Get the most out of your edge.
PipRival compares your strategy's performance against the most popular brokers. Brokers are ranked by their expected profitability, showing you exactly what part of your edge is left on the table.
Status quo
There is a chaotic landscape of brokerage and proprietary trading firms competing for public attention. These are heavily promoted on the media by unauthorized entities, competing loudly on liquidity, leverage, spread and marketing. But how good are these brokers actually? Your profitability is not determined by the advertised spread; it's your initial edge net of spread and commission, combined with the trustworthiness of the broker.
The difference compounds over hundreds of trades, but it's almost impossible to eyeball. Not to mention offshore brokers that provide negative spreads, low commissions and high leverage, but with no legal oversight (FCA/ASIC/etc.) or client fund protections, since they are based in unregulated jurisdictions. As a result, most traders choose based on brand recognition and never know what they are leaving on the table, or what risks they are really exposed to.
Solution
PipRival answers the question the marketing can't. Instead of competing claims about spread, leverage and liquidity, it reduces each broker to one figure you can actually compare: expectancy per trade, the average dollar outcome of your strategy once that broker's spread and commission are stripped out.
Expectancy = WinRate × adjusted TP − (1 − WinRate) × adjusted SL
That turns the difference you couldn't eyeball into an explicit number. Because expectancy is measured against your own win rate, stop and target, PipRival ranks every broker for your exact setup and shows how much your edge grows or erodes with each one. The "best" broker is therefore specific to you: a scalper with tight stops and a swing trader with wide ones can rank the same brokers completely differently.
And because cost is only half the picture, the ranking carries each broker's regulatory standing alongside its price, so a tempting offshore number is never shown without the oversight and fund-protection trade-off attached. Brand recognition stops being the deciding factor; what you keep after costs, and the risk you take to keep it, is what counts.
Minimum leverage required
Expectancy tells you which broker is cheapest to trade. It doesn't tell you whether you can place the trade there at all. So PipRival calculates the minimum leverage your strategy demands. Your risk per trade and stop-loss distance fix your position size, and that position carries a notional value. The ratio of that notional to your account equity is the floor of leverage any broker must offer for the trade to be possible in the first place.
- 1
Position size (lots) = risk per trade ÷ (stop distance × pip value per lot) - 2
Position notional = position size × notional per lot - 3
Minimum leverage = position notional ÷ account equity
PipRival surfaces this requirement above the ranking and flags every broker that can't support it, so the cheapest broker on paper is never one you couldn't actually trade with.
How to use it
Enter your strategy stats
Pair, account equity, risk per trade, stop-loss, reward-to-risk and win rate, straight from your backtest or journal. Do not forget to indicate whether your results are achieved with or without costs applied.
Add your current broker
Pick a preset or type your own spread and commission, so the comparison has a baseline to beat.
Filter to your requirements
Narrow the field by your strategy's minimum required leverage, jurisdiction, preferred broker type, and cost structure to find the broker that actually fits.
Read the ranked table
Every broker is sorted by expectancy for your strategy. The banner shows the biggest improvement available, and each row expands into the full cost breakdown.
Review the equity curve
Project your equity curve over a run of trades to see how each broker's expectancy compounds, and how much your edge is worth over time.
About the data
Broker pricing on PipRival is placeholder data, retrieved directly from the brokers' publicly available websites, reviewed periodically and meant to illustrate the comparison. Figures are for educational purposes and are not financial or trading advice. Always confirm current pricing directly with a broker before opening an account. For some brokers, different costs or leverage may apply, as these can depend on trading volume, equity level, account tier, or other conditions, so there may be a discrepancy between the figures shown here and the costs you are actually charged in reality.
LIMITATIONS
Break-even trades
For simplicity, the tool only takes your win rate as input and assumes the loss rate is simply the remainder (1 − win rate). It therefore does not account for break-even trades: every trade is treated as either a full win or a full loss. If your strategy closes a meaningful share of trades at or near break-even, your real expectancy will differ from the figures shown here.Execution latency
PipRival models the fixed, knowable costs of a trade, spread and commission, applied to your strategy stats. It does not account for the cost or risk of execution latency: the delay between your order and the broker's fill. Slippage, requotes, partial fills, and price movement during that delay can all shift your real entry and exit away from the modelled levels, and the impact grows for faster strategies, larger size, and volatile or thin market conditions. Treat the figures here as a comparison of pricing on equal terms, not a guarantee of the fills you will actually receive.Swap fees
It also does not account for swap (overnight financing) fees: the interest credited or debited when a position is held past the broker's rollover time. These vary by instrument, direction, and broker, and compound over multi-day holds — so for swing or position strategies the real cost can differ materially from the spread-and-commission figures shown here.Volatility drag
The projected equity curves do not account for volatility drag. They apply each broker's expectancy per trade deterministically, but real results vary trade to trade, and the volatility of those returns can have a significant impact on overall profitability. For example, a +75% gain followed by a −50% loss may look like +25%, but it actually compounds to a 12.5% loss (1.75 × 0.50 = 0.875). To capture this, PipRival now offers a separate stochastic Monte Carlo projection, which draws each trade's outcome at random and averages many simulated runs to reveal the drag these deterministic curves omit. Treat the equity curves here as a comparison of expectancy on equal terms, and the Monte Carlo projection as the more realistic picture of how your account might actually grow.Bootstrapped Monte Carlo
The Monte Carlo projection draws each trade as a full win or full loss against your win rate, rather than resampling your actual trade history. A bootstrapped simulation, which resamples your real per-trade results, would capture the true distribution of your returns: partial exits, break-even trades, and the real spread of win and loss sizes. Because our model treats every outcome as a fixed TP or SL, it cannot reproduce that shape. Treat the projection as a stochastic stress-test of your stated edge, not a replay of your real track record.Broker coverage
Not every broker or prop firm is listed. Some providers' trading costs are not fixed: spreads, commissions, or swaps can depend on trading volume, account tier, equity or deposit size, or other conditions, so a single representative figure would not fairly capture what any one trader actually pays. If your broker (or one you're considering) isn't included, use the Custom / other… option, enter the spread, commission, and swap that actually apply to your account, and PipRival will compute the expectancy for those exact numbers.Fairness & corrections
Information about brokers and firms shown on PipRival is compiled in good faith from publicly available sources and is presented as general commentary and opinion for comparison purposes only. It is not intended to disparage, defame, or damage the reputation of any broker, prop firm, or company, and no statement here should be read as an allegation of wrongdoing. Pricing, terms, and regulatory status change over time and may contain errors or omissions; rankings are the output of a calculation based on user inputs and assumptions, not a judgment of any company's integrity. If you represent a company featured here and believe any information is inaccurate, outdated, or unfair, please get in touch and we will review and correct it promptly.
Affiliate disclosure
PipRival may earn a commission when you open an account with a broker or service through links on this site, at no extra cost to you. These commissions help fund the development and upkeep of the tool.
This compensation does not influence the cost figures, rankings, or expectancy calculations shown. Every broker is scored by the same formula using the same publicly sourced inputs, regardless of whether a commercial relationship exists. Brokers cannot pay to improve their position in the comparison.
Important disclaimer
PipRival is an educational comparison tool, not a financial product, brokerage, or advisor. Nothing on this site constitutes financial, investment, tax, or trading advice, nor a recommendation, solicitation, or offer to open an account with, or trade through, any broker, prop firm, or other provider.
Pricing, spreads, commissions, account terms, product availability, and regulatory protections vary by jurisdiction and can change without notice. The figures shown here are illustrative estimates and may not reflect the live conditions, fees, or terms available to you in your country of residence.
Trading leveraged products such as forex and CFDs carries a high level of risk and can result in losses that exceed your deposits. Past performance and modelled expectancy are not reliable indicators of future results. You are always responsible for conducting your own due diligence. Verify current pricing and terms directly with each provider, confirm they are appropriately licensed in your jurisdiction, and seek advice from a qualified, independent professional before making any financial decision.
By using this tool you acknowledge that PipRival accepts no liability for any loss or damage arising from reliance on the information presented. All content on this site is the property of PipRival.com; reproduction without prior written permission is strictly prohibited. See our Terms of Service.
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