Execution and Costs
Spread, slippage, swap and funding measured against gross result, instrument by instrument, until it is clear which ones give the edge away before the position closes.
Costs are the least examined line in retail trading and the most likely to be decisive on short horizons. They are also the easiest thing on this list to fix, which is why the section is worth running early.
How it is measured
Cost per round turn is expressed as a share of the average gross result on that instrument. The interesting output is not a total in currency. It is a ratio, computed per symbol, and the moment it approaches one hundred percent the method has been working for the venue rather than for the trader.
- Spread paid at the moment of entry, not the advertised average.
- Slippage distribution on stops, separated from slippage on market entries.
- Swap accumulated on positions held overnight, and funding on perpetual contracts, which compounds quietly across multi-day holds.
- Commission per lot, applied against the actual size distribution rather than a nominal one.
What tends to surface
Two patterns recur. A method that is profitable on one instrument and unprofitable on another, where the only difference is the cost structure. And a scalping approach whose gross result is genuinely positive while the net has been negative for months, which the trader has been reading as a failing edge.
What to send
A statement that includes commission and swap columns. Some platforms omit them by default; the export settings needed for each are set out when a review is scoped.