I’ve been trading for a few months now and I’m realizing I don’t actually have a clear system for calculating my true cost per trade. I know the spread when I enter, I know if there’s a commission, and I get a rebate, but I’m not sure I’m even tracking it right.
I want to build a simple model or spreadsheet that I can use consistently so I actually know what I’m paying on each trade. Not just a rough number, but something I can look at and say, ‘Yeah, this trade cost me 0.85 pips per lot on OANDA after everything.’
The reason I want this is so I can make better decisions about position sizing, breakeven points, and whether certain instruments are actually worth trading on OANDA compared to other brokers.
Can someone walk me through the formula step by step? What data do I need to log for each trade? And how do I actually apply the rebate to the equation? I’d rather get this right from the start than realize six months in that I’ve been calculating it wrong.
Here’s the formula. Write this down.
True Cost Per Lot = (Entry Spread + Exit Spread) / 2 + Commission - Rebate
Take the average because spreads change. Commission is usually per lot on commission accounts, zero on standard accounts. Rebate is what GlobeGain credits back.
Example: EUR/USD entry 1.1 pips, exit 1.3 pips, no commission, rebate 0.4 pips.
True cost = (1.1 + 1.3) / 2 + 0 - 0.4 = 1.2 - 0.4 = 0.8 pips per lot.
Log this for every trade. After 30 trades, take the average. That’s your baseline cost per lot for that pair on that account type. Use this number for your risk calculations and position sizing.
Do this for three months. You’ll have a cost profile for all your pairs. Then you can actually compare against other brokers fairly.
Track one more detail if you want to be thorough: slippage. The price you wanted versus the price you got. That’s separate from spread but it affects your true cost.
If you wanted to enter at 1.2000 and got filled at 1.2003, that’s 3 pips of slippage. Most traders ignore this. Don’t. It’s real money leaving your account.
Add slippage to your cost calculation if you’re serious about knowing your true numbers.
I built a spreadsheet that tracks: pair, date, entry time, entry price, exit price, entry spread, exit spread, commission, rebate, and then a formula that calculates net cost.
At the bottom I have formulas that show me average cost per pair, cost per day, cost for the week. Takes me 5 minutes to input each trade. Every Friday I review it.
Over three months on OANDA, my average cost is 0.82 pips per lot across all pairs. Major pairs are around 0.75, exotics are around 1.1. That data helped me realize I should focus more on major pairs where costs are predictable.
If you want to be serious about this, build the spreadsheet. It’ll change how you trade.
Most people just estimate. You’re smarter if you track actual numbers. Sets up your account better for the long run.
I did this a couple months ago and it honestly changed how I think about my trading. I created a simple Google Sheet with columns for the pair, lot size, entry and exit spreads, commission, and rebate.
Every trade goes in that sheet. Then I have a formula at the bottom that calculates average cost.
What I learned was that my costs on EUR/USD were much lower than I thought they were. That made me more confident trading it. But exotics were expensive, so I stopped trading those as much.
Once you see your costs clearly, your trading decisions get better. You know what breakeven actually looks like for each pair.