Market Maker vs ECN Brokers: What Actually Matters
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Every forex broker answers one question differently: what happens to your order after you click buy? The answer defines whether you pay through spreads or commissions, and whether your broker profits when you lose.
Market makers (B-book)
A market maker fills your order from its own book — it takes the other side. Spreads are often fixed and accounts are simple, which suits beginners. The conflict of interest is structural: your loss is the desk’s gain. Reputable market makers manage this with internal hedging and regulation, but the incentive never fully disappears.
ECN / raw-spread brokers (A-book)
An ECN-style broker passes your order to liquidity providers and charges a visible commission — typically around $3–4 per lot per side — on top of near-zero raw spreads. The broker profits from your volume, not your losses, so its incentives point toward keeping you trading for years.
What to actually compare
Ignore the labels and compare all-in cost per lot: spread plus commission, measured on the pairs you trade at the times you trade them. Then check execution quality — slippage statistics and requote behavior matter more than a 0.1 pip difference in advertised spread. Our comparison tables show both models side by side with their real costs.
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