Introduction
GBPCAD pronounced as ‘pound cad” is minor/cross currency pair in forex. GBP refers to Great Britain Pound, and CAD refers to the Canadian Dollar. Since GBP is on the left, it becomes base currency, and CAD on the right becomes the quote currency.
Understanding GBP/CAD
The current market price has of GBPCAD is not similar to the prices in the stock market. The value of GBPCAD represents the value of CAD equivalent to one GBP. It is simply quoted as 1 GBP per X CAD. For example, if the value of GBPCAD is 1.7192, then 1.7192 Canadian dollars are required to purchase one pound.
GBP/CAD Specification
Spread
Spread is the difference between the bid price and the ask price in the market. These values are controlled by the brokers. So, it differs from broker to broker as well as the type of account.
ECN: 0.8 | STP: 1.9
Fees
There is a small levied by the broker on every trade a trader takes. There are a few pips of fee on ECN accounts, while the fee is nil on STP accounts. The fee is usually between 6 to 10 pips.
Slippage
Slippage is the difference between the trader’s demanded price and the real executed price. Slippage happens when orders are executed by the market price. It happens solely due to the volatility of the market and the broker’s execution speed.
Trading Range in GBP/CAD
A trading range is the representation of the pip movement of GBPCAD in different timeframes. These values are helpful in getting a rough idea of the profit/loss that can be made from the trade in a given timeframe. For example, if the min pip movement on the 1H timeframe is 3 pips, then a trader can expect to gain/lose at least $22.38 when one standard lot is traded.
Procedure to assess Pip Ranges
- Add the ATR indicator to your chart
- Set the period to 1
- Add a 200-period SMA to this indicator
- Shrink the chart so you can assess a large time period
- Select your desired timeframe
- Measure the floor level and set this value as the min
- Measure the level of the 200-period SMA and set this as the average
- Measure the peak levels and set this as Max.
GBP/CAD Cost as a Percent of the Trading Range
Now that we know how much profit/loss can be made within a given time frame let us also calculate the cost on each trade by considering the volatility and timeframe. For this, the ratio between the total cost and volatility calculated and expressed in percentages. The magnitude of these percentages will then be used to determine the timeframe with marginal costs.
ECN Model Account
Spread = 0.8 | Slippage = 2 |Trading fee = 1
Total cost = Slippage + Spread + Trading Fee = 2 + 0.8 + 1 = 3.8
STP Model Account
Spread = 1.9 | Slippage = 2 | Trading fee = 0
Total cost = Slippage + Spread + Trading Fee = 2 + 1.9 + 0 = 3.9
The Ideal way to trade the GBP/CAD
From the above two tables, it can be ascertained that the percentages largest on the min column, moderate on the average column, and least on the max column. The higher the value of percentages, the higher is the cost of the trade. So with this, we can conclude that the costs are high during low volatility, and low during high volatility. Similarly, the costs are high on lower timeframes and considerably low on higher timeframes. Hence, to keep volatility and cost at a balance, it ideal to trade when the pip movement in the market is around the average values.
Market orders bring in an additional cost in the trade. To eliminate this, one can trade using limit orders. This will set the slippage value to 0, and eventually, reduce the total cost on the trade by a significant amount. An example supporting the statement is illustrated below.
Total cost = Spread + trading fee + slippage = 0.8 +1 + 0 = 1.8
