Spreads, commissions and margins
You pay a spread on every non-share CFD and you pay commission on every share CFD trade. Find these charges for individual markets below, or see examples of how spreads, commission and margins can affect your positions.
| Market name | Value per pip |
Min spread> | Average spread* |
Margin required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spot AUD/USD | US$10 | 0.6 | 1.33 | 0.5% |
| Spot USD/JPY | Y1000 | 0.7 | 1.26 | 0.5% |
| Spot EUR/USD | US$10 | 0.6 | 1.13 | 0.5% |
| Spot GBP/USD | US$10 | 0.9 | 2.38 | 0.5% |
*Average spread (Monday 00:00 - Friday 22:00 GMT) for the 12 weeks ending 29th May 2020. For our minimum spreads, please see our forex product details.
The spread is the difference between our Sell and Buy prices. We derive these prices based on the underlying market’s value.
Funding and interest
Funding and interest charges apply to CFD trades. Find out how we apply funding and interest below, or see examples of how funding and interest can affect your positions.
If you keep a position open overnight we make an interest adjustment to your account, including our
fee of 2.5%.* We debit your account if your position is long, and credit your account for a short
position – if the interbank rate is greater than 2.5%.*
When trading forex, the funding cost is calculated differently. See the table below.
| Long positions | Short positions | Forex positions |
|---|---|---|
| We charge 2.5% above the relevant interbank rate.* Eg. If the relevant interbank 1-month rate is 0.5%, you would be charged 3.00% (annualised). |
You receive the relevant interbank rate, minus 2.5%.* If the interbank rate is greater than 2.5%,* we credit your account; if the interbank rate is less than 2.5%,* your account is debited. Eg. If the relevant interbank 1-month rate is 0.5%, you would be charged 2.00% (annualised). |
For forex positions, we charge funding based on the current tom-next rate. Tom-next shows, in points, the difference between the interest paid to borrow the currency that is being notionally sold, and the interest received from holding the currency. |
* 3% on mini and micro CFD contracts.
How is funding calculated?
Understanding margins
Our margins are among the lowest in the CFD industry. Through a system of tiered margining we can offer lower rates for the majority of positions.
What is margin?
Margin trading gives you full exposure to a market using only a fraction of the capital you’d normally need.
Margin is the amount of money you need to open a position, defined by the margin rate.
CFD are leveraged product, you don’t need to pay the full value of your exposure in order to trade. Instead,
you’ll only need to put up a fraction of your total exposure to open your position.
There are two types of margin to consider:
Initial margin
The initial margin is the minimum amount you’ll need to put up to open a position. It is sometimes called the deposit margin, or just the deposit.
Maintenance margin
The maintenance margin, also known as variation margin, is extra money that we might need to request from you if your position moves against you. Its purpose is to ensure you have enough money in your account to fund the present value of the position at all times – covering any running losses.