Importance of Forex Spreads

Importance of Forex Spreads

Spreads directly affects the return on a bank’s or a forex broker’s trading strategy. If you are a trader, your best interest lies in selling high and buying low. Don’t get disheartened at a half-pip lower spread because it can be the fine line between a profitable trading strategy and a loss-making one. You only have to pull it off with a first-rate execution. Your execution will decide whether or not you will get tight spreads.

There are times when brokers give you a hint of a tight spread but deliver wider spreads. Be careful when your trading screen is showing a tight spread but your trade is missing some pips. Brokers tend to use techniques such as delayed execution, rejected trades, slippage, and stop-hunting. It is better if you do not leave all the work to your broker. Check his or her performance every now and then and put the knowledge you gained in this website to good use.

Aside from the execution, you also have to pay attention to the depth of the book. If put in the context of economies of scale, forex works in a slightly different manner than other financial markets. (Economies of scale is defined as the increase in effectiveness of production as the number of goods being produced increases.) Unlike on the interbank market where the higher the ticket size is the larger the spread is, the tight spread in forex market is exclusively applicable to a capped trade size which turns out to be insufficient for usual trading strategies.

To sum it up, spreads can vary based on the current liquidity of the forex market and the ticket size. Perfect timing can go a long way in making money. You have to know when to execute a trade in order to reap maximum benefits.