DislikedHi all First time posting. Just wanted to find out. During news, is it possible for spread to be 40 pips. I had a pending buy, which was triggered more than 40 pips away from the hour's high. The broker says it was spread. Is this possible?Ignored
Brokers will often vary their spreads depending on volatility and the currency- ie big news announcements.
I would suggest that 40 pips is extreme ...mine is 4 pip spread on GBP/JPY, 0.8 pip on EUR/USD, 1 on GBP/USD etc etc
There are a number of factors to take into account.
Decimal
Don't want to insult your intelligence but have you checked how many decimal places your broker quotes? In the case of GBP/JPY my broker quotes to one decimal place, but puts the decimal elswhere ie. 183.505 where the last digit, '5' in this case, is equivelant to half a pip. This means a one pip movement up would look be 183.515, to someone new this can incorrectly look like 10 pips.
You will find some brokers quote without decimals ie 183.50 or display it without the point ie 183505
Chart price
A chart will display candlesticks based on either the ask, sell or mid price. I use the mid price so when I see a candle top at 183.505 the actual buy price was probably 183.525 with my 4 pip spread. The reverse applies if I clicked sell...183.485.
So in your case, if your broker offered 20 pip spread (still very high in my opinion) and you wanted to buy at 183.500 and your chart was set to display sell prices. Your chart would display the order executing at 183.300. The deal ticket should still show 183.500 though so double check your trade history as opposed to your chart. My (mid chart with 20 pip spread) would show it as 183.400.
Slippage
When price moves very fast, as it did today, your order may not have actually been executed at the order level. The data has a long route to take: Market-->broker-->internet-->your computer-->'execute order' command sent-->internet-->broker-->market. With modern electronics this happens quick but it still takes time so the price may have changed while this exchange of data was all going on. Also your broker still has to find someone to fill the other half of your order i.e. if you are buying then they need to find a seller...again, this is done by computer and isn't a problem for small time traders like us but it does add a delay. The speed of your internet and power of your computer will also take its toll.
Slippage can work both in your favour and against.
I suppose a combination of all three above may have come into play.
If your are still having trouble post a screenshot of your chart with the order levels and execution times and we can have a quick look.
hope that helps
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. GL 
