Your options for spreads and the
alternative, commissions
What is a spread in trading?
Spreads are the ‘default’ way to pay to trade for the majority of traders. However, many brokers,
including AthenaAvo, give you flexibility to choose how you want to pay for the service they provide for
you.
If you prefer scalping or
using some types of short-term algorithms, you might not find spread-based pricing convenient. That’s
why AthenaAvo introduced Zero and Raw Spread accounts to give you more options.
Spread-based accounts
Several of the accounts
available at AthenaAvo have spreads as the model for pricing. Some are categorized as standard accounts and
others are professional accounts.
Standard and Pro accounts
differ mainly in execution. The Standard account uses market execution exclusively, while the Pro
account uses instant execution for almost all instruments, except for cryptocurrencies.
The Pro account also offers
the lowest spreads available from AthenaAvo without commissions.
For the majority of traders, a
Pro account offers the lowest costs to trade. Spreads for Pro accounts are on average higher than for
Zero accounts, but there are no commissions. If you want to use any time-based strategy, except scalping
and focussed daytrading, and you’re prepared to make a minimum deposit of $200, a Pro account might be
for you. However, if you don’t want to deposit that much, you can still trade on a Standard account.
Zero accounts
AthenaAvo also offers the option
of a Zero account, one of its professional accounts that features commissions. With a Zero account
generally, various instruments have no spreads.
If you’re a scalper or
algorithmic trader, a Zero account might be a good choice. You can plan very short-term and
high-frequency trades with this account, that can be more effective because the commissions are fixed
for all instruments. Any change to commissions is announced in advance.
Please remember that Zero
accounts don’t have zero spreads for every instrument all the time. AthenaAvo offers consistent zero spread
for the top 30 instruments. In fact, some extremely rare exotics such as Australian dollar-Danish krone
(AUDDKK) and relatively less traded individual shares such as Broadcom (AVGO) will almost always have
some spread in addition to the commission.
Raw Spread accounts
If you want to use a variety
of strategies to trade, a Raw Spread account might suit you. This professional account works with a
combination of spreads and commissions.
What is a spread in trading a
currency pair with the Raw Spread account specifically? Spreads here are higher than the Zero account’s
but lower than for the Standard or Pro account. The commission is higher than the Standard or Pro
account (which don’t have commissions) but lower than the Zero account.
The main potential advantage
of using a Raw Spread account is that it gives you flexibility to adapt your strategy according to the
circumstances in the financial markets. If your usual strategy or algorithmic trading isn’t working, for
example, you can shift temporarily to daytrading, swing trading or position trading — then return to
your algorithm later, without needing to switch accounts to minimize costs.
Does AthenaAvo want to make money from clients’
losses?
No. Around 90% of AthenaAvo’
profits come from spreads. The rest mainly comes from commissions from Zero and Raw Spread accounts. A
small amount also comes from swaps, which are overnight fees applicable to some instruments.
At AthenaAvo we value
transparency and it’s central to our success. We firmly believe that acting in the best interests of our
clients is also in our best interest as a business.
This is why we were one of the
first brokers to publish our audited financial data. You can check AthenaAvo’ financial audits on our
website, to see what our clients collectively withdraw on average every quarter. We don’t want you to
lose money in trading because we make money from spreads.