Most traders pick one broker and stay there for years. I do the opposite: I run live accounts at several brokers at the same time, on purpose. This post explains why, and how that habit turned into BrokerDeck.
Why one broker is never enough
A broker is not just a login screen. It is a bundle of infrastructure: liquidity providers, bridge software, server location, and a dealing desk policy. Every broker in my rotation quotes the same EURUSD, but none of them delivers the same fill.
Concretely, here is what changes between brokers on the same news candle:
- Spread behavior. A broker advertising “raw spreads from 0.0” can still widen to 3 pips during rollover or news. The advertised number only tells you the floor, not the median.
- Slippage direction. Some brokers slip you on entry, some on stop losses, some consistently on both. This is measurable: compare requested price to filled price over 100+ trades.
- Stop-out policy. Margin call levels range from 50% to 100%. This decides how much drawdown your account survives before positions are closed for you.
- EA tolerance. Brokers differ wildly in how they treat automated trading. Some invite it, some quietly move you to a slow server.
None of this shows up on a broker’s homepage. It shows up on your statement after three months.
The method: same EA, same settings, several brokers
The cleanest way to compare brokers is to remove the human variable. I run one grid-style EA on small accounts at different brokers, with identical settings and the same VPS. Every week I export the history and log:
- Average spread per hour, per symbol.
- Slippage on market orders (positive and negative).
- Requotes and rejected orders.
- Overnight swap charges for each open lot.
- Any unexplained gaps between broker feed and the underlying futures price.
After 8-12 weeks, the differences are not subtle. A broker that looked identical in the sales brochure can cost twice as much per round trip, purely in spreads and swaps.
This is also why my broker reviews list specific spreads, EA notes, and a verdict per broker instead of copying the marketing text.
What I have found so far
A few honest observations from running the rotation:
- The cheapest raw spread is not the cheapest account. Commission per lot plus spread is the number that matters. A 0.1 pip raw spread with $7 commission is more expensive than 0.8 pips all-in for small lots.
- Swap-free accounts are not free. The “free” is priced into a wider spread or an admin fee. Fine for long-term position trades, pointless for intraday scalping.
- VPS location matters as much as broker server location. If your EA sits in New York and the broker’s server is in London, you are adding latency you then blame on the broker.
- Reviews you read online are mostly affiliate noise. A broker with 4.8 stars can have a mediocre feed, because most review sites are paid per signup.
One specific example: I keep an account at HFM mainly for the EA tolerance and the swap policy, not because they have the tightest raw spread. They do not. Different broker, different job.
Prop firms change the math
Trading a prop firm challenge is a different game from trading your own money. The broker under the prop firm is fixed, so you cannot shop execution anymore. What you can shop is the rule set: drawdown limits, news restrictions, consistency rules, and payout speed.
I treat prop firms the way I treat brokers: log the numbers. Every challenge attempt gets a sheet with the allowed drawdown, the actual daily loss I took, the time to payout, and any rule interpretation issues. Firms that change rules after you pass are a red flag, regardless of how good their marketing is.
The weekly log becomes public
The whole point of BrokerDeck is that these notes stop living in my private spreadsheets. The broker pages hold the structured data (spreads, fees, EA notes, verdict). This blog holds the running narrative: what changed this month, which broker slipped me on a stop, which prop firm paid on time.
Nothing here is sponsored. When a broker’s numbers look bad, the page says so. When they improve, the page gets updated. That is the whole business model: honest logs, updated on a schedule.
If you trade with multiple brokers, or you are thinking about it, start the same log today. One row per trade is enough: pair, requested price, filled price, spread at entry, swap. After two months you will know things about your broker that their support team will never tell you.