Guide · 6 min read
What a broker actually charges you
Commissions are the headline; the invoice is the fine print. Here is every fee line to check before you fund an account.
Most fee comparisons stop at trading commissions. That is like judging a car by its sticker price. The full cost of using a broker is a stack of small charges, and some of them only appear after months of use.
The five layers of broker cost
Work down this list in order — each layer matters more the longer you hold an account:
- Trading fees: commission per trade or spread markup. Compare on YOUR typical trade size, not the broker's example.
- Currency conversion: if your deposit currency differs from the traded instrument's currency, conversion fees apply on every trade, and they compound.
- Custody or platform fees: some brokers charge a monthly or annual account fee, sometimes waived at certain asset levels.
- Inactivity fees: charged after a period without trades. If you invest infrequently, this can be your single largest cost.
- Deposit and withdrawal fees: bank transfer, card and withdrawal charges — including 'free' methods that quietly convert currency.
How to compare honestly
Take your real behaviour — deposits per year, trades per month, average trade size, holding currency — and price it against each fee schedule. A broker that looks expensive per trade can be cheapest for a buy-and-hold investor, and vice versa. BrokerVersus review templates will publish fee tables with the exact assumptions used, so comparisons stay reproducible.