Resenting the spread
Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2026 10:23 pm
A trade closes at a profit of 0.2 pips after a 0.8 pip spread. The trade was right, the direction was right, and the account barely moved.
Spread resentment is a real emotion, and it leads to bad decisions. Trying to avoid the spread, a trader may wait for tighter quotes and miss entries, or switch to brokers with lower advertised spreads and worse execution.
Spread is simply the price of the service. Fighting it emotionally doesn't reduce it. What reduces it is choosing when and where to trade, and sizing targets so that cost is a small fraction.
A strategy whose edge is 2 pips and whose spread is 0.4 has a manageable ratio. One whose edge is 0.8 and whose spread is 0.6 is almost all cost.
Resentment also appears in the idea that "the broker is taking it". The spread is paid to liquidity providers and the broker, and in a competitive market it reflects real costs.
Converting the emotion into a number, the cost as a percentage of target, replaces anger with an actual decision about whether the trade is worth taking.
What ratio of spread to target is the cutoff, above which a trade gets skipped?
Spread resentment is a real emotion, and it leads to bad decisions. Trying to avoid the spread, a trader may wait for tighter quotes and miss entries, or switch to brokers with lower advertised spreads and worse execution.
Spread is simply the price of the service. Fighting it emotionally doesn't reduce it. What reduces it is choosing when and where to trade, and sizing targets so that cost is a small fraction.
A strategy whose edge is 2 pips and whose spread is 0.4 has a manageable ratio. One whose edge is 0.8 and whose spread is 0.6 is almost all cost.
Resentment also appears in the idea that "the broker is taking it". The spread is paid to liquidity providers and the broker, and in a competitive market it reflects real costs.
Converting the emotion into a number, the cost as a percentage of target, replaces anger with an actual decision about whether the trade is worth taking.
What ratio of spread to target is the cutoff, above which a trade gets skipped?