Axi Spreads, Fees, and Commissions

You are interested in opening a live trading account at Axi but have no idea how its trading costs compare to other brokers? If so, this article is just the right read for you. We explore Axi’s commissions and spreads in great depth to help you determine whether they correspond to your budget. Also included in this article is information about overnight financing rates, administrative fees on swap-free accounts, and non-trading expenses resulting from transaction fees, account maintenance, and subscription-based services like VPS hosting. Without further ado, let’s dive right into the details and compare the trading costs across different Axi accounts.

Axi Trading Costs

Onboarding customers can open Standard or Pro accounts, both offering five-digit pricing for increased transparency. The accounts facilitate mobile and automated trading and are suitable for retail clients, giving them access to over 220 financial markets, including more than 70 currency pairs. The available base currencies coincide across Standard and Pro accounts but are country-specific.

Clients signing up through the CySEC entity can choose from EUR, USD, and PLN as base currencies. Minimum positions start from 0.01 lots, with an initial balance requirement of $5 for CySEC customers. This is where the similarities pretty much end as Standard Accounts enable commission-free trading, whereas Pro Accounts charge flat commissions per standard lot.

Standard Accounts Forex Trading Costs

Clients with Standard Accounts can trade EUR/USD with zero commissions and average spreads of 1.20 pips. Total expenses per side depend on position size as shown in the table below. Opening a position for 100,000 currency units (one standard lot) costs $12 (0.00012 x 100,000) per side. One standard lot in EUR/USD will thus cost you $24 in total if we assume the opening and closing prices coincide.

Trading EUR/USD in micro lots with this spread is suitable for traders on a budget as spread fees amount to $0.12 (0.00012 x 1,000) per side. Respectively, the spread expenses for a single mini lot in this major pair average $1.2 (0.00012 x 10,000) per side. These spread charges are slightly higher compared to other prominent brokers like Fusion Markets where a standard lot in EUR/USD costs under $10 with commission-free accounts.

*We have listed the average costs for unleveraged positions equal to 100,000 and 1,000 currency units. The values reflect traders’ expenses per side, i.e. upon opening a position.

Pro Accounts Forex Trading Costs

Axi customers can further reduce their trading expenses by opting for Pro Accounts with minimum spreads from 0.00 pips. To partially compensate for this significant price reduction, the broker charges commissions of $3.50 per standard lot in either direction of the trade. In essence, customers end up paying round-turn commissions of $7 per standard lot.

One mini lot will cost you $0.35 per side or $0.70 in total. Micro lots incur the lowest round-turn commissions of 7 cents. Commission rates are flat but vary across different base account currencies as you can see below. According to the broker’s product schedule, commissions on this account type are used to cover Axi’s clearing and aggregation expenses. The rates largely align with the industry average, which fluctuates between $3 and $3.50 per side.

NB: Commissions for other currencies amount to the equivalent of 7.00 USD.

When calculating their overall costs, Pro Account holders should also consider the spreads which average 0.20 pips for the EUR/USD pair. This essentially means trading a standard lot in this currency pair will cost you $2 on top of the $3.50 commission per side ($5.50 in total). Respectively, opening and closing a position at these prices will set you back $11 ($4 from spreads and $7 for commissions).

*The second value corresponds to the commission per side charged for forex trades in micro lots. **The cost per lot includes both spread expenses and commissions per side for micro and standard lots, respectively. The commissions apply to USD-denominated Pro Accounts.

In conclusion, traders looking to reduce their long-term costs should settle for Pro Accounts where overall trading expenses are more than twice as low compared to commission-free accounts. To drive this point home, one full lot in EUR/USD costs only $5.50 per side as opposed to $12 per side with Standard Accounts. We observed similar tendencies with all major forex pairs during our research and evaluation of Axi’s trading costs.

Axi Overnight Funding Costs

Overnight financing (swap) fees are due when customers hold open positions after the close of each trading day. These adjustments reflect the relative differences in the interest rates of currency pairs and other underlying assets and apply to leveraged positions funded with borrowed capital. Axi accounts are either credited or debited with swap fees, depending on the direction of your trade.

Said fees are applied daily approximately 30 seconds before the New York session closes. The broker charges triple swap rates on Wednesdays, although some currency pairs like USD/CAD incur triple swaps on Thursdays. As interest rates are constantly fluctuating, swap fees are also subject to change overnight. To see the most current swap rates, you must log into your trading account and open the “symbol specifications” for your preferred forex pair.

*The swap rates are listed in points and reflect the amounts customers with open positions will be debited or credited at the end of each trading day. The swap values above are accurate for USD-denominated accounts when holding 1 standard lot in the corresponding currency pair.

Swap-Free Trading Administrative Fees

Depending on their location, onboarding customers may have the option to register swap-free accounts, allowing them to hold positions in forex, precious metals, indices, and cryptocurrencies without incurring overnight funding fees. Eligible customers enjoy a five-day grace period and are subject to overnight holding fees from the sixth day onward. This basically means your positions can remain open for five days without incurring any administrative charges.

Said holding fees are due regardless of your position’s direction and have no bearing on the underlying market swaps and interest rates. Here are the overnight administrative fees you can anticipate for holding one standard contract in the most popular currency pairs. All fees are listed in US dollars.

Here is an example of how Axi deducts these overnight funding charges. Let’s assume you open a position of 2 standard lots in EUR/USD and hold it for 8 days. You will pay $60 in administrative fees over the 3 chargeable days ($10 x 2 lots x 3 days), or $20 per day. These fixed fees are also applicable to hedged positions. If the swap-free option is unavailable in your region, you can contact the Axi customer support staff and request they send you the necessary application form.

Axi Non-Trading Costs

Apart from spreads, commissions, overnight funding, and administrative fees, customers can anticipate several indirect charges unrelated to trading. The broker imposes dormancy fees on accounts without any open positions or trading activity for 12 successive months. The fees charged vary depending on the base account currency of your account.

Deposits are generally free of charge but there are exceptions. Customers using credit cards and Neteller can transfer up to $50,000 per month to their live balance without incurring additional fees. The broker reserves the right to pass on the transaction charges to depositing customers exceeding this monthly threshold.

As for withdrawals, you must either request over $50 or withdraw your entire balance to avoid paying additionally. Withdrawal requests below this amount may incur administrative charges of $25. There are no fees for account opening and maintenance for active customers. Axi also provides a superb commission-free copy trading service. While copying trades itself is free, additional expenses may result from the performance fees payable to the signal providers.

These are deducted from liable accounts during the first week of each month and cannot exceed 50% of copiers’ monthly profits. For instance, if you copy a position with a 25% fee and it generates $1,000 in profit, your signal provider will collect $250. The deducted amount will appear as a “signal fee” in your MetaTrader 4 records. Customers using the MT4 VPS hosting service are liable for monthly subscription fees of $10. Subscribers with a monthly volume exceeding 20 lots per calendar month are liable for discounts.

Closing Thoughts on Axi Fees

We hope this article has given you an accurate picture of the overall expenses you can anticipate when trading at Axi. As you have perhaps noticed, opening a Pro Account offers a slightly better value despite the $3.50 commission charged per side. We attribute this to the reduction in the average spreads, which in some cases are six times lower than those for Standard Accounts.

Axi’s commissions are slightly higher than those charged by some of its closest competitors. For example, Raw Accounts at FP Markets incur a $3 commission per side, while Fusion Markets has even lower charges of $2.25 each way. Non-trading costs like inactivity, deposit and withdrawal fees are also worth considering if you insist on cutting your expenses to the bare minimum. Feel free to check our full review for a more detailed breakdown of Axi’s products.

Written by Z. Stefanova