Skip to main content
Simul8or Chart Patterns
Get 12 free shares worth up to $3,600AD
Welcome backGuest Trader
MARKETSLoading…
Currency pairsLive
    Positions0
    Closed trades0
      How fills work

      Every pair has two prices

      You never see just one price in forex. There's the bid, which is what you get if you sell, and the ask, which is what you pay if you buy. The ask is always a little higher.

      The spread is what you pay to trade

      The gap between the bid and the ask is called the spread. Think of it as the entry fee. You pay it on every trade, win or lose. Buy and then sell a second later and you're down the spread, even though the market didn't move. Price has to travel past the spread before you make a cent.

      Right now the spread is —

      The lines on the chart

      The candles show the middle price, halfway between the bid and the ask. The green Ask line is where your buys fill. The red Bid line is where your sells fill. Your trade markers sit on those lines, so a buy can land a little above the candle and a sell a little below it. That gap is the spread. Nothing's broken.

      A quick example

      You buy EUR/USD at the ask: 1.12205. The bid is 1.12195. Sell right away and you get 1.12195, 1 pip less than you paid. At 0.10 lots that's $1 gone. To break even, the bid has to climb back up to 1.12205.

      Why our spread can look wider

      Our live prices come from the market banks trade in, where the spread is often under half a pip. Real retail brokers charge more than that. So simul8or charges whichever is wider: the live spread, or a normal retail spread for that pair (about 1 pip on EUR/USD, about 2 on EUR/JPY). It stings a little, but your practice results end up looking like what you'd get with a real account.

      Two kinds of accounts

      Real brokers price trades one of two ways. A standard account has no fee, but the spread is wider. A raw account gives you the tight bank spread and charges a small fee instead, usually about $3.50 per lot each way. simul8or does both. Leave Include Commissions off in Settings and you get a standard account. Turn it on and you get the real spread plus whatever fee you set there. Percent at 0.003% is close to a typical raw account.

      How positions close

      Buy (go long) and you close by selling, so you get out at the bid. Sell (go short) and you close by buying, so you get out at the ask. That's why a stop loss on a short can fire when the ask touches it, even if the candle never quite reaches your stop.

      Simulator Settings
      Hotkeys
      BuyMarket order at the ask
      SellMarket order at the bid
      ReverseFlip position
      FlatClose position
      Chart & Feedback
      Show TradesBuy and sell markers
      Candle CountdownTime left in the bar, on the price tag
      Pattern AlertsPattern callouts and pulse
      Sound & Visual EffectsFills, alerts, and confetti
      Commissions
      Include CommissionsOn: real tight spread plus this fee. Off: wider spread, no fee.
      A typical raw forex account charges about $3.50 per lot each way. Percent at 0.003% works out close to that at any size.
      Background Music
      Ambient TrackLoops while the session runs
      35%