Raw spreads and fast execution: what traders need to know in 2026

ECN vs dealing desk: understanding what you're trading through

Most retail brokers fall into two broad camps: market makers or ECN brokers. The distinction matters. A dealing desk broker is essentially your counterparty. ECN execution routes your order through to the interbank market — you get fills from genuine liquidity.

In practice, the difference shows up in how your trades get filled: how tight and stable your spreads are, how fast your orders go through, and whether you get requoted. A proper ECN broker tends to give you tighter spreads but charge a commission per lot. Dealing desk brokers pad the spread instead. Both models work — it depends on your strategy.

If you scalp or trade high frequency, a proper ECN broker is typically the better fit. Tighter spreads compensates for the per-lot fee on most pairs.

Why execution speed is more than a marketing number

Brokers love quoting fill times. Claims of under 40ms fills sound impressive, but how much does it matter in practice? It depends entirely on what you're doing.

For someone executing a handful of trades per month, the gap between 40ms and 80ms execution won't move the needle. If you're scalping 1-2 pip moves targeting small price moves, execution lag translates to worse fill prices. A broker averaging in the 30-40ms range with a no-requote policy gives you an actual advantage over one that averages 200ms.

Certain platforms have invested proprietary execution technology to address this. One example is Titan FX's proprietary system called Zero Point designed to route orders immediately to LPs without dealing desk intervention — they report averages of under 37 milliseconds. You can read a detailed breakdown in this review of Titan FX.

Commission-based vs spread-only accounts — which costs less?

Here's a question that comes up constantly when choosing a broker account: is it better to have commission plus tight spreads or a wider spread with no commission? It varies based on how much you trade.

Here's a real comparison. A standard account might show EUR/USD at 1.0-1.5 pips. A commission-based account gives you the same pair at 0.0-0.3 pips but adds around $3.50-4.00 per lot traded both ways. With the wider spread, the cost is baked into the markup. If you're doing more than a few lots a week, ECN pricing saves you money mathematically.

A lot of platforms offer both side by side so you can other info pick what suits your volume. Make sure you calculate based on your actual trading volume rather than relying on marketing scenarios — they tend to favour the higher-margin product.

Understanding 500:1 leverage without the moralising

The leverage conversation divides forex traders more than almost anything else. The major regulatory bodies limit leverage to relatively low ratios for retail accounts. Brokers regulated outside tier-1 jurisdictions continue to offer up to 500:1.

The usual case against 500:1 is that retail traders can't handle it. This is legitimate — statistically, most retail traders do lose. The counterpoint is something important: professional retail traders don't use 500:1 on every trade. What they do is use the option of more leverage to lower the capital locked up in open trades — leaving more margin for other opportunities.

Yes, 500:1 can blow an account. Nobody disputes that. But that's a risk management problem, not a leverage problem. If your strategy requires reduced margin commitment, having 500:1 available lets you deploy capital more efficiently — and that's how most experienced traders actually use it.

VFSC, FSA, and tier-3 regulation: the trade-off explained

The regulatory landscape in forex operates across a spectrum. At the top is FCA (UK) and ASIC (Australia). They cap leverage at 30:1, enforce client fund segregation, and put guardrails on what brokers can offer retail clients. On the other end you've got the VFSC in Vanuatu and similar offshore regulators. Fewer requirements, but the flip side is better trading conditions for the trader.

The trade-off is straightforward: offshore brokers gives you more aggressive trading conditions, less compliance hurdles, and often more competitive pricing. But, you get less safety net if the broker fails. There's no investor guarantee fund equivalent to FSCS.

If you're comfortable with the risk and pick better conditions, regulated offshore brokers can make sense. The key is doing your due diligence rather than simply trusting a licence badge on a website. A broker with 10+ years of clean operation under tier-3 regulation may be a safer bet in practice than a brand-new tier-1 broker.

Scalping execution: separating good brokers from usable ones

For scalping strategies is one area where broker choice matters most. Targeting 1-5 pip moves and keeping trades open for very short periods. With those margins, seemingly minor gaps in fill quality become the difference between a winning and losing month.

The checklist comes down to a few things: raw spreads from 0.0 pips, fills under 50 milliseconds, a no-requote policy, and explicit permission for holding times under one minute. Some brokers say they support scalping but throttle execution if you trade too frequently. Check the fine print before funding your account.

ECN brokers that chase this type of trader usually say so loudly. They'll publish their speed stats disclosed publicly, and often offer VPS hosting for EAs that need low latency. If the broker you're looking at doesn't mention fill times anywhere on the website, take it as a signal.

Following other traders — the reality of copy trading platforms

The idea of copying other traders has grown over the past several years. The appeal is obvious: pick traders who are making money, copy their trades in your own account, benefit from their skill. In reality is messier than the platform promos imply.

The main problem is the gap between signal and fill. When the trader you're copying executes, the replicated trade executes with some lag — during volatile conditions, that lag can turn a profitable trade into a bad one. The tighter the strategy's edge, the bigger the impact of delay.

That said, certain copy trading setups deliver value for those who can't trade actively. The key is finding access to real performance history over a minimum of a year, instead of simulated results. Risk-adjusted metrics matter more than headline profit percentages.

Certain brokers offer their own social trading alongside their standard execution. This tends to reduce the execution lag compared to external copy trading providers that bolt onto the broker's platform. Check how the copy system integrates before trusting that the results can be replicated to your account.