Typical spreads
While minimum spreads can grab the headlines they don't tell the whole story, as markets can be volatile and the underlying market spreads can widen throughout the day.
At CMC Markets we believe it is important that our competitors should be more transparent and publish their daily typical spreads as well as their minimum spreads. Consistent daily typical spreads are a reflection of pricing consistency throughout the day. Below you will find two tables showing CMC Markets’ most popular typical spreads over the last week.
| Instrument | Minimum spread | Typical spread (21/04/2012–27/04/2012) |
|---|---|---|
| AUD/USD | 0.7 pt | 1.092 pts |
| EUR/CHF | 2.0 pts | 2.995 pts |
| EUR/GBP | 0.9 pt | 1.317 pts |
| EUR/JPY | 1.5 pts | 2.105 pts |
| EUR/USD | 0.7 pts | 0.989 pts |
| GBP/JPY | 2.5 pts | 2.755 pts |
| GBP/USD | 0.9 pt | 1.401 pts |
| USD/CAD | 1.7 pts | 2.154 pts |
| USD/CHF | 1.9 pts | 1.945 pts |
| USD/JPY | 0.7 pts | 1.068 pts |
CMC Markets - Indices
| Instrument | Frequency | From (UTC) | To (UTC) | Fixed spread * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK 100 | Daily | 08:00 | 16:30 | 0.7 pts |
| UK 100 | Daily | 16:30 | 21:00 | 1.5 pts |
| UK 100 | Daily overnight | 21:00 | 08:00 | 6.0 pts |
| GERMANY 30 | Daily | 07:00 | 21:00 | 0.7 pts |
| US NDAQ 100 | Daily | 24 hrs | 24 hrs | 0.5 pts |
| US 30 | Daily | 07:00 | 21:15 | 0.7 pts |
| US 30 | Daily overnight | 21:30 | 07:00 | 3.0 pts |
The spreads above are only available on the CMC Next Generation platform.
Spreads explained
There are three common ways of quoting spreads on trading platforms: fixed, minimum and typical.
- *Fixed spreads are available on a range of our instruments. The benefit of trading on a fixed spread is that even during volatile market conditions the spread remains static. Some instruments have different in-hours and out-of-hours fixed spreads due to lower market liquidity outside of the main trading session. However, fixed spreads cannot be guaranteed during the most extreme market conditions. Please refer to the CMC platform for trading hours.
- ** A minimum spread is the lowest spread that will be shown on the given instrument. If the underlying market spread widens throughout the trading day, the CMC platform spread may also widen. Unlike other providers, during normal market conditions our typical spreads are much closer to our minimums.
- Typical spreads are a reflection of a company's pricing consistency throughout a 24-hour period. This is why we now encourage our customers to look at the typical spread of an instrument.