The difference between the buy (ask) and sell (bid) price — your cost of entering a trade.
The spread is the gap between what you pay to buy and what you get when you sell, at the same moment. If EUR/USD is showing bid 1.09540 and ask 1.09548, the spread is 8 pipettes (0.8 pips). When you click buy, you pay the ask. When you click sell, you receive the bid. The spread is the broker's commission baked into the price.
Spreads vary by pair, time of day, and broker. Majors like EUR/USD have the tightest spreads (often 0.5-1 pip). Exotics like USD/ZAR can have 20+ pip spreads. During news events, spreads blow out — a normally 1-pip EUR/USD spread can spike to 20+ pips during NFP.
Spread is a cost you pay on every trade. Scalpers who take many small trades feel it most. Swing traders who hold for 50-100 pips barely notice it.
During the Dec 2023 FOMC, EUR/USD's normal 0.8 pip spread blew out to 15 pips in the first 30 seconds after the decision. Traders with market orders got filled 15 pips worse than the screen price.
Frequently asked about spread
What is a spread in trading?+
The difference between the buy (ask) and sell (bid) price — your cost of entering a trade.
When will I see spread used in real trading?+
Every trade you open is already "down" by the spread amount. Factor it into every target and stop.
What is the most common mistake traders make with spread?+
Comparing brokers only by spreads. A broker with 0.0 pip spreads but a $7 commission per lot is usually more expensive than a broker with 1.0 pip spread and no commission. Do the math on total cost per round trip.
What do experienced traders know about spread that beginners don't?+
Never trade 1 minute before or after high-impact news. Spreads blow out 10x and you get filled at terrible prices even on perfectly good setups.
Read the lesson here. Mark the chart on TradingView. Compare brokers with the checklist.
TradingView is the chart workspace most learners already recognize: watchlists, alerts, drawings, and clean multi-market charts. Broker research stays methodology-first: jurisdiction, costs, platform, withdrawals, and risk before any account decision.