Choosing an account type by how much you actually trade
The account type that suits somebody trading two lots a month is often not the one that suits somebody trading two hundred. The reason is arithmetic rather than opinion, and it is worth seeing once.
Why volume changes the answer
Costs on a trading account fall into two shapes.
Per lot costs scale straight up with volume. Commission is the clearest example: double the lots, double the commission. Spread behaves the same way.
Rebate also scales with volume, because it is calculated per lot too.
So volume does not change which side is bigger in a simple way. What it changes is how much a small difference matters. A gap of half a dollar per lot is a rounding error at two lots a month and is real money at two hundred.
That is the whole mechanism. Low volume means differences between accounts barely register. High volume means the same differences decide things.
What this means in practice
If you trade a small volume, the account type matters less than you would guess. Pick the one that is simplest to understand and get on with it. Optimising a cost you barely incur is time spent for nothing.
If you trade a large volume, the comparison stops being academic. A per lot difference that looked trivial multiplies by every lot you put through, in both directions: the cost and the rebate.
If you trade in very small sizes, a cent account exists for that reason. It is not a worse account, it is the same market measured in smaller units, and it lets you size positions that a standard lot cannot express.
The trap in the middle
The awkward case is the trader who is growing.
An account chosen at ten lots a month can quietly become the wrong account at a hundred, and nothing will tell you. There is no notification, no warning, and the account keeps working exactly as before. The cost difference simply widens month after month.
The fix is unexciting and it works: re-run the comparison when your volume changes materially, not on a schedule and not never. If your monthly volume has doubled since you chose, the choice is worth revisiting.
Do it with your own number
Guessing your volume defeats the exercise. Most platforms will show total lots traded over a period, and that is the number to use.
Put it into the [trading calculator](/tools/calculator) along with the pair and the account type, and compare against one alternative rather than all of them. Two well chosen options compared properly beats a table of eight compared loosely.
Enter the volume you actually traded last month, not the volume you intend to trade. The first is a measurement and the second is a hope.
Next
- [How to compare two account types without fooling yourself](/bai-viet/compare-account-types-properly)
- [Which account type returns the most per lot](/bai-viet/which-account-pays-most-rebate)