ECN Fees

The ECN fee, or ECN commission, is a small fixed amount charged for the automated processing of orders through the Electronic Communication Network (ECN). Every market participant using the ECN technology for opening/closing a position must pay a fee for each transaction.  

The size of the fee is set by a brokerage company, and it varies greatly. ECN fees may range depending on a broker’s ECN system and the customers’ trading volume.

The ECN fee may be charged in one or two directions, depending on whether a trade has been opened or both opened and closed. In this case, the commission is called half-turn, or round-turn, respectively.

A trader agrees to pay a commission for the narrower spread offered by an ECN broker. In the Market Maker model of Forex trading, there is no commission paid to the broker, but there are much wider spreads. So, an ECN fee is a charge for the privilege of trading with lower spreads.

There are specific formulas to calculate the ECN commission, paid for the advantages associated with ECN technologies. In addition, there are certain applications available that have been developed to facilitate the process of calculations.

For example, FXOpen broker offers its customers a proprietary product, FXOpen ECN Commission Calculator. This tool is available in the customers’ personal back office area, and is always at hand when the ECN fee needs to be calculated.