A short story about a fixed spread
Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2026 12:20 pm
A short story about a fixed spread
A trader once moved to a broker advertising a fixed 1.5 pip spread on EURUSD, no matter what. It felt reassuring after months of floating spreads that blew out at the worst moments.
For a couple of weeks everything worked. Then came a Non-Farm Payrolls morning. The scalper had an entry planned just after the release, with the spread comfortably at 1.5 as promised. The market jumped, the platform froze for several seconds, and when it came back the order had been filled 8 pips from the intended price.
The spread had stayed fixed. The price had not. A fixed spread does not mean a fixed price, and the broker was not obliged to fill anywhere near the quote during a fast market. Requotes and slippage took over the job the spread used to do.
Fixed spreads are not a scam. They are a pricing model that moves the risk from the quoted spread to the execution. In calm conditions it is fine. In stress the cost simply appears somewhere else.
The lesson is to compare total cost, including slippage and rejections, not the headline.
What did the actual cost per trade look like on a fixed spread account compared with a floating one, counting everything?
A trader once moved to a broker advertising a fixed 1.5 pip spread on EURUSD, no matter what. It felt reassuring after months of floating spreads that blew out at the worst moments.
For a couple of weeks everything worked. Then came a Non-Farm Payrolls morning. The scalper had an entry planned just after the release, with the spread comfortably at 1.5 as promised. The market jumped, the platform froze for several seconds, and when it came back the order had been filled 8 pips from the intended price.
The spread had stayed fixed. The price had not. A fixed spread does not mean a fixed price, and the broker was not obliged to fill anywhere near the quote during a fast market. Requotes and slippage took over the job the spread used to do.
Fixed spreads are not a scam. They are a pricing model that moves the risk from the quoted spread to the execution. In calm conditions it is fine. In stress the cost simply appears somewhere else.
The lesson is to compare total cost, including slippage and rejections, not the headline.
What did the actual cost per trade look like on a fixed spread account compared with a floating one, counting everything?