Raw spreads and fast execution: what traders need to know in 2026

ECN vs dealing desk: understanding what you're trading through

Most retail brokers fall into two broad camps: those that take the other side of your trade and those that pass it through. The distinction matters. A dealing desk broker becomes the other side of your trade. An ECN broker routes your order directly to liquidity providers — you get fills from genuine liquidity.

In practice, the difference becomes clear in how your trades get filled: whether spreads blow out at the wrong moment, fill speed, and requotes. ECN brokers generally deliver tighter pricing but add a commission per lot. Dealing desk brokers widen the spread instead. Both models work — it hinges on what you need.

If you scalp or trade high frequency, ECN is almost always the better fit. Tighter spreads compensates for paying commission on high-volume currency pairs.

Why execution speed is more than a marketing number

Brokers love quoting how fast they execute orders. Figures like under 40ms fills sound impressive, but does it make a measurable difference when you're actually placing trades? It depends entirely on what you're doing.

For someone making longer-term positions, a 20-millisecond difference doesn't matter. But for scalpers targeting quick entries and exits, every millisecond of delay can equal money left on the table. If your broker fills at 35-40 milliseconds with no requotes offers noticeably better entries versus slower execution environments.

Certain platforms put real money into proprietary execution technology that eliminates dealing desk intervention. Titan FX developed a Zero Point technology that routes orders directly to LPs without dealing desk intervention — they report averages of under 37 milliseconds. There's a thorough analysis in this Titan FX broker review.

Commission-based vs spread-only accounts — which costs less?

This ends up being a question that comes up constantly when picking a broker account: is it better to have commission plus tight spreads or a wider spread with no commission? The answer varies based on how much you trade.

Here's a real comparison. The no-commission option might show EUR/USD at 1.0-1.5 pips. A raw spread account gives you the same pair at 0.0-0.3 pips but charges a commission of about $7 per standard lot round trip. For the standard account, you're paying through every trade. At moderate volume, the commission model saves you money mathematically.

Many ECN brokers offer both side by side so you can compare directly. What matters is to do the maths with your own numbers rather than trusting the broker's examples — those often make the case for the higher-margin product.

500:1 leverage: the argument traders keep having

High leverage divides the trading community more than most other subjects. The major regulatory bodies have capped retail leverage at review of titan fx 30:1 or 50:1 depending on the asset class. Platforms in places like Vanuatu or the Bahamas can still offer 500:1 or higher.

The usual case against 500:1 is that inexperienced traders wipe out faster. This is legitimate — statistically, the majority of retail accounts end up negative. The counterpoint is something important: professional retail traders never actually deploy full leverage. What they do is use the option of high leverage to lower the capital sitting as margin in any single trade — leaving more capital to deploy elsewhere.

Obviously it carries risk. No argument there. But that's a risk management problem, not a leverage problem. When a strategy needs less capital per position, having 500:1 available means less money locked up as margin — which is the whole point for anyone who knows what they're doing.

Choosing a broker outside FCA and ASIC jurisdiction

Regulation in forex operates across different levels. Tier-1 is FCA (UK) and ASIC (Australia). You get 30:1 leverage limits, mandate investor compensation schemes, and generally restrict the trading conditions available to retail accounts. On the other end you've got places like Vanuatu (VFSC) and similar offshore regulators. Less oversight, but the flip side is better trading conditions for the trader.

The compromise is real and worth understanding: tier-3 regulation means more aggressive trading conditions, fewer trading limitations, and often cheaper trading costs. In return, you get less regulatory protection if the broker fails. There's no investor guarantee fund equivalent to FSCS.

For traders who understand this trade-off and choose performance over protection, tier-3 platforms are a valid choice. What matters is looking at operating history, fund segregation, and reputation rather than simply checking if they're regulated somewhere. A platform with a decade of operating history under VFSC oversight can be a safer bet in practice than a brand-new tier-1 broker.

What scalpers should look for in a broker

For scalping strategies is the style where broker choice makes or breaks your results. Targeting tiny price movements and holding trades open for very short periods. In that environment, tiny variations in spread translate directly to profit or loss.

Non-negotiables for scalpers is short: raw spreads at actual market rates, execution under 50 milliseconds, guaranteed no requotes, and the broker allowing scalping strategies. Certain platforms technically allow scalping but add latency to fills when they detect scalping patterns. Look at the execution policy before committing capital.

Platforms built for scalping usually say so loudly. They'll publish average fill times on the website, and usually throw in VPS access for automated strategies. When a platform avoids discussing fill times anywhere on the website, that tells you something.

Social trading in forex: practical expectations

Copy trading took off over the past several years. The appeal is simple: pick someone with a good track record, replicate their positions in your own account, benefit from their skill. How it actually works is messier than the marketing imply.

The biggest issue is time lag. When the lead trader executes, your mirrored order executes milliseconds to seconds later — when prices are moving quickly, those extra milliseconds can turn a winning entry into a losing one. The smaller the average trade size in pips, the worse the lag hurts.

That said, some social trading platforms are worth exploring for those who don't have time to develop their own strategies. The key is finding platforms that show real track records over at least several months of live trading, instead of simulated results. Risk-adjusted metrics tell you more than the total return number.

Some brokers have built in-house social platforms integrated with their standard execution. Integration helps lower latency issues compared to third-party copy services that bolt onto the broker's platform. Look at how the copy system integrates before expecting historical returns will translate to your account.