The "all-in 1 pip" myth: real EURUSD costs broken down

[FXS London Scalper]

"It's about 1 pip all-in" gets thrown around for EURUSD as if it's a constant. Depending on account, time and execution, the real cost can range from around 0.6 to over 2 pips.

A worked breakdown for a raw account in the London session, with typical figures you can replace with your own:

• Raw spread at entry: 0.15 pips.
• Commission: $7 round turn per standard lot, so 0.7 pips.
• Slippage on market entries: 0.05 pips against you.
• Slippage on stop exits: 0.25 pips against you.
• Exit spread when closing at market: inside the spread figure, but higher on stop exits during fast moves.

That gives about 1.0–1.1 pips for a typical trade, close to the rule of thumb. Now change the conditions:

• Trade within 2 minutes of news and spread plus stop slippage can easily double the total.
• In Asia, if the average spread doubles, the total moves up by the same amount.
• With no commission but a 1.2 pip spread, as on many standard accounts,, you're at 1.3 pips or more even in London.

So "1 pip" is true only for a specific account, session and style. With targets of 3–5 pips, the difference between 0.8 and 1.4 is the whole edge. Your platform's deal history has everything needed to compute your own number per session.

Do you know your number for each session, or are you using a rule of thumb?