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

The difference between ECN and market maker execution

A lot of the brokers you'll come across fall into one of two categories: those that take the other side of your trade and those that pass it through. The difference is more than semantics. A dealing desk broker is essentially the one taking the opposite position. An ECN broker routes your order through to the interbank market — you're trading against genuine liquidity.

Day to day, the difference becomes clear in a few ways: how tight and stable your spreads are, execution speed, and order rejection rates. Genuine ECN execution generally deliver tighter pricing but apply a commission per lot. Market makers pad the spread instead. Both models work — it depends on your strategy.

If your strategy depends on tight entries and fast fills, ECN execution is generally the right choice. Tighter spreads makes up for paying commission on high-volume currency pairs.

Execution speed: what 37 milliseconds actually means for your trades

Every broker's website mentions how fast they execute orders. Figures like under 40ms fills look good in marketing, but how much does it matter in practice? More than you'd think.

For someone executing longer-term positions, the gap between 40ms and 80ms execution doesn't matter. For high-frequency strategies targeting quick entries and exits, slow fills translates to money left on the table. If your broker fills at in the 30-40ms range with no requotes gives you an actual advantage compared to platforms with 150-200ms fills.

Some brokers built proprietary execution technology to address this. One example is Titan FX's Zero Point technology designed to route orders directly to LPs without dealing desk intervention — their published average is under 37 milliseconds. There's a thorough analysis in this review of Titan FX.

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

Here's the most common question when choosing a broker account: is it better to have a commission on raw spreads or zero commission but wider spreads? It comes down to your monthly lot count.

Here's a real comparison. A standard account might offer EUR/USD at 1.1-1.3 pips. A raw spread account gives you the same pair at 0.0-0.3 pips but charges a commission of about $7 per lot traded both ways. For the standard account, you're paying through every trade. If you're doing more than a few lots a week, ECN pricing works out cheaper.

A lot of platforms offer both as options so you can compare directly. Make sure you do the maths with your own numbers rather than going off marketing scenarios — those tend to favour whichever account the broker wants to push.

High leverage in 2026: what the debate gets wrong

Leverage divides the trading community more than most other subjects. The major regulatory bodies limit retail leverage at 30:1 or 50:1 depending on the asset class. Offshore brokers still provide 500:1 or higher.

Critics of high leverage is that inexperienced traders wipe out faster. That's true — the data shows, traders using maximum leverage end up negative. What this ignores a key point: professional retail traders never actually deploy the maximum ratio. What they do is use having access to high leverage to minimise the capital tied up in each position — freeing up margin to deploy elsewhere.

Obviously it carries risk. Nobody disputes that. But blaming the leverage is like blaming the car for a speeding ticket. When a strategy requires lower margin requirements, access to 500:1 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

Broker regulation in forex operates across different levels. At the top is regulators like the FCA and ASIC. Leverage is capped at 30:1, mandate investor compensation schemes, and put guardrails on the trading conditions available to retail accounts. Tier-3 you've got the VFSC in Vanuatu and similar offshore regulators. Fewer requirements, but which translates to higher leverage and fewer restrictions.

What you're exchanging not subtle: tier-3 regulation gives you 500:1 leverage, less compliance hurdles, and usually more competitive pricing. The flip side is, you have less investor protection if there's a dispute. There's no compensation scheme equivalent to FSCS.

If you're comfortable with the risk and choose better conditions, tier-3 platforms are a valid choice. The key is looking at operating history, fund segregation, and reputation rather than only checking if they're regulated somewhere. A platform with a decade of operating history under an offshore licence can be more reliable in practice than a brand-new tier-1 broker.

Broker selection for scalping: the non-negotiables

If you scalp is where broker choice has the biggest impact. You're working small ranges and staying in for less than a few minutes at a time. In that environment, even small differences in spread translate directly to the difference between a winning and losing month.

Non-negotiables for scalpers isn't long: true ECN spreads at actual market rates, execution consistently below 50ms, a no-requote policy, and this site no restrictions on scalping and high-frequency trading. Some brokers technically allow scalping but throttle fills when they detect scalping patterns. Read the terms before funding your account.

Brokers that actually want scalpers will make it obvious. They'll publish execution speed data somewhere prominent, and they'll typically offer VPS hosting for automated strategies. If a broker doesn't mention their execution speed anywhere on their marketing, that tells you something.

Social trading in forex: practical expectations

The idea of copying other traders has grown over the past several years. The appeal is simple: pick profitable traders, mirror their activity automatically, collect the profits. In reality is more complicated than the advertisements suggest.

The main problem is time lag. When the lead trader opens a position, your mirrored order executes after a delay — when prices are moving quickly, that lag transforms a good fill into a losing one. The more narrow the average trade size in pips, the more the impact of delay.

Despite this, a few social trading platforms are worth exploring for people who can't trade actively. What works is transparency around verified track records over no less than several months of live trading, rather than simulated results. Looking at drawdown and consistency tell you more than raw return figures.

Certain brokers offer their own social trading within their regular trading platform. Integration helps lower the execution lag compared to third-party copy services that connect to MT4 or MT5. Check the technical setup before assuming historical returns will carry over with the same precision.