Why the Number Moves — and What a Beginner Does About It — Cambodia
A single typical spread hides how much the figure varies. The distribution below is measured on the platform feed, and for a first-time trader its value is a planning one: a stop placed as if the spread were constant is a stop that occasionally gets reached for no reason at all.
Open Exness Account →The spread is not one number, it is a range, and the wide end of that range is where beginners get stopped out of trades that were never wrong. The practical response is not to chase a broker with a tighter typical figure but to place stops with enough room that ordinary variation cannot reach them, and to avoid the hours where the range is widest.
Why stability matters
Two accounts can advertise the same ‘typical’ spread and behave very differently under load. A stop-loss, a scalp exit or a news entry is filled at the spread of that moment — not at the median. Spread stability is one of the account features Exness highlights; this table lets a trader verify it on measured data rather than take it on faith.
Spreads may fluctuate and widen depending on liquidity, news and market conditions.
Measured spread distribution (pips; points for non-FX)
| Instrument | Min | p25 | Median | p75 | p90 | p99 | Max | Stdev | p90 ÷ median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EUR/USD | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 1.8 | 7.7 | 0.411 | 1.00 |
| GBP/USD | 0.4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10.1 | 15.8 | 1.284 | 1.00 |
| USD/JPY | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.8 | 24.8 | 0.451 | 1.00 |
| AUD/USD | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 4.9 | 7.7 | 0.715 | 1.00 |
| USD/CAD | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 2.8 | 5.6 | 0.249 | 1.00 |
| USD/CHF | 1.3 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 4.5 | 9.9 | 0.506 | 1.00 |
| NZD/USD | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 7.8 | 10 | 1.087 | 1.00 |
| EUR/GBP | 1.3 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 4.1 | 5 | 0.477 | 1.00 |
| EUR/JPY | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 3.4 | 24 | 0.913 | 1.00 |
| GBP/JPY | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 6.7 | 30.4 | 2.426 | 1.00 |
| AUD/JPY | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 3.8 | 16.8 | 0.72 | 1.00 |
| XAU/USD (Gold) | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 34 | 200 | 2.625 | 1.00 |
| XAG/USD (Silver) | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0.066 | 1.00 |
| US Oil (WTI) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1.00 |
| UK Oil (Brent) | 3.1 | 3.5 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 3.8 | 4.1 | 7.3 | 0.166 | 1.06 |
| BTC/USD | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 | 0 | 1.00 |
| ETH/USD | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 0 | 1.00 |
| US500 (S&P 500) | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 80 | 120 | 7.353 | 1.00 |
| US30 (Dow) | 10 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 13 | 27 | 40 | 3.069 | 1.30 |
| USTEC (Nasdaq 100) | 112 | 112 | 112 | 112 | 112 | 112 | 300 | 6.526 | 1.00 |
| DE30 (DAX) | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 56 | 100 | 10.129 | 1.00 |
| JP225 (Nikkei 225) | 31 | 31 | 31 | 34 | 34 | 34 | 71 | 3.417 | 1.10 |
| UK100 (FTSE 100) | 98 | 98 | 98 | 98 | 98 | 860 | 860 | 103.579 | 1.00 |
p25/p75/p90/p99 = the spread was at or below this value 25/75/90/99% of the sampled time. ‘p90 ÷ median’ close to 1.00 = the spread barely moves; higher values = it stretches under load.
In this sample, XAG/USD (Silver), US Oil (WTI), BTC/USD, ETH/USD and others held the same spread from the median all the way to the 99th percentile — the quote traders got 1 time in 2 was the quote they got 99 times in 100.
How this was measured
- Every tick's bid and ask captured in-terminal on Exness's own MT5 feed.
- Percentiles computed over the full sample, not a hand-picked window.
- Rollover and news windows are included — that is what the p99 and Max columns show.
- Figures refresh on a schedule.
Measured in-terminal on Exness’s own MetaTrader 5 pricing feed and symbol specifications, refreshed on a schedule. All figures are indicative and change with market conditions.
Open Exness Account →Turning a distribution into a rule
Read the wider end of the range rather than the middle, then ask whether the plan's stop distance would survive it. If the answer is no, the stop is too close for this instrument at this hour, and the fix is a different distance or a different hour.
Do the same check for the target. A target close enough that ordinary variation can decide the outcome is a coin toss with costs attached, and the demo log will show it as a run of near misses.
What this page is not for
It is not a broker comparison. Spreads may fluctuate and widen due to factors including market volatility, news events and market open or close, so a snapshot from one venue and one hour does not settle anything about another.
It is not a reason to trade at the quietest hour available. A quiet market with a tight spread also tends to be a market that does not travel far enough to reach a target.
Where this sits in a four-week practice run
The stop distance written into the plan in week two is the thing this page tests. If ordinary variation can reach it, the plan is edited before the run rather than after a fortnight of unexplained losses.
During the run the journal records where each stop was placed and whether it was reached before or after the trade idea failed. Those are different events, and only a written log tells them apart.
A first month does not need to chase a tighter number. It needs a stop distance that survives a normal day at the hour the plan actually trades.