Mautje - have a look for a worked example of a commission calculation on their site. Now the health warning - guys, if I get any of the following wrong, please tell me!
As I understand it, a number of ECN brokers charge a % commission expressed as X USD per million USD equivalent. So, if it's $20/M, then trading a 'round trip' (in and out) of 1M (e.g. 10 standard lots) costs you $20 each way = $40, or 0.1M (1 standard or 10 Mini lots) would cost you $4 (unless your broker has say a $2.50 minimum per trip, in which case it woud be $5).
Plus spread, of course, if your trading style and broker means you have to pay it. That's another reason for finding a true ECN broker with low spreads + commission. Say Cable has fallen to a support area and it's dithering about. You think it's going to bounce back up, so you want to go long. With 1 pip spread and a good platform on a true ECN, you can put in an order to BUY at the Bid, or 'join the market', and if you get filled, you've dodged the spread. With a non ECN or 'quasi ECN' broker, your platform may insist you buy at the Ask, with a 3 pip spread - you're 3 pips in the hole before you start.
I think the '0.005%' you have from Delta is another way of saying $50/M one way, or $100/M round trip, and 0.003% is $60/M round trip. That's on the expensive side of the commission figures I've seen - some brokers start at $30/M one way, some at $20/M, and most go down from there with increased quantity traded and/or account size. Dukascopy has the most complicated calculation I've seen, which is the lower of three figures, based on account size, trading volume and something else I can't remember - it works out much cheaper for large accounts and trade volume than small ones.
Look for asterisks like this ** on the Spreads page of any broker who claims to offer fixed spreads, and follow them to the bottom of the page. You'll often find weasel words there like 'in normal trading conditions', or even a whole paragraph on why they don't actually mean 'fixed' spreads.
WHSelf Invest's site claims it offers 'maximum spreads' (e.g. 'not more than 8 pips'), not fixed spreads (e.g. '3 pips') and they quote spread ranges - fair enough. BUT it also says they don't charge commission. That last bit suggests they're not a true ECN, and they must be padding the spread some of the time to make money. Also, they don't say anything about liquidity. There's no advantage in having a maximum spread if they reduce liquidity at news times so you can't get in without getting slipped 30 pips (If you use market orders at such times...). They also have a page of spreads which only shows a range over the week - unlike Oanda's which shows how it varies during the week. WHSelfinvest may be fine for routine trading, but I'd want to speak to clients who have tried news trading for real before opening an account -remember demo accounts often give instant fills with apparently unlimited liquidity.
Oanda - if you're not a Canadian or an American, it appears you have to open an account with Oanda's Singapore office.
Like you, I've been looking for a good ECN broker, and in the end (thanks everyone on the forum for your advice and suggestions on various brokers), I'm going with IB. Their application form is huge, their account management systems and statements are labyrinthine at first sight, you need $10K to open an account, their 'native' software isn't wonderful, and their support appears to be kinda slow. Against, that, they have tight spreads, OK commission rates, others here say they have good liquidity, you can trade any instrument from one account, and you can use a wide range of 3rd party trading platforms if you don't like their free one.
Max
As I understand it, a number of ECN brokers charge a % commission expressed as X USD per million USD equivalent. So, if it's $20/M, then trading a 'round trip' (in and out) of 1M (e.g. 10 standard lots) costs you $20 each way = $40, or 0.1M (1 standard or 10 Mini lots) would cost you $4 (unless your broker has say a $2.50 minimum per trip, in which case it woud be $5).
Plus spread, of course, if your trading style and broker means you have to pay it. That's another reason for finding a true ECN broker with low spreads + commission. Say Cable has fallen to a support area and it's dithering about. You think it's going to bounce back up, so you want to go long. With 1 pip spread and a good platform on a true ECN, you can put in an order to BUY at the Bid, or 'join the market', and if you get filled, you've dodged the spread. With a non ECN or 'quasi ECN' broker, your platform may insist you buy at the Ask, with a 3 pip spread - you're 3 pips in the hole before you start.
I think the '0.005%' you have from Delta is another way of saying $50/M one way, or $100/M round trip, and 0.003% is $60/M round trip. That's on the expensive side of the commission figures I've seen - some brokers start at $30/M one way, some at $20/M, and most go down from there with increased quantity traded and/or account size. Dukascopy has the most complicated calculation I've seen, which is the lower of three figures, based on account size, trading volume and something else I can't remember - it works out much cheaper for large accounts and trade volume than small ones.
Look for asterisks like this ** on the Spreads page of any broker who claims to offer fixed spreads, and follow them to the bottom of the page. You'll often find weasel words there like 'in normal trading conditions', or even a whole paragraph on why they don't actually mean 'fixed' spreads.
WHSelf Invest's site claims it offers 'maximum spreads' (e.g. 'not more than 8 pips'), not fixed spreads (e.g. '3 pips') and they quote spread ranges - fair enough. BUT it also says they don't charge commission. That last bit suggests they're not a true ECN, and they must be padding the spread some of the time to make money. Also, they don't say anything about liquidity. There's no advantage in having a maximum spread if they reduce liquidity at news times so you can't get in without getting slipped 30 pips (If you use market orders at such times...). They also have a page of spreads which only shows a range over the week - unlike Oanda's which shows how it varies during the week. WHSelfinvest may be fine for routine trading, but I'd want to speak to clients who have tried news trading for real before opening an account -remember demo accounts often give instant fills with apparently unlimited liquidity.
Oanda - if you're not a Canadian or an American, it appears you have to open an account with Oanda's Singapore office.
Like you, I've been looking for a good ECN broker, and in the end (thanks everyone on the forum for your advice and suggestions on various brokers), I'm going with IB. Their application form is huge, their account management systems and statements are labyrinthine at first sight, you need $10K to open an account, their 'native' software isn't wonderful, and their support appears to be kinda slow. Against, that, they have tight spreads, OK commission rates, others here say they have good liquidity, you can trade any instrument from one account, and you can use a wide range of 3rd party trading platforms if you don't like their free one.
Max