Money cost of the spread for a trade.
The spread cost calculator shows what the spread costs you in money on a trade. The spread is the gap between the bid and ask price, and you pay it on every trade you place. Enter the spread in pips and your trade size to see the cost in your account currency, both in total and per standard lot.
Spread cost = spread in pips × pip size × contract size × quote-to-account rate × lots
You trade 2 lots of EUR/USD on a USD account, and the spread is 1.2 pips.
Over 50 trades of the same size, that adds up to 1,200.00 USD. On gold, a 0.30 spread is 3 pips, so 1 lot costs 3 × 0.10 × 100 = 30.00 USD.
Compare the spread cost with your usual profit target. If you aim for 10 pips and pay 1.2, the spread takes 12% of each winner, which is why scalpers look for the tightest pricing. Spreads vary by broker, account type and time of day, so treat the figure as indicative.
To learn more, read spreads and pips explained, forex scalping and how to choose a forex broker. For the value of a single pip on any pair, try the pip value calculator.
You start every trade down by the spread, so price has to move that far in your favour before you break even. Tight spreads matter most for scalpers and frequent traders, because the cost repeats on every trade.
You pay it once per trade. You buy at the higher ask and sell at the lower bid, so across the round trip you cross the gap one time. The calculator shows that one-off cost for the size you enter.
No. It covers the spread only. Raw-spread accounts usually charge a commission per lot as well, so add that on top when you compare total trading costs. Overnight swap is a separate charge too.
This calculator counts one gold pip as 0.10. A spread of 0.30 on gold is 3 pips, and a spread of 0.25 is 2.5 pips. If your platform shows gold spreads in points of 0.01, divide the points by 10.
Spreads follow liquidity. They are usually tightest when the major sessions overlap and widest around the daily rollover, the weekly open and big news releases. The live figure on your own platform is the one to use.