How spread, commission and slippage compress your real R-multiple
When you place a trade with a 10-pip stop loss and a 20-pip take profit, the chart shows a clean 2.00R reward-to-risk ratio and a 33.3% break-even win rate. In live execution, you buy at the Ask and exit at the Bid: a 1.4-pip all-in spread and slippage cost reduces your net win to 18.6 pips while increasing your effective loss to 11.4 pips—shrinking your actual payoff to 1.63R and pushing your true break-even win rate up to 38.0%. On EURUSD, a 1.2-pip standard spread against a 0.1-pip Raw spread plus $7 round-turn commission (0.8 pips all-in) is a 0.4-pip gap: over 50 trades a month at 1.00 standard lot that is $200 a month, or $2,400 a year. The spreads below are illustrative examples (set 2026-10-22), not quotes from any broker, and the dollar figures assume a USD account.
| Instrument | Value per pip / point (1 lot) | Standard account (spread only) | Raw / ECN account (spread + $7/lot) | Savings per 50 trades (1 lot) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EURUSD | $10.00 / pip | 1.2 pips ($12.00) | 0.1 pips + $7.00 ($8.00) | $200 / month ($2,400 / year) |
| GBPUSD | $10.00 / pip | 1.5 pips ($15.00) | 0.2 pips + $7.00 ($9.00) | $300 / month ($3,600 / year) |
| XAUUSD (Gold, 100 oz) | $10.00 / $0.10 pip | 2.5 pips ($25.00) | 0.8 pips + $7.00 ($15.00) | $500 / month ($6,000 / year) |
| NAS100 / US30 (example $1/point spec; lot sizes vary by broker) | $1.00 / point | 1.8–2.4 pts ($1.80–$2.40) | 0.8–1.1 pts ($0.80–$1.10) | $50–$65 / month per contract |
Audit your historical MT5 spread and commission drag
Want to measure what commissions and swaps already took from your own account? Upload your statement locally in our MT5 Report Analyzer, check overnight holding charges in the Forex Swap Calculator, and size your next position in the Forex Position Size Calculator or Trading Expectancy Calculator.