"Zero commission" and "tight spreads" are marketing. The number that matters is the all-in cost of trading the way you trade — and it's made of more parts than the headline shows. Our fees comparison and cost calculator add these up for you.
The five costs of a trade
- Spread — the gap between the buy and sell price, a trading cost separate from commission. A "from 0.0 pips" quote is an advertised minimum, not the spread on every trade.
- Commission — a separate trading charge. Check whether the schedule is per lot, per USD value traded or a percentage, and whether the quote covers one side or the complete trade. The cTrader example below shows why those units matter.
- Swap / overnight financing — a daily charge for holding a leveraged position past the cut-off. Trivial for a day trade, significant if you hold for weeks.
- Currency conversion — if you trade an asset priced in a currency other than your account's, conversion costs quietly stack up.
- Non-trading fees — inactivity fees (the XM inactivity fee is a worked example), deposit/withdrawal fees and account fees that appear after you fund.
cTrader fee per million: what does it mean?
A commission quoted in USD per million of USD traded is based on the trade's USD value, not the margin you deposit. If the schedule says per side, calculate the opening and closing charges separately, then add them. A round-turn quote already covers both sides.
cTrader supports several commission bases, including USD per million, USD per lot and percentage-based charges. There is no single fee that applies to every cTrader account. Check the broker, company, instrument and account schedule. Source: cTrader's commission-type documentation, read 19 October 2026.
For a USD-per-million, per-side schedule:
One side's commission in USD = USD value traded × fee per million ÷ 1,000,000.
Use the USD value at each execution. For EUR/USD, that means converting the euro trade size at the opening price and again at the closing price. Do not treat one standard lot of EUR/USD as a fixed USD 100,000 exposure.
Worked example: IC Markets Australia cTrader pricing
IC Markets Australia's pricing page, read 19 October 2026, states USD 3 per USD 100,000 traded per side for cTrader Raw Spread. That is equivalent to USD 30 per USD million per side. This is the Australian company's published schedule, not a rate for every IC Markets entity or cTrader broker.
Its EUR/USD illustration uses one standard lot, EUR 100,000, opened at 1.3000 and closed at 1.3100:
- Opening: EUR 100,000 × 1.3000 = USD 130,000 traded; USD 130,000 × 30 ÷ 1,000,000 = USD 3.90.
- Closing: EUR 100,000 × 1.3100 = USD 131,000 traded; USD 131,000 × 30 ÷ 1,000,000 = USD 3.93.
- Total commission: USD 7.83, before spread, financing and other charges.
Those prices are an example, not live quotes. The source also says USD commission is converted into the account's base currency at the current spot rate. Confirm the schedule and currency before comparing this with a per-lot quote.
Is a cTrader Copy volume fee the same charge?
No. A cTrader Copy volume fee pays the strategy provider for copied trading volume. It is separate from the broker's trading commission. The provider may also set performance or management fees, so read the strategy's full fee display before copying. The official Copy fee guide, read 19 October 2026, describes its volume fee as per side: opening and closing can each incur it.
To research platform options, filter the broker comparison to cTrader, then confirm your country, contracting company and account terms. Platform support alone does not establish eligibility or a particular fee.
Why "cheapest spread" is the wrong question
A scalper placing 50 trades a day cares enormously about spread and commission and barely about swap. A position trader holding for weeks cares about swap and conversion far more than a fraction of a pip on entry.
The same broker can be the cheapest choice for one of them and the most expensive for the other. Model the cost against your own trading, not against a generic example.
A quick gut-check
Multiply your typical round-trip cost (spread + commission) by how many trades you place in a month, then add any swap and monthly fees. That number — not the homepage figure — is what trading actually costs you. For a worked example built from a broker's own legal documents, see XM's full fee schedule.
Figures brokers publish are typical and indicative; your real cost varies with account type, market conditions and time of day. Verify current pricing with the broker before you fund. Educational content, not financial advice.