Refer a friend
Title Icon

Beginner

Venturing into Forex for the first time?
Explore the basic concepts of buying and selling.

What is a Spread in Forex?

A spread is a cost built into the buying and the selling price of all the currency pairs. In most cases, Forex spreads depend on your Forex broker. The spread is the primary cost of trading currencies. This article will discuss what Forex spreads are, how to calculate them, and the best ways to use them.

What is a Forex spread?

A Forex spread is the price difference between the buying and selling of a currency pair. The size of the spread depends on factors like the market’s volatility and the currency pairs you wish to trade. In a volatile market, spreads are usually wider. Thus, increasing your cost of transactions. Most Forex traders offer two types of trading accounts, depending on the size of the spread:

  • Standard no-commission account
    Brokers do not charge traders for commission, and traders keep all the profits that they make from a trade. This is possible as the cost for trading is included in the spread.
  • Direct account with commissionsTraders
    have access to raw spreads. These are lower since there is no extra cost added to the spread. Instead, traders need to pay a base commission fee to brokers.

Spreads are always measured in pips. It is derived by subtracting the last two decimal positions of the Bid and Ask prices.

forex spread graphic

A high spread refers to a large difference between the ask and bid price of the currency pair. Currency pairs of emerging markets and economies have a high spread as compared to major currency pairs. Meanwhile, a low spread refers to a small difference between the currency pair’s ask price and bid price.

How to calculate spreads in Forex trading

Using EUR/GBP as an example, your broker quotes your position at 1.1800/1.1802, making the spread equal to 2 pips (1.1802–1.1800=0.0002). If you buy EUR/GBP at 1.1802 and immediately sell it back to your broker, you get a bid price of 1.1800 for the same. Therefore, The speculative trade cost for this position comes down to $0.0002—assuming you only traded a single unit of the EUR/GBP. As currencies are traded in lots, the actual cost involved in a trade position of 10,000 would be equal to 0.0002*10,000 =$20 (spread*total lot size). A higher traded lot would mean a higher cost involved.

Analyse spreads carefully to improve your trading strategy

Knowing what factors cause Forex spreads to widen can directly help you make profitable trades. Blueberry Markets makes trading easier for new and experienced traders by offering raw spreads with our Direct account, and tight spreads with built-in costs with our Standard account. Open an account now to trade with spreads from as low as 0.0 pips.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good spread in Forex?

A good spread starts between zero to five pips, benefitting both the broker and the trader.

What is low spread in Forex?

The volatility 10 index represents low volatility in the market, which means low VIX. This also shows that there is increased certainty, economic stability, and low investor fear.

What is pip spread in Forex?

Currency pairs in the Forex market are quoted in terms of pips, which is one-hundredth of 1% or 0.0001.

What is the best spread in Forex?

The best spread in Forex is 0.0 spread, which means that there is no difference between the buying price and selling price. Hence, if you buy a currency pair and sell it immediately, you are at no loss.

What is spread betting in Forex?

Spread betting is a Forex trading strategy where participants do not own any currency pairs they trade. Instead, spread bettors speculate on whether the currency pair prices will increase or decrease based on a broker’s prices.

Recommended Topics

  • Habits of Forex Traders

    Forex trading requires discipline, focus, and a strong understanding of market trends.

  • Forex Trading Opportunities When Markets are Closed over Weekends

    The forex market can be operated 24/7 Monday to Friday.

  • How to Calculate Forex Position Sizing

    Each trader in the forex market defines their position size before moving forward with a trade.

  • Understanding Forex Risk Management

    The forex market is the most liquid and largest market in the world. However, like any other financial market, the forex market can also be risky during times of high volatility.

  • Hedging in Forex: How to Hedge Currency Risk

    Forex hedging or currency hedging allows you to open multiple trade positions to offset any possible currency risk associated with your current position

  • What Is PIP in forex trading?

    PIPs are essential in forex as they tell the traders about the size of profits or losses that can be made from a particular currency pair.

  • What Is Gap Trading?

    Gaps in the Forex market help traders identify price movement clues, entry and exit signals, and trend reversals.

  • Top Swing Trading Indicators

    Swing trading is all about profiting from market swings. It is a popular speculative strategy where traders tend to buy and hold their assets hoping to profit from expected market movement.

  • What are Support and Resistance Levels

    Support and resistance levels in the Forex market allow traders to understand the market direction and predict future prices to consider in making trade decisions.

  • MT4 vs MT5: Which is Better?

    MetaTrader is one of the most popular online trading platforms used globally and its two main versions are MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. But between MT4 and MT5, which is one best for you?

  • What is Forex?

    The Forex market offers high liquidity and margin opportunities for you to trade and potentially profit off of exchange rates of currencies. With a daily volume of more than $6.6 trillion in 2019, it is the largest financial market in the world.

  • What is Margin trading?

    Margin trading is one of the most common derivative strategies used in financial markets. It can also be considered tax-efficient as it allows you to choose the size of your wager and exempts profits earned from stamp duties and taxes.

  • What is Leverage in Forex

    Leverage allows traders to hold large positions in the Forex market with fewer capital. With leverage trading, traders can borrow money from a broker and hold larger positions, which in turn could magnify returns or losses.

  • How To Set a Stop Loss Order in Forex Trading

    A stop loss order is used to prevent extensive losses, especially during severe market dip situations. By placing a stop loss order, you can automatically close your position if the market moves against you.

  • MetaTrader 5: The Complete Guide

    MetaTrader 5, the powerful automated trading platform, offers advanced tools for successful trading analysis and trades in the financial markets. Aside from Forex, the MT5 platform helps you trade Stocks, CFDs, and Futures.

  • What is MetaTrader 4: The Complete Guide to MT4

    An advanced trading platform, MT4 has become a norm for seasoned Forex traders as it helps them execute their trades even when their machine is off. It comes with a user-friendly interface, numerous technical analysis tools for forecasting market patterns, real-time currency price data, and much more.

  • What are Long and Short Positions in Forex?

    In Forex trading, you can take long or short positions based on expectations of the market rising or falling. Long or buy positions are maintained when traders expect currency pair prices to increase in the future.

  • What is a Currency Pair in Forex?

    The foreign exchange (Forex) market is the largest financial market in the world. With a daily average volume of about $6.6 trillion and worth over $2.4 quadrillion as of 2021, Forex is a decentralised global market for trading currencies.

  • How do you trade forex?

    Many people want to get into Forex trading and make quick profits, but only a few even know how to start. While trading Forex online has now become easier than ever because of powerful platforms like Blueberry Markets, it can still feel incredibly overwhelming to get started with it.

  • When Can You Trade Forex?

    In case you are wondering is Forex trading profitable, the short answer is yes. But many opt for Forex traders to make fast profits since Forex markets are operational 24 hours for five days a week.

  • Who trades forex?

    Major players in the Forex market are financial institutions including commercial banks, central banks, money managers along with hedge funds. Many global corporations also trade in Forex to hedge currency risk.

  • Why trade forex?

    As the largest financial market globally, Forex trading is one of the most popular investment avenues for many. The liquidity and huge trading volume make Forex trading an option worth exploring.

  • Forex Margin & Leverage

    Forex trading usually provides much higher leverage compared to other financial instruments like stocks. This is one of the primary reasons why so many people are attracted to Forex, and more and more people have started to enter the Forex trading market.

  • Key steps to making your first trade in Forex

    Making your first trade in Forex successfully requires in-depth knowledge about trading basics and Forex trading strategies. The learning curve to trading currencies can seem overwhelming and complex, but when you have the right information by your side, it can make the entire process all the more easier.

  • How is Forex regulated?

    There are several Forex brokers in the Forex market, and amidst those thousands of Forex brokers, it can become nothing less than challenging for traders to find the best brokers.

  • Rollover rates

    When you hold a currency spot position overnight, the interest you either earn or pay is the rollover amount. Each currency has a different overnight interbank interest rate, and because you trade Forex in pairs, you also deal with two different interest rates.

  • Tips for Forex trading beginners

    In terms of trading volume, the Forex market is the largest financial market in the world. It is also the only financial market that operates round the clock every day.

Learn Icon

Intermediate

Have a basic understanding of
Forex? Ready to level up? Move on
to the intermediate course.

Guide to Forex
Trading indicators.

Enter your details to get a copy of our
free eBook

Thank you, please check your inbox for your ebook.

Ads BG

Start a risk free
demo account

News & Analysis

Catch up on what you might
have missed in the market.

Runner graphic

Ready to trade at
Blueberry Markets?

Your highly-rated trading experience
is a click away