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Glossary / Market structure

Spread

Definition

The gap between the best bid and the best ask.

Why it matters

The spread is paid on every round turn. On low timeframes it can be a larger cost than commissions.

Example

A bid of 1.0849 and an ask of 1.0850 is a 1 pip spread: $10 per standard lot paid at entry and again at exit.

How to track it in a journal

TradeStack calculates the core performance numbers — win rate, average win and loss, profit factor, expectancy, drawdown and consistency — automatically from imported trades, so spread stops being something you estimate and becomes something you read.

Related terms

Slippage
The difference between your expected fill price and the price you actually get.
Liquidity
How much size a market can absorb without moving price.
Volatility
How much price moves over a given period.
ATR (Average True Range)
The average size of a bar's full range over a lookback period.

Keep reading

Trading journal guides
Expectancy, profit factor, drawdown, backtesting and the PDT rule.
Free trading calculators
Position size, risk-reward, expectancy and options profit.
Expectancy calculator
Expected profit per trade from your own numbers.
Broker CSV export guides
Step-by-step exports for Tradovate, NinjaTrader, IBKR and more.
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