I’ve been staring at the pricing pages for both AvaTrade and eToro for way too long and I’m getting confused. They present their costs differently and I can’t figure out which one is actually cheaper.
AvaTrade shows spreads one way, eToro shows them another. Then there’s commissions, overnight funding costs, and now I’m hearing about rebates that supposedly cut into all of this.
I want to know the real number. Not the advertised spreads. Not the marketing version. The actual cost I pay per lot with everything included.
I’ve heard that GlobeGain rebates can reduce your effective trading cost by a meaningful amount, but I don’t fully understand how that math works when comparing two different brokers with different fee structures.
How do you actually calculate your total trading cost on each platform? Is there a formula you use or a spreadsheet you’ve built? And has anyone actually measured what their net cost is after rebates on both brokers?
Spread plus commission minus rebate equals real cost.
Here’s how I calculate it:
Real Cost = Spread (in pips) + Commission (per lot) - Rebate (per lot)
For EUR/USD on AvaTrade: 1.2 pips spread + 1 USD commission - 0.3 pip rebate = 1.9 pips total
eToro: 1 pip spread + 2 USD markup - 0 rebate = 1 pip + markup equivalent
The key is converting everything to the same unit. I use GlobeGain’s rebate rates and track my actual fills for 30 days to get a real average.
eMost traders underestimate commission and overnight costs. Track these separately for a month and you’ll see the actual impact.
I built a simple spreadsheet that tracks my entry price, exit price, and everything I actually paid.
Then I compare what I would have paid on each broker for the same trade. It sounds tedious but it takes maybe two minutes per week.
What I found: AvaTrade with GlobeGain rebates is usually 15 to 20% cheaper than eToro for my style of trading. But it depends heavily on how many lots you’re trading and which pairs you focus on.
Both charge similar amounts if you calculate properly. Rebates help but different on each broker.
I spent weeks on this exact question. Here’s what I learned the hard way:
AvaTrade’s spreads are tighter but they charge commission. eToro has wider spreads but no commission. Sounds balanced, right? It’s not.
On AvaTrade with GlobeGain rebates, I pay roughly 1.5 to 2 pips per trade on major pairs. On eToro, it’s closer to 2 to 2.5 pips when you factor in their markup structure.
The rebate system matters more than most people think. A 0.3 pip rebate on 20 lots daily is 60 pips back per day. Over a month, that’s real money.
Don’t just look at the headline spread. Pull your actual statements and calculate net cost for a full month. That’s the only number that matters.