Spreads, Swaps, Margins & Slippage: The Broker Commercials Checklist

1. Spreads

The spread is the difference between the bid (sell) and the ask (buy) price. It's the most visible cost — and the most misrepresented.

Three things to look at, not just one:

Typical spread vs minimum spread. Brokers love to advertise "from 0.0 pips". The number you'll pay 95% of the time is the average, not the floor. Ask for time-weighted average spreads during London + NY overlap.
Behaviour around news. Spreads widen on NFP, CPI, FOMC. The question is by how much — 2x, 5x, 20x? A broker who quotes EURUSD at 0.6 pip normally but 25 pip during the NFP minute is not actually cheap.
Commission, if applicable. ECN/Raw accounts charge commission per round-turn (typical $3.5–$7 per standard lot per side). Add it to the spread to get the true round-turn cost.

How to compare honestly: on EURUSD, total cost per standard lot = (spread in pips × $10) + (commission per side × 2). A 0.2 pip spread + $3.5 commission is $9 round-turn. A 0.8 pip "zero commission" account is $8. Close — but you only know if you do the maths.

2. Swaps (overnight financing)

Hold a leveraged position past 5pm New York and you pay or receive swap — the interest-rate differential between the two currencies in the pair, adjusted for the broker's mark-up.

Long vs short rates are asymmetric. On most retail brokers you pay more on the side you're financing than you'd receive on the other side. The gap is the broker's mark-up.
Triple-swap Wednesday. Wednesday's overnight rollover charges three days of swap to account for the weekend's spot settlement. Plan around it for short-term hedges.
Islamic / swap-free accounts. The broker replaces interest with a fixed administration fee after a grace period (often 3–7 days). Check the fee per lot per day on the instruments you actually hold — for some symbols it's worse than the original swap.
CFDs on indices and commodities. Swap is calculated against the underlying funding rate, not just an interest differential. Index CFDs held long-term can quietly eat 4–8% per year.

3. Margins and leverage

Margin is the deposit required to open and maintain a leveraged position. Leverage is the inverse: 1:30 leverage = 3.33% margin.

Regulator caps matter. SCA, DFSA and FSRA cap retail FX/CFD leverage at 1:30 for majors, 1:20 for minors, 1:10 for indices, 1:5 for individual equities, 1:2 for crypto CFDs. Brokers offering 1:500 to UAE residents from the same brand are usually routing those clients to an offshore entity. Know which entity you're contracting with.
Margin call vs stop-out. Two separate thresholds. Margin call (often at 100% margin level) = warning. Stop-out (often 50% or 20%) = forced liquidation. Order of liquidation also varies — biggest loser first, or oldest position first. Get it in writing.
Dynamic margin around news and weekends. Many brokers double margin requirements before NFP, FOMC and Friday close. Existing positions are unaffected, but new ones need more deposit.
Negative balance protection. Required for retail clients under most major regulators. Confirm it applies to your account type — pro/elective-professional clients often waive it.

4. Slippage and execution quality

Slippage is the difference between the price you clicked and the price you got. It's normal — it's how the market works when prices move between your click and the broker's fill. What matters is whether it's symmetric.

Symmetric slippage — you get filled worse when the market moves against you, better when it moves for you. This is what a fair execution policy produces.
Asymmetric slippage — you only ever get filled worse, never better. This is a red flag, and at regulated brokers it's a compliance breach.
Last-look — the LP (or the broker) holds your order for a few milliseconds and decides whether to fill at the requested price, fill at a worse price, or reject. Common on spot FX. Disclosed at regulated firms.
Re-quotes — the broker rejects your price and offers a new one. Largely extinct on modern bridges but still present on some MT4 setups.

Ask for execution quality stats: % of orders filled at or better than requested, average positive vs negative slippage, and reject rate. Reputable brokers either publish these or share them on request.

The 12-point commercials checklist

Average spread (time-weighted) on the symbols you trade most.
Spread widening factor during top-tier news.
Commission per round-turn, if any.
Daily long and short swap on each open position.
Wednesday triple-swap policy.
Swap-free account fee schedule (if Islamic).
Leverage caps per asset class and per entity.
Margin call % and stop-out %.
Order-of-liquidation logic.
Dynamic margin schedule around news and weekends.
Symmetric-slippage policy in writing.
Negative balance protection and which account types it covers.