The True Cost of Trading
Quick answer: at $5 a trade and two trades a day you pay $2,600 a year — 26% of a $10,000 account. Four costs take a slice of every position you open, and almost no trader ever adds them up. This free 15-page guide turns them into one number you can measure, compare against your edge, and cut.
What you get
- The five-step cost audit — work out your real round-turn cost from 50 of your own closed trades, in about fifteen minutes.
- The annual bill table — what your trading frequency costs over a year, from 4 trades a week to 10 a day.
- The edge-erosion table — exactly how much of a +0.3R expectancy each cost level removes.
- Required win rate — how a 0.1R cost pushes break-even from 50% to 55% at 1:1.
- Spread versus stop distance — why the same account is cheap for a swing trader and ruinous for a scalper.
- Swap — the overnight cost, triple-charge days, and what twenty nights really costs.
- Slippage — how to measure it in twenty trades and where it actually concentrates.
- Account comparison — total round turn instead of advertised spread.
- Seven ways to cut the bill without changing your strategy.
- A printable cost audit worksheet.
Who it's for
Traders who have optimised the strategy and never audited the bill — and anyone deciding between account types, brokers or trading frequencies and wanting the arithmetic instead of the marketing.
Inside the guide
| Chapter | What it covers |
|---|---|
| 1–2 — Measure | The four costs and how to calculate your own number |
| 3–4 — Impact | The annual bill and what it does to your expectancy |
| 5–7 — Detail | Spread versus stops, swap, and measuring slippage |
| 8–9 — Act | Choosing an account on total cost, and seven ways to cut it |
| 10–12 — Tools | Printable audit, FAQ and glossary |
Frequently asked questions
Is it really free?
Yes. Add it to your cart at $0 and the download link arrives by email straight after checkout.
What format is it?
A 15-page PDF, readable on desktop, tablet and phone.
Is a 2-point spread good or bad?
It depends entirely on your stop distance: 1% of your risk on a 200-point stop, 10% on a 20-point stop. Chapter 5 has the full table.
Does this apply to automated trading?
More, if anything — an automated system executes every signal, so the full round turn belongs in any backtest.
Do I need to change broker after reading it?
Usually not. Frequency, trading hours and stop distance account for most of the bill, and none of those require a new broker.
Disclaimer: educational content only. Cortex Next is not a financial service, does not manage money and guarantees no results. All figures are illustrative and vary by broker, symbol and market conditions. Trading involves risk of loss.
