DAX Spread Comparison

Cutting spreads to reduce headwind

DAX spreads from different brokers​

Pepperstone told me they’ve been cutting spreads recently. Yeah yeah…

“You mean matching competitor spreads? Yawn…”

So I decided to take a look for myself. Do some market research. I like trading the DAX, and so do a lot of you. (In fact, we just set up a dedicated DAX zone on the dashboard at the request of our members)

Anyway, I decided to take live DAX prices from the websites of 6 Spread Betting and CFD brokers

  1. Capital
  2. CMC Markets
  3. IG
  4. City Index
  5. FXCM
  6. Pepperstone

I looked at about 10.20 a.m. UK time, as I wanted no data coming out, regular cash session, trading hours session, and limited volatility so it was a fair fight.  

(Also so I could grab the screenshots in time… very scientific…)


Here’s what I found for the DAX

In no particular order:

  • Capital = 1.5pts
  • CMC Markets = 1.2pts
  • IG = 1.4pts
  • FXCM = 4pts (WTF!)
  • City Index = 1.2pts
  • Pepperstone = 0.9pts

Huh? No one is offering a 1pt spread on the DAX or less except Pepperstone?

To be honest, I thought this looked like a blatant promo for Pepperstone so I crawled Google for more brokers to try and find someone at least offering the same 0.9 pt spread.

Same story.

  • Plus 500 = 1.97pts
  • FX Pro = 1.3pts
  • Forex = 1.2pts

Alright, the results are what they are…

Let’s rank all the brokers in order from best DAX spread to worst:

  1. Pepperstone 0.9pts
  2. Forex, City and CMC 1.2pts
  3. FX Pro 1.3pts
  4. IG 1.4pts
  5. Capital 1.5pts
  6. FXCM 4pts 

Pepperstone Clear Winner

You’re paying at least an extra 33% unnecessarily with even the second-place bunch. That adds up over time. And let’s be honest here. If you’re an active trader, reducing the impact of your losers is a priority, and that includes the necessary evil of spreads.

Just by switching brokers and cutting your spread you can immediately reduce that headwind.

Anyway, that’s my research on the DAX. Check Pepperstone’s spreads on the markets you like to trade, maybe it’s worth switching and saving yourself some cash.

By the way, these spreads were taken at one point in time on a random Thursday morning. I tried to be as fair as possible (and even double-checked after the US open) but markets can get wild, and maybe the spreads change. 

Do your own due diligence and all that…