Why Saxo is the sample dataset
- Saxo was chosen deliberately: it is a premium broker, fully regulated, with bank status in one of the safest jurisdictions in the world. If trading costs this much at the safest address in the industry, you can estimate what cheaper brokers trade away to undercut it.
- Because the fee structure is transparent and complete — spreads, FX commissions and financing schedules all published — the total is honest rather than marketing.
- The Saxo example shows why strategies with a small profit per trade and a high trade count are so hard to run profitably: every trade pays the full fee stack again.
- This is not a ranking of brokers — it is the cost side of the same coin. For which criteria actually matter when choosing a broker, see the Broker Comparison 2026.
The assumptions: a small account with ticket fees
- Account size: $2,000.
- 20 trades per month: 10 on EUR/USD, 6 on the Nasdaq CFD, 4 on the Brent CFD.
- Margin used per trade: roughly $400 — EUR/USD at 100:1 → $40,000 notional; Nasdaq and Brent CFDs at 20:1 → $8,000 notional each.
- Average holding period: 1 overnight — so every trade books one night of financing.
- EUR/USD carries a $6 round-trip ticket commission ($3 open + $3 close) per trade.
- CFD financing: 8% p.a. on the notional, charged per night held.
- FX swap: the interest differential between the two currencies (here USD 4.5% − EUR 2.5% = 2.0%) plus or minus a 0.65% p.a. broker markup.
- No profit and no loss on any trade — the isolated cost of trading itself.
Broker fee calculator: your monthly cost estimate
The defaults below are the sample dataset from this page — 20 trades per month on a $2,000 account at Saxo (August 2026), ~$400 posted margin per position, one overnight per trade, zero profit or loss. Financing is computed live from the rate column: CFD financing = notional × rate / 365 per night; the EUR/USD rate is the interest differential ± 0.65% broker markup — negative means the position receives carry. Overwrite every cell with your own broker's numbers; all totals update live.
pays carry 2.65% p.a. → ≈ $147/month — with the default dataset on a $2,000 account.
| Instrument | Trades / Month | Notional / Trade | Spread Cost Total | Commission Total | Rate % p.a. | Financing / Swap | Row Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $29.04 | $113.04 | ||||||
| $10.52 | $12.92 | ||||||
| $7.01 | $20.69 | ||||||
| Total | 20 | $40.08 | $60.00 | $46.58 | $146.66 |
The $146.66 monthly bill is 7.3% of that account — the return you must generate per month just to break even, with zero profit or loss on the trades. Bigger accounts trade bigger notionals: every position (and with it the spread bill and the financing) scales with the account — only the fixed ticket commissions stay put, which is why the percentage comes down slowly while the absolute bill climbs.
The biggest single item is not the spread — it is ticket commissions. With your numbers, commissions come to $60.00 per month, versus a total spread bill of $40.08 and $46.58 in overnight financing and swap. Ticket fees are paid on every single trade regardless of size — which is exactly what punishes small, frequent trades.
Does the interest on your cash help? (Saxo illustration)
Saxo can pay interest on cash balances, but the credit depends on currency, reference rates, account tier and balance level, and positive interest is only paid once benchmarks clear Saxo's markup and thresholds. For a $2,000 USD balance the illustration:
Even the best case offsets only a small fraction of the $146.66 monthly trading costs — the bill is paid by your edge, not by your idle cash.
How each cost line is computed
- Spreads: EUR/USD $24 across 10 trades, Nasdaq CFD $2.40, Brent CFD $13.68 — about $40 in total, the smallest line of the bill.
- Ticket commissions: $6 per EUR/USD round trip × 10 trades = $60 — the single biggest line. The CFD trades carry no separate commission; their cost is in the spread and the financing.
- CFD financing: notional × 8% / 365 per night. On an $8,000 notional that is $1.75 per night — 6 Nasdaq trades ≈ $10.50, 4 Brent trades ≈ $7.00, about $18 in total per month.
- FX swap on EUR/USD: long means you own EUR and fund USD, so you pay the 2.0% differential plus the 0.65% markup — 2.65% p.a. on $40,000 is $2.90 per night, $29 for the month.
- Short EUR/USD means you own USD and fund EUR: the differential works for you, 2.0% − 0.65% = 1.35% p.a. — a credit of about $1.48 per night, roughly $14.80 for the month before broker adjustments. In reality brokers often retain part of this credit, so expect less.
Long vs short EURUSD: your direction changes the bill
- Scenario A — long EUR/USD: $40 spreads + $60 commissions + $46.50 financing/swap ≈ $146.50 per month. You pay carry on every night held.
- Scenario B — short EUR/USD: the FX swap flips to a $14.80 credit, so the same 20 trades cost ≈ $102.70 per month. Direction alone is worth roughly $44 a month on this account.
- Intraday — no overnight holds at all: financing drops to zero and the bill is ≈ $100, almost entirely ticket commissions and spreads. The floor of the bill is set by trade count, not by holding.
- Toggle the three scenarios in the calculator above and watch the financing column do exactly this — the credit shows negative, because it is money received.
Key observation: the spread is not the story
- With a $2,000 account and this trade mix, the biggest cost is no longer the spread. The ranking is: EUR/USD ticket commissions (~$60/month), then CFD financing (~$18/month), then FX swap (anywhere from a ~$15 credit to a +$29 cost depending on direction), then spreads (~$40/month).
- Total trading costs sit in the neighborhood of $100–150 per month, or 5–7.5% of account equity per month, at one overnight hold and the trade frequency described.
- A strategy must therefore clear 5–7.5% per month just to break even at this trade count — before a single pip of profit. That is the hurdle a small account with ticket fees has to jump every single month.
- Intraday trading avoids the financing line, but not the floor: commissions and spreads alone still cost roughly $100 per month at 20 trades. Fewer trades is the only lever that moves the floor.
Keeping winners longer is absolutely essential with ticket fees
- A $6 round-trip ticket fee on a trade that targets $20 of profit has already surrendered 30% of its edge before the spread is even paid. High-ticket-cost accounts cannot afford many small trades — the fee stack is a tax on every execution.
- The flip side: the same $6 on a trade that runs for a week and captures $200 of profit is 3% — noise. Keeping winners longer and making a higher profit per trade is how you dilute ticket fees, not by trading more.
- Holding longer does add financing — $2.90 per night on the long EUR/USD position here. But one extra night of $2.90 financing is far cheaper than one extra $6 ticket plus spread on a whole new trade.
- The combination that works on a small account: fewer executions, bigger size per conviction, winners held until the move is done — and losers cut before they need another overnight. Test exactly this pacing against your own edge with the fee savings calculator below, then rehearse it risk-free in the simulator.
Practice this — risk-free
The WallStreet Billionaire simulator runs your trades against real historical charts with a virtual balance. Run your short-term strategy over 20+ trades with a virtual balance — zero commissions, zero swap — then compare your per-trade edge against the real fee stack on this page.
Can you get funded?Turn practice into prize money
Same charts, same 15 trades, shared starting balance — the winner takes 8× their buy-in in real money, 2nd gets 3×, 3rd gets 2×. Start with a free 5-trade demo run, or buy into a €5, €25 or €50 division.
Ready for the real market?
Practiced until your numbers are green? Open a live account with a regulated broker — and start small.
Frequently asked questions
How much do broker fees cost per month on a small account?+
In this example — 20 trades on a $2,000 account at Saxo (August 2026 sample data) — roughly $103–147 per month depending on EUR/USD direction: $40 spreads, $60 ticket commissions and $2.70–$46.50 in financing and swap. That is about 5–7.5% of the account per month, with zero profit or loss on the trades themselves.
How much does CFD financing cost per day?+
CFD financing is charged on the notional at roughly 8% p.a., divided by 365: an $8,000 Nasdaq or Brent CFD position costs about $1.75 per night held. Six Nasdaq trades with one overnight each ≈ $10.50 per month; four Brent trades ≈ $7.00.
Does a short EURUSD position pay me swap?+
It can. Short EUR/USD means you own USD and fund EUR, so the interest differential (here 2.0%) works in your favor, less the broker markup (0.65%) — a 1.35% p.a. credit, about $1.48 per night on $40,000 notional. In practice brokers often retain part of this credit, so the actual amount is usually smaller.
Does Saxo pay interest on cash balances?+
Yes, Saxo can pay interest on cash balances, but the credit depends on the currency, prevailing reference rates, account tier and balance level — and positive interest is only paid when the benchmark rate is sufficiently high after Saxo's markup and thresholds. For a $2,000 USD balance the credit is small: even 3% a year is about $5 per month, a fraction of the ~$100–150 monthly trading costs in this example.
Why are short-term strategies harder to trade profitably?+
Because costs scale with trade count while ticket fees do not scale with size. Spreads, $6 round-trip commissions and overnight financing are paid on every single trade, so a strategy with many trades and a low profit per trade surrenders a large share of its edge to the fee stack. In this example the account needs 5–7.5% per month just to break even.
Are these exact fees for every broker?+
No — this is an illustrative costed month based on published Saxo pricing as of August 2026. Other brokers structure costs differently (some charge no ticket commission but wider spreads, some finance at different rates). The purpose is to show the mechanics: spreads, commissions and financing compound against high-frequency, low-profit-per-trade strategies. The simulator lets you test your strategy with zero fees first.
Last updated: September 2026. Written and maintained by the WallStreet Billionaire research team, the same traders and engineers who build the simulator every guide on this site points to.
Data & methodology: pricing figures are illustrative estimates based on the published Saxo rate card as of August 2026 — spreads, commissions, CFD financing (8% p.a.) and FX swap (rate differential ± 0.65% markup). Broker pricing changes; verify current rates with the broker before acting on any number here.
Every guide pairs written strategy analysis with an interactive calculator so you can test the claim with your own numbers, then rehearse it risk-free in the simulator. Educational content only — not financial advice. See our imprint.