Commission plus raw spread is not always cheaper than a wide-spread account

[Fairman]

Commission plus raw spread is not always cheaper than a wide-spread account

Marketing for raw spread accounts shows 0.1 pip on EUR/USD and a flat commission, and the total looks like a bargain compared to a standard account. For some scalpers it is. For others the math tells a different story.

The real cost is commission per round turn plus the actual average spread during the exact minutes traded, not the headline minimum. A pair that averages 0.1 in the London session might sit at 0.6 during the Asian window. Add commission, and a Tokyo-session scalper may pay more than on a plain zero-commission account with a steady 1.0 spread.

The reverse also happens. Standard accounts sometimes widen far more during volatility, since the markup is baked into the spread.

The only reliable way to compare is pulling actual tick spread data from each account for the traded hours, then calculating total cost per lot in dollars rather than pips.

It takes an afternoon in a spreadsheet and can save thousands a year.

Has anyone compared two account types side by side with real tick data, and which one won?