764,767],{},[45,765,766],{},"\"Regulated\" is not a single status."," It is per entity and per jurisdiction, and the offshore arm of a well-known brand carries offshore protections, not the parent's.",[130,769,770,773],{},[45,771,772],{},"A licence is not a performance guarantee."," No regulator insures you against your own strategy.",[130,775,776,779],{},[45,777,778],{},"Compensation schemes cover insolvency, not losses",", and they are capped well below the size of many funded accounts.",[130,781,782,785],{},[45,783,784],{},"High leverage is not by itself evidence of a bad broker."," It tells you which regime the entity sits under, which is a different fact.",[10,787,788,789,163],{},"For what to check before trusting any published record, read the guide on ",[36,790,792],{"href":791},"\u002Fguides\u002Fverified-vs-unverified-track-records","verified vs unverified track records",{"title":31,"searchDepth":240,"depth":240,"links":794},[795,796,797,798,799],{"id":16,"depth":240,"text":17},{"id":71,"depth":240,"text":72},{"id":86,"depth":240,"text":87},{"id":124,"depth":240,"text":125},{"id":194,"depth":240,"text":195},"Brokers","A regulated broker operates under a financial authority that enforces segregated funds, leverage caps and compensation schemes. What that does not cover.",{},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-regulated-broker",[805,806,807,808],"what-is-leverage","what-is-a-margin-call","what-is-a-verified-track-record","what-is-a-spread",{"title":550,"description":801},"5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-regulated-broker","Regulated Broker","Vg-zQ5ytN69NxRR7LB9r-k7i_v0JSwbH3u5aWtX7lY8",{"id":814,"title":815,"body":816,"category":247,"date":248,"description":1009,"draft":253,"extension":251,"meta":1010,"navigation":253,"path":225,"related":1011,"seo":1013,"stem":1014,"term":226,"updated":248,"__hash__":1015},"glossary\u002F5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-swap-in-forex.md","What Is a Swap in Forex? Overnight Costs Explained",{"type":7,"value":817,"toc":1002},[818,821,823,831,837,848,854,865,867,875,878,880,891,897,902,915,917,962,964,993],[10,819,820],{},"A swap, also called rollover or overnight financing, is the interest debited from or credited to your account for holding a position past the broker's daily rollover time. It exists because every forex trade borrows one currency to buy another, so you pay the interest rate on the one you are short and earn it on the one you are long. Hold a position for an afternoon and swap is irrelevant; hold it for three months and it can outweigh the trade.",[14,822,17],{"id":16},[10,824,825,826,830],{},"The raw driver is the difference between the ",[36,827,829],{"href":828},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-are-interest-rates","interest rates"," of the two currencies in the pair, adjusted by the broker's own markup, then divided across the year and applied to your position size.",[22,832,835],{"className":833,"code":834,"language":27},[25],"Nightly swap ≈ Position size × (Rate differential − Broker markup) \u002F 365\n",[29,836,834],{"__ignoreMap":31},[10,838,839,840,843,844,847],{},"In practice brokers do not publish it as a rate. They publish a ",[45,841,842],{},"swap long"," and a ",[45,845,846],{},"swap short"," figure per lot, in points or in account currency, in the contract specification for each symbol. You are charged whichever side you hold, once per night, at rollover — typically 21:00 or 22:00 UTC depending on the broker's server time.",[10,849,850,853],{},[45,851,852],{},"Triple swap Wednesday"," is not a penalty. Spot FX settles two business days forward, so a position held through Wednesday night settles on Monday and carries three days of financing, charged in one go. Some brokers apply the triple charge on Friday instead for metals, indices and CFDs, which is why the day matters and the rule is not universal.",[10,855,856,859,860,864],{},[45,857,858],{},"Positive carry"," is real but narrow. Being long the higher-yielding currency can earn swap rather than pay it, which is the mechanism behind ",[36,861,863],{"href":862},"\u002Fguides\u002Fswap-and-carry-trade","carry trades",". The broker's markup is applied to both sides, so on many pairs both directions are negative, and the pair where carry is genuinely positive is usually the pair where the currency is falling.",[14,866,72],{"id":71},[10,868,869,870,874],{},"Swap is the cost that punishes holding, and specifically punishes holding losers. A grid or martingale system that refuses to close underwater positions pays financing on those positions every single night for as long as it holds them, so the cost grows in step with the mistake. The ",[36,871,873],{"href":872},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-an-equity-curve","equity curve"," looks flat while the account bleeds.",[10,876,877],{},"It also changes what a strategy is. A system with a positive edge over two days can be net negative over two weeks purely on financing, without a single new losing trade.",[14,879,87],{"id":86},[10,881,882,883,886,887,890],{},"Across the public accounts on ShowMyTrades with trading history (August 2026), ",[45,884,885],{},"$862,547"," has been paid in swap. Of the accounts with any swap activity at all, ",[45,888,889],{},"86.3% pay net negative swap"," — earning carry is the exception, not a plan.",[10,892,893],{},[98,894],{"alt":895,"src":896},"An account falling every night while the price stays unchanged, Wednesday charged triple: 86.3% of ShowMyTrades accounts carrying swap pay it rather than earn it","\u002Fimages\u002Farticles\u002Fswap-bleed.svg",[10,898,899],{},[105,900,901],{},"Financing accrues on time held, not on trades taken — the chart can stay flat while the balance sinks.",[10,903,904,905,426,908,910,911,914],{},"What makes that total striking is how short the typical holding period is. The median trade on those accounts lasts ",[45,906,907],{},"2.4 hours",[45,909,429],{},". Most accounts here barely touch rollover, and swap still amounts to roughly 18% of the ",[45,912,913],{},"$4,782,670"," paid in commissions, which suggests the bill is concentrated on the minority of accounts that hold.",[14,916,125],{"id":124},[127,918,919,929,944,953],{},[130,920,921,438,923,925,926,928],{},[45,922,477],{},[45,924,134],{}," panel, next to ",[45,927,138],{},". It is coloured red when the account is net negative on financing and green when it is net positive, so the direction is readable at a glance.",[130,930,166,931,170,933,935,936,178,938,940,941,943],{},[45,932,169],{},[45,934,173],{}," has a ",[45,937,226],{},[45,939,177],{},". Note that the profit column is labelled ",[45,942,466],{}," — the financing is shown separately, not folded in.",[130,945,946,948,949,952],{},[45,947,484],{}," carries a toggle, ",[105,950,951],{},"Include swaps in profit calculations",". Switch it on and off and the difference in the resulting statistics is exactly what the broker's financing did to the record.",[130,954,955,961],{},[36,956,958],{"href":957},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-average-trade-length",[45,959,960],{},"Avg. Trade Length"," in Advanced Statistics tells you whether swap should matter for that account before you even look at the figure. A two-hour average and a large swap bill do not belong together.",[14,963,195],{"id":194},[197,965,966,972,978,987],{},[130,967,968,971],{},[45,969,970],{},"Swap is not a service fee."," It is financing, and it can be paid to you. The broker's markup is the fee, and it is applied in both directions.",[130,973,974,977],{},[45,975,976],{},"Triple swap is a settlement convention, not a charge for trading on Wednesday."," Closing before rollover avoids it entirely.",[130,979,980,983,984,986],{},[45,981,982],{},"Carry is not free money."," The interest differential is small relative to the currency move that typically erases it, and ",[36,985,572],{"href":571}," magnifies the move far more than the carry.",[130,988,989,992],{},[45,990,991],{},"A flat chart is not a costless month."," Financing on open positions accrues whether or not any trade closes.",[10,994,995,996,998,999,163],{},"For how swap fits alongside ",[36,997,671],{"href":254}," and the rest of the metrics on a public account, read the ",[36,1000,1001],{"href":527},"guide to tracking trading performance",{"title":31,"searchDepth":240,"depth":240,"links":1003},[1004,1005,1006,1007,1008],{"id":16,"depth":240,"text":17},{"id":71,"depth":240,"text":72},{"id":86,"depth":240,"text":87},{"id":124,"depth":240,"text":125},{"id":194,"depth":240,"text":195},"A swap is the interest charged or paid for holding a forex position overnight. How it is calculated, why Wednesday is triple, and what thousands of accounts pay.",{},[808,1012,805,257],"what-are-interest-rates",{"title":815,"description":1009},"5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-swap-in-forex","yHH22IHFSk2H-v9OC6elWwuiadT_ry9LGlqsLULYmM8",{"id":1017,"title":1018,"body":1019,"category":247,"date":248,"description":1222,"draft":253,"extension":251,"meta":1223,"navigation":253,"path":229,"related":1224,"seo":1227,"stem":1228,"term":1229,"updated":248,"__hash__":1230},"glossary\u002F5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-slippage.md","What Is Slippage? Definition, Causes and Real Data",{"type":7,"value":1020,"toc":1215},[1021,1024,1026,1032,1035,1041,1047,1056,1063,1065,1075,1081,1083,1101,1112,1114,1117,1180,1182,1208],[10,1022,1023],{},"Slippage is the difference between the price you expected when you sent an order and the price at which it was actually filled. It happens because the market moves in the interval between your terminal sending the request and the broker's server matching it. It can run against you or in your favour, but it is not symmetric in practice: the conditions that produce large slippage are the same conditions in which a precise fill matters most.",[14,1025,17],{"id":16},[22,1027,1030],{"className":1028,"code":1029,"language":27},[25],"Slippage (pips) = (Fill price − Requested price) \u002F Pip size\n                  sign reversed for sell orders\n",[29,1031,1029],{"__ignoreMap":31},[10,1033,1034],{},"Three things produce it.",[10,1036,1037,1040],{},[45,1038,1039],{},"Latency."," Every millisecond between request and execution is time in which the price can change. Latency comes from the network path to the trade server, the terminal's own processing, and the broker's matching queue.",[10,1042,1043,1046],{},[45,1044,1045],{},"Liquidity."," Your order is filled against the book. If the size available at the quoted price is smaller than your order, the remainder fills at the next level. This is why slippage grows with position size and shrinks with market depth.",[10,1048,1049,1052,1053,1055],{},[45,1050,1051],{},"Order type."," Market orders fill at whatever price exists and therefore slip. Limit orders never slip, but they fail to fill, which is its own cost. Stop orders — including a ",[36,1054,67],{"href":66}," — become market orders the moment they trigger, which is the single most important consequence: a stop guarantees your exit, not your exit price.",[10,1057,1058,1059,1062],{},"The worst conditions are predictable: scheduled economic releases, the thin window around the daily rollover, the Sunday open gap, and the moment a cluster of stops is triggered and drains the book. ",[45,1060,1061],{},"Positive slippage"," exists too — a fill better than requested — and a broker that passes it on while also passing on the negative is behaving symmetrically. One that keeps the good fills and gives you the bad ones is not.",[14,1064,72],{"id":71},[10,1066,1067,1068,1070,1071,1074],{},"Slippage is the gap between a strategy on paper and the same strategy on a server. A ",[36,1069,383],{"href":382}," run on historical bid prices with zero slippage assumes an execution model that does not exist, and the shorter the ",[36,1072,1073],{"href":957},"average trade",", the larger the share of the edge that assumption invents.",[10,1076,1077,1078,1080],{},"The arithmetic is unforgiving at small targets. Half a pip of adverse slippage is a tenth of a five-pip target and a four-hundredth of a two-hundred-pip one, and it lands on top of ",[36,1079,671],{"href":254}," and commission rather than instead of them.",[14,1082,87],{"id":86},[10,1084,1085,1086,1089,1090,1093,1094,1096,1097,1100],{},"Execution quality matters most to systems that fire without waiting for a convenient moment, and that is most of the platform. Across the public accounts on ShowMyTrades with trading history (August 2026), the ",[45,1087,1088],{},"median autotrading share is 99%",", and ",[45,1091,1092],{},"53.9% of accounts are more than 90% automated"," (42.2% are under 10%). Those accounts reach ",[45,1095,120],{}," — ",[36,1098,1099],{"href":693},"the same strategy, sent to seven hundred different matching engines",", with seven hundred different latency profiles.",[10,1102,1103,1104,1107,1108,1111],{},"Holding periods make the exposure worse. On those accounts the ",[45,1105,1106],{},"median trade lasts 2.4 hours"," and the median account has closed ",[45,1109,1110],{},"171 trades",": execution cost is charged often, and each trade has little time for price movement to absorb it.",[14,1113,125],{"id":124},[10,1115,1116],{},"We do not record the price your terminal requested, so per-trade slippage is not a metric we publish, and no honest platform can publish it from broker data alone. What we do publish is the measurable half — the latency that produces it.",[127,1118,1119,1152,1171],{},[130,1120,166,1121,1123,1124,1127,1128,1133,1134,1139,1140,139,1143,139,1146,143,1149,163],{},[45,1122,737],{}," panel (",[45,1125,1126],{},"Terminal & Open Charts"," on MT5) reports ",[45,1129,1130],{},[36,1131,741],{"href":1132},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-terminal-ping",", the round-trip time between the terminal and the broker's trade server, and ",[45,1135,1136],{},[36,1137,744],{"href":1138},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-packet-retransmission",", the share of network packets that had to be sent again. Under 50 ms ping is excellent; above 200 ms can mean slower execution and more slippage. Consistently high retransmission points to an unreliable network or a distant trade server. The same panel shows ",[45,1141,1142],{},"Terminal build",[45,1144,1145],{},"Memory",[45,1147,1148],{},"Auto trading",[45,1150,1151],{},"DLL imports",[130,1153,166,1154,170,1156,1158,1159,143,1161,1163,1164,143,1167,1170],{},[45,1155,169],{},[45,1157,173],{}," carries ",[45,1160,181],{},[45,1162,184],{}," per ticket, next to the ",[45,1165,1166],{},"S\u002FL",[45,1168,1169],{},"T\u002FP"," columns. Comparing where an exit was set against where it actually landed is the closest reading of slippage available from broker records.",[130,1172,1173,1176,1177,1179],{},[45,1174,1175],{},"Worst Trade (Pips)"," in ",[45,1178,134],{}," is the fast check. A worst trade far deeper than the account's intended stop distance is the fingerprint of a gapped or slipped exit, not of a bad entry.",[14,1181,195],{"id":194},[197,1183,1184,1190,1196,1202],{},[130,1185,1186,1189],{},[45,1187,1188],{},"A stop loss guarantees the exit, not the price."," In a gap it fills at the first available price, which can be far beyond the level.",[130,1191,1192,1195],{},[45,1193,1194],{},"\"Zero slippage\" is not a promise anyone can keep"," on a market order. Guaranteed stops exist, but they are a separate product and they are paid for.",[130,1197,1198,1201],{},[45,1199,1200],{},"Slippage is not always a loss."," Check whether your fills are ever better than requested; if they never are, that is information about the broker.",[130,1203,1204,1207],{},[45,1205,1206],{},"Demo results are optimistic."," Demo servers do not model queue position or book depth, so a strategy that is flawless on demo can be marginal live.",[10,1209,1210,1211,163],{},"For how ping, retransmission and the rest of the page fit together, read the ",[36,1212,1214],{"href":1213},"\u002Fguides\u002Freading-a-trading-account-dashboard","guide to reading a trading account dashboard",{"title":31,"searchDepth":240,"depth":240,"links":1216},[1217,1218,1219,1220,1221],{"id":16,"depth":240,"text":17},{"id":71,"depth":240,"text":72},{"id":86,"depth":240,"text":87},{"id":124,"depth":240,"text":125},{"id":194,"depth":240,"text":195},"Slippage is the difference between the price you expected and the price you got. Why it is worst when it hurts most, and how latency makes it measurable.",{},[808,1225,1226,544],"what-is-a-stop-loss","what-is-a-vps",{"title":1018,"description":1222},"5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-slippage","Slippage","JLOyPs_NTBij0Irz000OtvybQcW-dMK5fckGo-AXXJo",1787415689736]