How Much A Forex Broker Makes From A Single Account?
When you start currency trading, you are told by every forex broker that there are no commissions involved in forex trading. New traders take their brokers words as true and most think that the cost of trading is minimal.
Forex brokers also called FCMs (Futures Commission Merchants) make profits through the bid-ask spread they offer to their clients for each currency pair. This bid-ask spread is the trading cost for you and the profit for your FCM.
Lets take a practical example. Bid/ask spreads are usually overlooked by the individual traders as the price they have to pay for trading. So lets calculate what your cost of trading can be in a year.
Suppose you are day trading. 5 times every day, taking away the weekends, when you cant trade, there are 250 trading days for you.
As a day trader, you open and close your position before the end of the day. That means each position is traded 2 times.
Suppose; your start with an account size of $50,000. You are using a leverage of 4 only, you are cautious. So this $50,000 deposit will control (50,000) (4) = $200,000 for you.
Your Annual Turnover should be; (5) (250) (2)(200,000)= $500 Million. Isnt it huge! Now lets calculate how much FCM will make and what your spread cost is. Spread Cost= (Annual Turnover) (spread)/2.
Suppose further, the bid/ask spread offered by the broker is 3 pips. 3 Pips Spread Cost= (500M) (0.0003)/2= $75,000.
Suppose the bid/offer spread charged by the broker is only 2 pips. 2 Pips Spread Cost= (500M) (0.0002)/2= $50,000.
You can see yourself, the cost of trading with a 3 pips spread versus a 2 pips is $25,000. This is 50% of your account equity. You see, a 1 pip difference can result in $25,000 more as trading cost for you.
You will have to make a profit of $75,000 simply to break even. Trading costs are one of the reasons most active traders fail in the long run. - 23162
Forex brokers also called FCMs (Futures Commission Merchants) make profits through the bid-ask spread they offer to their clients for each currency pair. This bid-ask spread is the trading cost for you and the profit for your FCM.
Lets take a practical example. Bid/ask spreads are usually overlooked by the individual traders as the price they have to pay for trading. So lets calculate what your cost of trading can be in a year.
Suppose you are day trading. 5 times every day, taking away the weekends, when you cant trade, there are 250 trading days for you.
As a day trader, you open and close your position before the end of the day. That means each position is traded 2 times.
Suppose; your start with an account size of $50,000. You are using a leverage of 4 only, you are cautious. So this $50,000 deposit will control (50,000) (4) = $200,000 for you.
Your Annual Turnover should be; (5) (250) (2)(200,000)= $500 Million. Isnt it huge! Now lets calculate how much FCM will make and what your spread cost is. Spread Cost= (Annual Turnover) (spread)/2.
Suppose further, the bid/ask spread offered by the broker is 3 pips. 3 Pips Spread Cost= (500M) (0.0003)/2= $75,000.
Suppose the bid/offer spread charged by the broker is only 2 pips. 2 Pips Spread Cost= (500M) (0.0002)/2= $50,000.
You can see yourself, the cost of trading with a 3 pips spread versus a 2 pips is $25,000. This is 50% of your account equity. You see, a 1 pip difference can result in $25,000 more as trading cost for you.
You will have to make a profit of $75,000 simply to break even. Trading costs are one of the reasons most active traders fail in the long run. - 23162
About the Author:
Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. He is interested in day trading and swing trading stocks and currencies. Learn Forex Nitty Gritty. Read about Trend Forex System. Try Netpicks Forex Signal Service.
posted by X - Men @ 5:38 AM
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