Educational content. This article explains what STP and ECN mean in CFD brokerage and how the two models differ in routing, pricing and cost. It does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation. CFD trading carries significant risk of loss and may not be suitable for all investors.
STP and ECN are two ways a broker can connect a client's order to the market. With STP (straight-through processing) the broker passes the order to a liquidity provider without a dealer deciding whether to accept it. With ECN (electronic communication network) the order enters a network where it is matched against orders from other participants. The labels describe routing, not price.
This article defines both models, shows how each one charges for the same trade with a worked example, lists what you can check yourself in MetaTrader 5, and explains where the labels stop being informative.
What Is an STP Broker?
An STP broker sends each client order on to one or more liquidity providers instead of handling it internally. Liquidity providers are banks, non-bank market makers and other institutions that quote prices at which they will deal. The broker typically aggregates their quotes into one price feed, may add a markup, and then displays the result as bid and ask in the platform.
Three features define the model:
- Routing. The order leaves the broker. A dealer does not approve, delay or re-quote it by hand.
- Pricing. The price you see is built from the providers' quotes. If the broker adds a markup, it is inside the spread.
- Counterparty. The liquidity provider that fills the order takes the other side. The broker earns from the markup and from any commission, as its own terms describe.
"STP" is a processing description. It says nothing about how many providers are connected, how the quotes are combined or how large the markup is. Two STP brokers can price the same pair very differently.
What Is an ECN Broker?
An ECN broker gives clients access to an electronic network in which many participants post prices and orders, and trades are matched when a buy order meets a sell order. A participant can be a bank, a fund, another broker's flow or a retail client. Prices in the network are the participants' own, so the spread is whatever the best bid and best offer happen to be at that moment.
Three features define the model:
- Matching. Your order interacts with other participants' orders, not with a single quote from one provider.
- Pricing. The spread comes from the network and is variable. The broker usually earns a commission on each trade rather than a markup.
- Depth. Many ECN-style setups display market depth, the list of resting buy and sell volume at each price. In MetaTrader 5 this is the Depth of Market window, and whether it carries real data depends on what the broker connects.
In the retail CFD market the word is used loosely. A broker may call an account "ECN" because it offers raw spreads plus commission, without exposing a full public order book. The label is a marketing term more often than a legal one, so read what the account actually does.
STP vs ECN: Side-by-Side Comparison
The practical differences are in how the price is built and how the cost is charged:
| Feature | STP | ECN |
|---|---|---|
| Order handling | Passed to liquidity provider(s) | Matched in an electronic network |
| Price source | Aggregated provider quotes, often with a markup | Best bid and offer posted in the network |
| Typical cost structure | Spread, which may include a markup | Narrow raw spread plus commission |
| Spread behaviour | Variable, can be fixed by the broker's feed rules | Variable, set by participants |
| Market depth shown | Usually not | Often, if the broker connects it |
| Who fills the order | The liquidity provider | Another network participant |
| Common account name | Standard | Raw, ECN, Pro |
The last row is a naming habit, not a rule. Some brokers offer both account types on the same infrastructure: a Standard account with the cost in the spread and a Raw account with a commission added. The routing can be identical; what changes is where the fee is shown. The broader cost picture is in why trading costs are more than the spread.
How Do STP and ECN Charge for the Same Trade?
They can cost the same: the model changes where the fee appears, not necessarily its size. Take EURUSD, where 1 lot is 100,000 units of the base currency (contract size from the Vanto feed snapshot, 10 October 2026) and 1 pip is 0.0001, so 1 pip on 1 lot is 100,000 x 0.0001 = USD 10. The two cost lines below use hypothetical figures to show the arithmetic; they are not Vanto rates.
| Markup spread (STP-style) | Raw spread plus commission (ECN-style) | |
|---|---|---|
| Spread | 1.2 pips | 0.2 pips |
| Commission | none | equal to 1.0 pip |
| Total cost | 1.2 pips | 0.2 + 1.0 = 1.2 pips |
| Per 1 lot | 1.2 x USD 10 = USD 12 | 1.2 x USD 10 = USD 12 |
| Per 0.01 lot | USD 0.12 | USD 0.12 |
Both lines total 1.2 pips. In practice the totals are rarely equal, and which side is cheaper depends on the actual numbers of the actual accounts, the instrument and the time of day. The useful habit is to convert everything to one unit, pips or currency per lot, before comparing. What is a pip and what is the spread in trading cover the units.
A second effect matters for short trades. A commission is a fixed amount per lot, while a spread is a price distance that a trade must first recover. The shorter the target, the larger the share of it that any fixed cost consumes, whichever model carries it. The trading calculator takes the numbers of a real instrument.
What Does the Vanto Feed Show About Order Size?
The model does not change the contract specification: lot size, minimum volume and step come from the instrument, not from the routing label. The table lists the instruments in the Vanto feed snapshot of 10 October 2026, by class, excluding one crypto symbol whose contract specification is pending.
| Class | Instruments | Minimum volume | Volume step |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forex | 42 | 0.01 lot on all 42 | 0.01 |
| Metals | 2 | 0.01 lot on both | 0.01 |
| Indices | 18 | 0.01 lot on 13; 1 or 10 lots on 5 | 0.01 or 1 |
| Energies | 3 | 0.1 or 1 lot | 0.1 or 1 |
| Crypto | 12 | 0.01 lot on 3; 0.05 to 50 on the other 9 | 0.01 or 1 |
Maximum leverage per class is 1:500 for forex and metals, 1:100 for indices and energies, and 1:10 for crypto. Leverage amplifies losses as well as gains. Margin call is 100% and stop-out is 50% on both account types. The practical point for this article: a 0.01 lot on EURUSD controls 1,000 units, so a small test position is possible under either model. How a lot translates into exposure is in what is a lot and what is contract size in trading.
Vanto describes its execution as STP: orders are routed to liquidity providers, and the price is aggregated from several of them. Standard and Raw account types differ in where the cost is shown.
What Can You Verify Yourself?
You can verify the cost structure and fill behaviour directly, and you cannot verify the internal routing from outside. That distinction decides which claims to test. Five checks work on any account, demo or live:
- Read the contract specification. In MetaTrader 5, right-click a symbol in Market Watch and choose Specification. It lists the contract size, minimum volume, step, swap mode and the execution type.
- Look at the execution type. Many CFD symbols show Market execution: the order fills at the price available when it reaches the server, which may differ from the price clicked. What is slippage in trading explains this difference.
- Compare spread at several times. Watch the same symbol during a quiet session, at a session open and around a scheduled news release. Spread that stays fixed through a release is unusual; spread that widens is normal in both models.
- Check how commission is shown. A commission appears in the trade history as a separate line, not in the spread. Total it with the spread before comparing accounts.
- Check the position mode. Hedging accounts allow a buy and a sell on one symbol at once; netting accounts merge them. This is a platform setting, covered in hedging vs netting in MT5.
What you cannot test from the terminal: whether an order goes to one provider or five, whether a dealer intervenes, and how the broker handles its own risk. Those are described, if at all, in the broker's own execution policy. Reading it is a better test than the label.
What Do the Labels Not Tell You?
The labels do not tell you the cost, the fill quality or the safety of the broker. Four limits are worth knowing:
- Cost. An ECN-style account with a commission is not automatically cheaper than a markup account, as the arithmetic above shows. A broker can also combine a low-looking spread with a high commission.
- Fill quality. Under both models, a market order in a fast market can fill away from the displayed price. A positive slippage (better price) and a negative one (worse price) are both possible.
- Depth. Displayed depth can be a feed from one provider rather than a live order book, and the quantity shown may not be the quantity available.
- Definition. The terms are not standardised: brokers apply STP or ECN to different setups. Brokers also describe the same setup with other terms such as "NDD" (no dealing desk) or "A-Book", and these are descriptions of the broker's own policy, not guarantees.
When Does the STP vs ECN Distinction Stop Mattering?
It matters least for small, infrequent trading and most for high-frequency, short-target trading. Three cases:
- Swing and position trades. A trade held for days with a target of 100 pips or more is dominated by price movement and by overnight swap. A cost difference of a fraction of a pip changes the result by less than 1% of the target.
- Scalping. A target of 5 pips with a total cost of 1.2 pips gives away 24% of the target before the market moves. Here a difference of 0.3 pips in total cost is 6% of the target, so the exact cost structure matters.
- Automated trading. An Expert Advisor that trades hundreds of times a month multiplies any per-trade cost difference. What is an Expert Advisor covers the mechanics.
The arithmetic is simple: cost divided by target is the share consumed. At 1.2 pips against a 100-pip target it is 1.2%. At 1.2 pips against a 5-pip target it is 24%.
Common Mistakes When Comparing STP and ECN
- Comparing the spread alone. A raw spread looks smaller because the commission is billed elsewhere. Compare total cost in pips or currency per lot.
- Reading a snapshot as typical. One screenshot of a spread says little. Spreads change with session and news, so compare over time.
- Treating "no dealing desk" as a guarantee. It describes a policy. It does not remove slippage, rejections or spread widening.
- Ignoring other costs. Swap and slippage apply under both models, and the swap can exceed the entry cost on long holds.
- Assuming leverage is a model feature. Leverage is set per account and instrument class, and it amplifies losses as well as gains whichever model routes the order.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is an ECN broker better than an STP broker?
Neither model is better in general; they charge for the same service in different places. ECN-style accounts tend to show a narrower spread plus a commission, and STP-style accounts tend to carry the cost in the spread. Compare the total cost in pips on the instrument you trade.
Does STP mean the broker never trades against clients?
No. STP describes how an order is processed, not a promise about the broker's wider business. The broker's execution policy states how orders are handled. Read it and look for words such as "may" and "always" before drawing conclusions.
Do ECN accounts have no slippage?
No. Slippage happens whenever the price changes between the click and the fill, and it can be positive or negative. A faster market produces more of it under any model. See what is slippage in trading.
Why is the ECN spread sometimes wider than the STP spread?
Because the ECN spread is the raw network spread, which can widen sharply when liquidity thins, while a markup feed may smooth the quote. The commission is added on top. In calm markets the raw spread is usually narrower, and in news events it can be wider.
Can one broker offer both STP and ECN accounts?
Yes. Many brokers run a Standard account where the cost is inside the spread and a Raw account where a commission is added, both on the same MetaTrader 5 platform. The difference is the fee structure, so check the account specification rather than the name.
Which model suits a beginner?
The one whose cost you can calculate before you trade. A single all-in spread is easier to read, while a commission needs one extra step. Both are workable on a demo account first, with small volumes such as 0.01 lot.
Calculate the Numbers Before You Trade
Convert any spread and commission into one cost per lot before comparing accounts. The trading calculator uses the contract size, pip value and margin of each instrument, so the total cost of a planned trade is a number, not an impression. For the wider contract differences between asset classes, see forex vs CFD trading and what is a CFD.
Risk warning. Trading securities, futures, options, and contracts for differences are complex financial instruments that require knowledge and understanding. Prices can fluctuate significantly and securities may become valueless. Investors may incur losses exceeding the potential for profits. Trading on margin can result in losses greater than the amount initially deposited. Past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance. The information in this article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell any financial instrument. Consider whether CFD trading is appropriate for your circumstances and seek independent advice if necessary.