I’ve been trading OANDA for a few months now and I keep noticing that spreads on EUR/USD will sit tight during London open, then widen during Asian hours, then tighten again during US open. It’s making it hard to plan when to actually enter positions.
I understand volatility drives spreads wider, but I’m trying to figure out if there’s a pattern I can actually rely on. Like, should I just accept that certain times of day cost more and plan my trading around that? Or am I missing something about how OANDA structures their pricing.
Also curious how much the GlobeGain rebates actually help offset these wider spreads when they do spike. Does anyone track their net cost per trade across different sessions to see if it balances out?
What’s been your experience with OANDA spreads - do you notice the same session-based pattern?
Asian hours always wider. Trade London or US open.
Rebates help but spreads still wider during Asia.
OANDA widens spreads during low liquidity periods, which is normal across most brokers. The pattern you’re noticing is real. Asian session typically has less volume, so spreads widen 30-50% compared to London open.
The rebates from GlobeGain help offset this, but the better strategy is session selection. If you trade EUR/USD, London and New York overlap gives you tighter spreads. Track your actual entry and exit prices against the time of day, then calculate your net cost including the rebate. This will show you exactly when trading makes sense for your strategy.
I’ve tracked this for a couple months and the pattern is pretty consistent. London open has the tightest spreads, then it widens through Asia, then tightens again into the US session.
I just adjusted my trading schedule around when spreads are tightest. The rebates definitely help, but they can’t offset the difference between a 0.8 pip spread and a 2.0 pip spread. It’s worth planning your sessions around the tighter windows if you can.
I trade OANDA mainly and yeah, the session-based spread widening is one of the bigger factors I deal with. During Asian hours the spreads on majors can double what they are during London.
What I found useful is mapping out my expected trading cost for each session. Take the average spread for that time, add the commission if you’re on Core, subtract the GlobeGain rebate. Then decide: is this session worth trading or should I wait?
For me, EUR/USD during Asia isn’t worth it. But other pairs like GBP/JPY have wider spreads normally, so the difference between sessions matters less. The rebates are real money back, but execution timing beats everything.