What 'zero spread' accounts charged me once I added it all up

[FXS London Scalper]

I ran a zero spread account alongside my usual raw account for two months, same EURUSD and GBPUSD strategy, small size, to see what "zero spread" actually costs.

What the statements showed:

• The spread really was zero or close to it most of the London morning on EURUSD. On GBPUSD it was often 0.1 to 0.3 rather than zero.
• Commission was higher than on the raw account: 10 dollars per lot round turn against 7. That alone is 0.3 pips more per trade.
• At rollover and in the first minutes after 08:00 the spread widened to normal levels anyway. "Zero" is a typical value, not a guarantee.

Adding it all up, my average cost per round turn on EURUSD was 1.0 pips on the zero spread account and 0.85 pips on the raw account. So the headline was true, and the account was still more expensive for me.

It might suit someone who trades only the most liquid hours and values a fixed, predictable number in the order ticket. For me it was a marketing label.

Has anyone found a zero spread account that came out cheaper after commission? I'd like to see the statement numbers, not the advert.

[Shadow Trader]

A zero-spread account is a marketing line. The spread is zero, so the cost moves somewhere else, usually into a commission per lot, and sometimes into the swap or the execution.

The comparison that matters is total round-turn cost. Add the commission on both sides, add the average spread during the hours actually traded, and add typical slippage. Put those three together and the "zero" account often costs about the same as a standard account, or a bit more during quiet hours.

Where it wins is on consistency. A flat commission is predictable, which helps when a strategy's edge is only 0.4 pips per trade.

Where it loses is during rollover and news. The spread might stay at zero on the quote, but the commission doesn't shrink when liquidity vanishes, and fills can still slip.

Run the numbers over a hundred real trades before switching.

One more wrinkle is how the commission is charged against the volume actually traded. A few brokers charge on the notional value of the position in the account currency, so the cost per lot drifts with the exchange rate. A commission that looks like 3.50 per lot can become 3.65 when the euro weakens, which is invisible unless a trade-by-trade comparison is made. For a strategy that makes a few hundred trades a month, those small differences are worth a spreadsheet.

Which account type has come out cheaper over a month of scalping, once everything is counted?