Been trading for a few months now and keep seeing this term everywhere but nobody really explains it properly.
Is 1-2 pips normal during news events or should I be looking for a different broker?
Test during London open hours. That shows real execution.
Track your execution quality for a week or two - you’ll see what your broker actually delivers.
News events always cause slippage, but regular hours should be clean. You want consistency, not perfect fills every time.
If your trades consistently get worse prices than what’s on the chart when you hit buy/sell, that’s all you need to know about their order handling.
Your broker matters way more than the numbers suggest. Try a few different ones with small trades during news events - you’ll quickly see who actually gives you better fills.
During big news events, 1-2 pips is fine. Most decent brokers will hit similar numbers when things get crazy. What really matters is normal trading hours. You shouldn’t see much slippage on majors like EUR/USD or GBP/USD during London or NY sessions. If you’re consistently getting over 0.5 pips, that’s bad execution. Compare your fills to actual market prices when the trade hit. Some platforms show this in your trade history. Getting filled worse than the spread regularly? Time to switch brokers.
Slippage happens when your trade fills at a different price than you clicked. Hit buy at 1.2000 but get filled at 1.2003? That’s 3 pips of slippage.
1-2 pips during news is normal. Markets move fast when data drops and there’s not always enough liquidity at your exact price.
I’ve seen 5+ pips on NFP releases with some brokers. That’s a red flag.
Normal conditions should give you way less. Getting consistent slippage outside news times? Shop around. ECN brokers handle this better since they pull liquidity from multiple sources.
Keep a trading journal and track it. You’ll spot patterns quick if your broker’s playing games.