Spread-only versus commission accounts: the maths is closer than it looks

[Shadow Trader]

Brokers push two account types: wider spreads with no commission, or raw spreads with a commission per lot. The right choice depends on numbers, not marketing.

A raw account might show 0.1 pip spread plus 3.5 dollars per lot each side, which is roughly 0.7 pip round trip, so about 0.8 all in. A standard account might show a flat 1.0 or 1.2. That looks like an easy win for raw, until the average spread at news, rollover and Asia gets counted, because commission applies on top.

Commission is also a visible charge on the statement, while spread is buried in the price, so some traders feel commission more and quietly trade less. The fair comparison is real logged cost per trade, over a few hundred trades, at the hours actually traded.

Which account type has given the better all-in cost, and by how much?