How much do CFD trading costs add up over a month?
Verdict
- At Pepperstone, our top pick for UK traders, a casual trader doing ten half-lot EUR/USD round trips a month pays about $40 on Razor or $55 on Standard at the published averages.
- An active trader doing 60 one-lot round trips pays about $480 on Razor via MT5, $420 on cTrader and $660 on Standard.
- Share CFDs add commission: 20 round trips on £5,000 UK share positions cost about £200 in commission at Pepperstone's 0.10% per side, before spreads.
- Overnight financing is the cost most traders forget; a few weeks of holding can outweigh a month of spreads.
Per-trade costs look small, which is why they are easy to ignore. Adding them up for a month shows which account suits you. We used Pepperstone's published UK figures because it publishes averages as well as minimums, which makes the arithmetic honest.
Three monthly profiles at Pepperstone
All figures use Pepperstone's published EUR/USD averages (0.1 pips on Razor, 1.1 on Standard), $10 per pip per standard lot, and Razor commission of $7 per round trip on MT5 or $6 on cTrader. They exclude overnight financing.
| Profile | Trades per month | Razor (MT5) | Razor (cTrader) | Standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casual | 10 × 0.5 lot | $40 | $35 | $55 |
| Regular | 30 × 1 lot | $240 | $210 | $330 |
| Active | 60 × 1 lot | $480 | $420 | $660 |
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Adding share CFDs and spread bets
Share CFDs at Pepperstone carry commission of 0.10% per side on UK shares. Twenty round trips on £5,000 positions mean £10 per trade, or £200 for the month, plus the spread. A spread bettor staking £2 a point on the UK 100 pays the spread only: at the published minimum of 1 point, that is £2 a trade, or £80 over 40 trades. Spreads are often wider than the minimum, so treat the spread bet figure as a floor.
The overnight line
Hold positions past 10 pm UK time and Pepperstone charges overnight financing on the full position value. As an illustration, a £10,000 position at an assumed 6.5% annual rate costs about £1.78 a night, so holding it for 20 trading nights adds about £36. A swing trader with five such positions open most of the month could pay more in financing than in spreads.
Costs that do not depend on trading
- No inactivity or account-keeping fee at Pepperstone.
- Deposits by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay and bank transfer are listed as free.
- Withdrawals are listed as free, although Pepperstone's costs FAQ mentions £15 for an international bank wire; use a domestic transfer or card to avoid it.
- Currency conversion: hold the account in GBP, USD, EUR or CHF to match the way you fund and trade.
Run your own numbers
- Count last month's trades and the average size in lots or pounds per point.
- Multiply by the round-trip cost per lot for each account type.
- Add overnight financing from your platform's swap figures for positions you held.
- Compare the totals: if Razor is cheaper by more than a few pounds a month, its commission line is worth the extra bookkeeping.
Sources
Cost figures published by Pepperstone.
At what point does a commission account become cheaper?
At Pepperstone's published averages, Razor is cheaper on every EUR/USD trade: about $8 per lot round trip on MT5 against $11 on Standard. The saving only matters once you trade regularly.
Are spread bets cheaper than CFDs each month?
Spread bets have no commission at Pepperstone, and Pepperstone says profits are free of capital gains tax for UK residents. Compare the spread on your markets, and check how tax applies to you.
What is the biggest hidden cost?
Usually overnight financing on positions held for days or weeks, because it is charged on the full position value.
Cost estimates use broker-published averages and an illustrative financing rate; your costs will differ. CFDs are complex, leveraged products with a high risk of losing money quickly. Not investment advice.