What are typical spreads on major currency pairs at UK brokers?
Verdict
- At Pepperstone, our top pick for UK forex traders, published averages on Razor are 0.1 pips on EUR/USD, 0.2 on GBP/USD and 0.3 on USD/JPY plus commission; on Standard they are 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 with no commission.
- Counting Razor's $7 round-trip commission as 0.7 pips, the all-in Razor cost on EUR/USD is about 0.8 pips, against 1.1 on Standard.
- Other UK brokers mostly publish 'from' spreads on the majors: ActivTrades from 0.5 on EUR/USD and 0.8 on GBP/USD, CMC from 0.5, IG from 0.6, and eToro from 1 pip on EUR/USD and 2 on GBP/USD.
- Vantage's commission-free Standard STP starts at 1.4 pips on EUR/USD, above Pepperstone's Standard average of 1.1.
'Typical' means what you will usually pay, which is an average, not the 'from' figure most adverts lead with. Few UK brokers publish averages. Here are the numbers that are published for EUR/USD, GBP/USD and USD/JPY, which are averages and which are minimums, and what they add up to once commission is included.
Pepperstone's typical spreads on the majors
Pepperstone publishes average spreads for both CFD accounts, which is why we use it as the benchmark and rate it first for UK forex. Razor averages 0.1 pips on EUR/USD, 0.2 on GBP/USD and 0.3 on USD/JPY, plus $3.50 per lot per side (from £2.25 in a GBP account). Standard averages 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 pips with no commission. On its UK site the minimums are 0.0 on Razor and 1.0 on Standard for EUR/USD and GBP/USD, while spread bets start at 0.5 points on EUR/USD and 0.8 on GBP/USD.
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Major-pair spreads at UK brokers
Capital.com, our second choice in the UK, shows only live spreads on its forex page, so it is not in the table. A dash means that broker's figure for the pair is not in our data.
| Broker and account | EUR/USD | GBP/USD | USD/JPY | Figure type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pepperstone Razor | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.3 | Average, plus commission |
| Pepperstone Standard | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | Average |
| ActivTrades | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.5 | From (target spread) |
| CMC Markets standard | 0.5 | – | – | From |
| IG | 0.6 | – | – | From |
| eToro | 1 | 2 | 1 | From |
| Vantage Standard STP | 1.4 | 1.6 | 1.5 | From |
All-in cost with commission included
Raw-spread accounts look cheaper than they are until you add commission. Convert it into pips: on a standard lot of EUR/USD worth $10 a pip, $7 of round-trip commission equals 0.7 pips.
- Pepperstone Razor on MT5 or TradingView: 0.1 + 0.7 = 0.8 pips all-in on EUR/USD.
- Pepperstone Razor on cTrader ($6 round trip): 0.1 + 0.6 = 0.7 pips.
- Pepperstone Standard: 1.1 pips, with nothing to add.
- GBP/USD: 0.2 + 0.7 = 0.9 pips on Razor, against 1.2 on Standard.
Reading 'from' figures honestly
- A 'from' spread is a minimum; an average includes the busy and quiet hours in between.
- Pepperstone's own EUR/USD minimum on Razor is 0.0 against a 0.1 average, so compare minimum with minimum and average with average.
- If a broker publishes only minimums, measure its live spread on your pairs before you compare.
- In a GBP account, pip values on USD-quoted pairs are converted, so your cost in pounds moves with the exchange rate.
Sources
Spreads as each broker publishes them.
Which major pair is cheapest to trade at Pepperstone?
EUR/USD, with a published Razor average of 0.1 pips and a Standard average of 1.1. GBP/USD and USD/JPY average 0.1 and 0.2 pips more on each account.
Is Standard or Razor better for the majors?
At published averages Razor is cheaper all-in on EUR/USD, about 0.8 pips against 1.1. Standard suits traders who want one number per trade and no commission.
Do spread bets on the majors cost more than CFDs?
At Pepperstone's UK minimums, a EUR/USD spread bet starts at 0.5 points with no commission, between Razor's 0.0 plus commission and Standard's 1.0. Spread bet averages are not in our data.
Leveraged products such as CFDs and spread bets carry a high risk of losing money rapidly. Pepperstone reports that 73.6% of its UK retail investor accounts lose money on these products. Spreads shown are as published and vary in live markets. This is not investment advice.