What is spread?
The spread is the gap between an instrument's buy and sell price. On a prop firm account it comes from the firm's own configuration, and it is a recurring cost traders routinely underestimate.
It is invisible on the statement and present on every single trade.
The two models
Raw spreads track the market’s own gap, with the firm’s margin charged separately as a commission per lot. The total cost is explicit and can be checked.
Marked-up spreads fold that margin into the gap itself, with no visible commission. The cost is the same or higher, but nothing shows it.
A firm advertising “zero commission” is necessarily running the second model. That is not dishonest, but it does make comparison between firms harder.
Why it decides evaluations
On a simulated account the spread comes from the firm’s configuration, not from a public order book. Two firms can therefore quote noticeably different gaps on the same pair at the same moment.
The cumulative effect is large. A trader placing twenty trades a day on a $100,000 account, with half a pip of extra spread, pays roughly $100 a day in additional cost. Across an evaluation that absorbs a meaningful share of the profit target.
What to check
Average spreads are almost never published by prop firms. Two routes give you an idea: open a demo account where the firm offers one, or read trader feedback covering the specific instruments you trade.
Watch for widening around economic releases and session opens. A gap normally sitting at half a pip can reach several pips, triggering stops at levels you never intended.
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Related terms
- Commission A commission is a fee charged per lot or per contract traded, on top of the spread. It is explicit at firms quoting raw spreads, and folded into the price difference at those advertising zero commission.
- Simulated account A simulated account reproduces market conditions without orders reaching a real market. Most prop firm accounts, including those held after passing the challenge, run on this model.
- Scalping Scalping means taking many very short positions to capture small price differences. Allowed by most prop firms, in practice it runs into minimum holding times and execution conditions.
- Slippage Slippage is the gap between the price requested and the price actually obtained on execution. On a prop firm account it depends on the company's infrastructure, and can trigger a drawdown breach.