While minimum spreads can grab the headlines they don't tell the whole story, as markets can be volatile and the underlying market spreads can widen throughout the day.
At CMC Markets we believe it’s important that all CFD providers should be more transparent and should publish their daily typical spreads as well as their minimum spreads. Consistent daily typical spreads are a reflection of pricing consistency throughout the day, which is something active traders see as vital. Below you will find two tables showing CMC Markets’ most popular typical spreads over the last week.
Remember that on the CMC CFD trading platform there is no dealer intervention and the execution is 100% automated.
CMC Markets – FX pairs (12/05/2013–17/05/2013)
| Instrument | Minimum spread | Typical spread |
|---|---|---|
| AUD/USD | 0.7 pts | 1.226 pts |
| EUR/JPY | 1.5 pts | 2.432 pts |
| EUR/USD | 0.7 pts | 1.048 pts |
| GBP/USD | 0.9 pts | 1.627 pts |
| NZD/USD | 2.0 pts | 2.063 pts |
| USD/CAD | 1.7 pts | 2.141 pts |
| USD/CHF | 1.5 pts | 1.923 pts |
| USD/JPY | 0.7 pts | 1.082 pts |
Index typical spreads
| Instrument | Frequency | From (UTC) | To (UTC) | Fixed spread * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK 100 | Daily | 08:00 | 16:30 | 1 pts |
| UK 100 | Daily | 16:30 | 21:00 | 1.5 pts |
| UK 100 | Daily overnight | 21:00 | 08:00 | 6.0 pts |
| GERMANY 30 | Daily | 07:00 | 21:00 | 1 pt |
| US NDAQ 100 | Daily | 24 hrs | 24 hrs | 1 pt |
| US 30 | Daily | 07:00 | 21:15 | 1.4 pt |
| US 30 | Daily overnight | 21:30 | 07:00 | 3.0 pts |
The spreads above are only available on the CMC Next Generation trading platform.
Spreads explained
There are three common ways of quoting spreads on trading platforms: fixed, minimum and typical.
- *Fixed spreads are available on a range of our products. The benefit of trading on a fixed spread is that even during volatile market conditions the spread remains the same. Some instruments have different in-hours and out-of-hours fixed spreads due to lower market liquidity outside of the main trading session. However, fixed spreads cannot be guaranteed during the most extreme market conditions. Please refer to a product’s factsheet on the CFD trading platform for trading hours.
- ** Minimum spreads are the lowest spread that will be shown on the given product. If the underlying market spread widens throughout the trading day, the spread on our platform may also widen. Unlike other CFD providers, during normal market conditions our typical spreads are much closer to our minimums.
- ***Typical spreads are a reflection of a company's pricing consistency throughout a 24-hour period. This is why we now encourage our clients to look at the typical spread of a product.