Been trading with a market maker for about 6 months now and the spreads are killing my scalping profits.
Thinking about switching to ECN but heard the commissions can add up quick. Anyone made this switch and actually seen better results?
ECN helped my scalping but check the minimum deposit requirements. Some need way more capital than market makers.
Made this exact switch about 3 years ago when I was doing mostly 1-5 minute scalps on EUR/USD and GBP/USD.
Your spreads will drop big time but yeah the commissions hit different at first. I was paying around $6 per standard lot with IC Markets but saving 1+ pips per trade made it worth it.
The game changer wasn’t just the cost though. No more of that frustrating requote nonsense during London open or NFP releases. Orders filled at the price I clicked, not 2 pips worse.
Track your current spread costs for a week first. Write down every entry and exit spread you’re paying. Then compare that to what ECN would cost you with commission included.
If you’re only taking 2-3 trades per day, might not be worth the switch. But 10+ scalps daily? You’ll probably save money and get better fills.
The switch depends on how many trades you take daily and which pairs you scalp.
I found ECN works better for major pairs like EUR/USD and GBP/USD where the spread difference is huge. On exotics the gap between ECN and market maker pricing gets smaller.
Your scalping strategy matters too. If you hold trades for several minutes the commission cost becomes less of an issue compared to someone entering and exiting within seconds.
Test with smaller position sizes first to see if the total cost per trade actually improves your bottom line.
Switch only if you take more than 8 trades daily.
ECN makes sense for scalping if you trade frequently enough. The math is simple: compare your current spread cost per lot against ECN spread plus commission. Most ECN brokers charge $3-7 per lot roundtrip. If your market maker spreads on EUR/USD run 1.5-2 pips and ECN offers 0.2-0.4 pips, you save money once commission is factored in. The real advantage is price transparency and faster execution. No requotes or artificial widening during news. Just make sure the ECN has good liquidity during your trading hours.