The costs of trading depend on several factors, including the instrument
and market you are trading. Most of the costs you pay are to your
brokerage firm. They need to make a living in exchange for the services
they provide.
Commissions
These costs are charged by brokers. The commission you pay is
usually calculated as a percentage of the size of your trade. For
example, if you are buying or selling $10,000 worth of shares, your
broker may charge you 1% of that. They may also charge in tiers: for
example, if you are buying or selling shares with a total market value
of less than $10,000 then your broker may charge you $30. If it is under
$20,000, they may charge you $50. Therefore, if you bought $5,000 worth
of shares, you would still pay $30 commission. And if you bought
$12,000 worth of shares you would still pay $50 commission.
Slippage
The price of a commodity is always moving as long as the market
is open. Therefore, if the price of a share is quoted at $10 now, it
does not mean that when you decide to buy, you will buy those shares at
$10 each. When you put in your order and it gets filled, the market
price may have already changed. If your order to buy the shares was
filled at a price of $10.25, and you bought 100 shares, then your total
slippage cost is: $25 (that is 100 shares * $0.25). If you had the same
slippage when you sell, then the entire slippage costs for you getting
in and out of the market would be $50 (that is $25 * 2 trades).
Spread
The spread is the difference between the bid to buy and offer to
sell for the commodity. If the most eager buyer is willing to buy US
Dollars for 0.7500 Australian Dollars each, but the most eager seller is
only willing to sell them for 0.7510 Australian Dollars each, then
there is a spread of 10 pips. These 10 pips are referred to as the
spread. If you bought 100,000 USDs, the spread would cost you 100
Australian Dollars. (Pips are discussed further in the book: The
Part-Time Currency Trader .)
Platform Fees
Some brokers charge you monthly for using their trading platforms.
Expenses
These costs include those associated to your trading education
like buying books, trading software, data subscription and so forth.
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