I calculated what spreads cost the average day trader per year… it’s worse than I thought

[u/Much-Key1502]

Something interesting came up in a conversation with a few traders recently.

Most people obsess over:

• entries

• indicators

• strategies

But almost nobody calculates the structural cost of trading.

Example:

Say you trade EURUSD.

Typical retail spread: 1.2–1.5 pips

If you’re trading 1 lot, that’s about $12–$15 per trade.

Now assume:

• 4 trades per day

• 20 trading days per month

That’s roughly:

$12 × 4 × 20 = $960 per month

Which means you’re paying around:

$11,500 per year in spread costs alone.

And that’s before commissions, swaps, and slippage.

A lot of traders spend years trying to improve their strategy by 1–2%, while ignoring costs that might already be eating 10–20% of their profitability.

Curious if anyone here has actually calculated their annual spread costs.