The two ways FX brokers charge: a wider quote with no visible fee, or a tight quote with a stated commission; only the combined figure matters.
Spread-only pricing hides the cost inside the price, which makes accounts look free and makes comparison hard. Commission pricing shows it as a line item. Neither is automatically cheaper.
Convert everything to cost per standard-lot round trip. Spread cost in dollars equals spread in pips times pip value; add commission both sides. Then check average spread data at the hours you actually trade, not the headline minimum.
Example: Broker A quotes 1.4 pips, no commission: $14 per lot. Broker B quotes 0.3 pips plus $3 per side: $3 + $6 = $9. A trader doing 40 lots a month saves $200 with B, before any difference in fill quality.
Original diagrams for the ideas on this page. Illustrative, not real market data.
The bid-ask spread. Buy orders sit below, sell orders above, and the gap between the best bid (50.01) and best ask (50.04) is the spread you pay to cross. Bar length shows the size resting at each price.
Educational only, not advice. Spotted an error? Post in Site Feedback.