Another cost to trading is the spread between the buy and sell price. the tightest spreads are offered 3-4 pips on major currency crosses this represents a cost of 0.025% or one-quarter of one promile, one-twenty-fifth of one-percent.
In the Equity Markets for example a standard spread is often 0.125% that’s five times the spread in the Foreign Exchange Market, and that’s without the added transaction costs mentioned above.
If looking at the Futures Markets the situation isn't much better. When comparing like traded instruments for example the EUR/USD contract we find the spreads available are 40% less then what are available in the Futures market, once again that is without taking into account the added fees charged when trading Futures.