the fees paid by a buyer and seller when engaging trading activities is referred to as Trading Fee. When trading in financial markets, the featured aspect of trading fees or cost is the fee related to settlement or clearance. The exact fee structure can comprise different fees based upon the transaction size, contract complexity and the stock broker. However, in the beginning of any trade the only fee obtained is the initial trading fee.
In the theory of trading fees or cost, the fee is paid to cover the processing of the trade and is subtracted from the capital gain of the trade. The trading fee is charged in order to still profits for the broker and also to compensate for the additional services involved in processing and publishing of the trades. It is not only the fee that influences the included costs, however the settlement and rebate are two additional and influential mechanisms, which will in result determine the overall cost of the final trade.
The broker, no matter the platform the agents are operating on, will be involved in aggregating the prices of multiple trades from the market and the trades from their own clients. When deciding upon a broker and the level of services offered, the traders must consider the impact of the trading fees and cost on their bottom line as even a small difference in trading fee/cost can result in a large difference at the overall profits.
The markets’ competitive nature drives most of the brokers to offer competitive and minimal trading fees, while some claim they provide no fees at all. This is both a blessing and curse to the traders as the cost of trading is significantly reduced but the cost of their trading can often be extracted in other indirect means like commission, rebate, slippage and market manipulation.
The rebate system is another popular way of pricing the trading fee. In the rebate system, the broker includes the cost of the trading fee in the settlement cost. This type of fee structure has grown popular in popular markets like the Forex and Stock markets. In the Forex market, it is compulsory that the brokers present 0.3 pips for each trade as the fee for the “spread”. In the stock market, the broker presents different fees depending on the market condition and the type of trade.
The commission is an additional trading fee, which is illustrated through the interaction of the broker with the client. The commission is a predetermined fee, charged usually on a percentage based on the trading costs. In the stock markets, the most common fee structure is represented through presenting a ten percent fee on each trade. This fee structure is altered in other markets, like the Forex market, where the fees may comprise a specified fee or percentage based on the amount of capital traded.
The slippage cost is one of the most stringent cost mechanisms. It is the difference of the trading cost rate of the trader, compared to the cost rate of the trade executions they have chosen to avail in. Slippage cost can result either in a positive or negative outcome; however regardless of the outlook, it can still influence the overall costs.
There is also a slippage of liquidity cost. This cost is obtained by the difference between the trading cost of the asset and the total cost of the asset is nicknamed slippage cost. This fee compensates for the availability of the asset and the total cost of the asset.
The banking cost is a price mechanism adopted by the financial institutions and banks. These institutions charge the trader a specific fee for any monetary services, such as depositing funds in their commissions or money transfers.
The final type of the fee structure presented is the counterparty risk. This cost is presented to the traders when trading through derivatives on-exchange markets, such as the Foreign Exchange or Futures market. The counterparty risk presented to the trader is to cover the possible risk of the counterparty.
In conclusion, trading fees are a complicated mechanism and can comprise of multiple different included features and cost structures. Therefore, it is desirable that the traders practice caution when selecting the broker they avail and form a realistic approach to the costs that may include in the trading process. Hence, no matter the fee structure, traders should always be aware of the cost implication related to trading and make sure that the resulting profits are justified for the trading cost.