The amount a broker adds to each side of the price it receives from its liquidity providers, the main revenue source in spread-only pricing.
A markup of 0.4 pips per side means the client's buy price is 0.4 pips above the raw offer and the sell price 0.4 pips below the raw bid, widening a 0.2-pip market spread to 1.0 pips.
Markups are often tiered by account size or volume, and may be larger on exotics and metals than on the majors. They are also where an introducing-broker rebate is funded, which is worth knowing when a signal service recommends a specific broker.
Example: a broker adds 0.5 pips per side. A client trading 60 lots a month pays 60 x $10 = $600 of markup, of which $200 might be passed to the introducing partner who referred them.
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.