Raw spreads and fast execution: what traders need to know in 2026

ECN vs dealing desk: understanding what you're trading through

Most retail brokers fall into two broad camps: those that take the other side of your trade and those that pass it through. The distinction matters. A dealing desk broker acts as your counterparty. An ECN broker routes your order straight to the interbank market — you get fills from genuine liquidity.

In practice, the difference matters most in a few ways: whether spreads blow out at the wrong moment, how fast your orders go through, and requotes. A proper ECN broker will typically give you tighter spreads but charge a commission per lot. Market makers mark up the spread instead. Neither model is inherently bad — it depends on what you need.

If you scalp or trade high frequency, ECN is almost always the better fit. Tighter spreads makes up for the per-lot fee on most pairs.

Execution speed: what 37 milliseconds actually means for your trades

Brokers love quoting how fast they execute orders. Figures like sub-50 milliseconds sound impressive, but what does it actually mean when you're actually placing trades? Quite a lot, depending on your strategy.

A trader who placing a handful of trades per month, a 20-millisecond difference doesn't matter. But for scalpers trading quick entries and exits, every millisecond of delay translates to money left on the table. If your broker fills at under 40ms with zero requotes offers an actual advantage compared to platforms with 150-200ms fills.

Certain platforms built proprietary execution technology that eliminates dealing desk intervention. Titan FX, for example, built their proprietary system called Zero Point which sends orders immediately to LPs without dealing desk intervention — the documented execution speed is under 37 milliseconds. You can read a detailed breakdown in this Titan FX broker review.

Raw spread accounts vs standard: doing the maths

Here's a question that comes up constantly when choosing their trading account: is it better to have a commission on raw spreads or markup spreads with no fee per lot? It depends on how much you trade.

Here's a real comparison. A spread-only account might have EUR/USD at 1.0-1.5 pips. The ECN option gives you true market pricing but applies a commission of about $7 per lot round-turn. For the standard account, you're paying through the markup. Once you're trading more than a few lots a week, the raw spread account is almost always cheaper.

Many ECN brokers offer both account types so you can see the difference for yourself. What matters is to calculate based on your actual trading volume rather than relying on hypothetical comparisons — they often favour the higher-margin product.

500:1 leverage: the argument traders keep having

The leverage conversation divides forex traders more than any other topic. Tier-1 regulators like ASIC and FCA limit leverage to 30:1 or 50:1 depending on the asset class. Platforms in places like Vanuatu or the Bahamas can still offer ratios of 500:1 and above.

The usual case against 500:1 is simple: retail traders can't handle it. This is legitimate — the numbers support this, traders using maximum leverage end up negative. But the argument misses nuance: experienced traders rarely trade at the maximum ratio. They use the availability more leverage to minimise the capital locked up in open trades — freeing up capital for additional positions.

Sure, it can wreck you. That part is true. But that's a risk management problem, not a leverage problem. If your strategy needs reduced margin commitment, access to 500:1 frees up margin for other positions — and that's how most experienced traders actually use it.

VFSC, FSA, and tier-3 regulation: the trade-off explained

The regulatory landscape in forex operates across different levels. Tier-1 is FCA, ASIC, CySEC. They cap leverage at 30:1, enforce client fund segregation, and put guardrails on how aggressively brokers can operate. Tier-3 you've got places like Vanuatu (VFSC) and Mauritius FSA. Less oversight, but the flip side is better trading conditions for the trader.

The compromise is straightforward: offshore brokers means 500:1 leverage, lower trading limitations, and typically more competitive pricing. The flip side is, you have less regulatory protection if the broker fails. You don't get a regulatory bailout like the FCA's FSCS.

If you're comfortable with the risk and choose better conditions, offshore brokers are additional information a valid choice. The important thing is looking at operating history, fund segregation, and reputation rather than simply trusting a licence badge on a website. A broker with a decade of operating history under VFSC oversight is often a safer bet in practice than a brand-new FCA-regulated startup.

Scalping execution: separating good brokers from usable ones

For scalping strategies is where broker choice makes or breaks your results. When you're trading small ranges and holding for less than a few minutes at a time. In that environment, tiny gaps in spread equal real money.

Non-negotiables for scalpers isn't long: 0.0 pip raw pricing at actual market rates, order execution in the sub-50ms range, zero requotes, and no restrictions on scalping and high-frequency trading. Some brokers claim to allow scalping but add latency to orders if you trade too frequently. Check the fine print before committing capital.

Brokers that actually want scalpers will make it obvious. You'll see execution speed data somewhere prominent, and usually include virtual private servers for EAs that need low latency. When a platform doesn't mention fill times anywhere on their site, take it as a signal.

Following other traders — the reality of copy trading platforms

Copy trading took off over the past few years. The concept is obvious: pick profitable traders, mirror their activity in your own account, collect the profits. In reality is messier than the platform promos suggest.

What most people miss is the gap between signal and fill. When the trader you're copying executes, the replicated trade goes through milliseconds to seconds later — and in fast markets, the delay might change a winning entry into a worse entry. The more narrow the average trade size in pips, the more the lag hurts.

Having said that, a few social trading platforms deliver value for those who don't have time to monitor charts all day. What works is platforms that show real performance history over at least a year, not just backtested curves. Looking at drawdown and consistency matter more than raw return figures.

Some brokers offer proprietary copy trading integrated with their main offering. This can minimise latency issues compared to third-party copy services that sit on top of the trading platform. Research the technical setup before assuming the results will carry over in your experience.