Open a EUR/USD chart around 1.0850 and you see two prices, not one. The lower figure is what a seller receives now. The higher figure is what a buyer pays now. The gap between them is the spread, and it is already there before you decide anything.

Suppose the chart shows 1.0848 on the left and 1.0850 on the right. The spread is 0.0002, which is two pips. On a standard lot of 100,000 units, each pip is worth about ₱57 at an exchange rate of 57 pesos to the dollar. Two pips cost about ₱114 the moment the position opens.

That cost is not a fee you are billed later. It is built into the price you accept. A position that goes nowhere still loses the spread. This is the first of three costs, and it is the only one you can see on the chart itself.

Commission is charged per trade by some account types and not by others. A raw spread account might show a spread of 0.0001 on EUR/USD, which is one pip, but add a commission of around ₱285 per standard lot round trip. A standard account might show two pips and no commission. Both are real costs, and the cheaper one depends on how long you hold.

Swap is the daily adjustment for holding a position overnight. It is not a fee the broker invents. It comes from the interest rate difference between the two currencies in the pair. If you buy EUR/USD, you are effectively borrowing dollars to hold euros, and the swap reflects that. It can be positive or negative, and it varies between brokers.

A swap-free account removes that daily charge, usually for religious reasons, but the cost does not vanish. It is often replaced by a wider spread or a fixed administration charge. The SEC Philippines requires brokers serving Philippine residents to be registered, and the account terms, including swap-free rules, must be disclosed. Read them before opening anything.

Most beginners start with a strategy and only later discover costs. This route reverses that. You learn what a trade costs before you learn how to place one. That order matters because a strategy that looks profitable on a chart without costs can be unprofitable once spread, commission and swap are subtracted.

The middle lessons connect costs to behaviour. Scalping, which means many trades held for seconds or minutes, is dominated by spread and commission. Swing trading, which means holding for days, is dominated by swap. The same EUR/USD chart can support one and not the other, purely because of how the costs fall.

The final lessons add the calendar and sessions. A news release can widen the spread from two pips to ten in seconds. A session that is closed means you cannot exit at the price you see. These are not advanced topics. They are the conditions under which the earlier cost numbers change.

Open the order ticket on a demo account and read the spread on EUR/USD while the market is quiet. Around 1.0850, a spread of 0.8 pips costs 0.8 pips on entry and again on exit if the price has not moved. Multiply that by the lot size you intend to use, then compare the number with the same ticket during a busy session. The two readings will not match, and the difference is the part you cannot control.

Commission is quoted per lot, per side, so a round turn doubles it. Swap is quoted per night and depends on direction, because one currency is borrowed to hold the other. Add the three figures for one position held for one day, then for one held for a week. If the total is larger than the move you expect, the trade needs a bigger move to work, and that is a reason to wait rather than a reason to hope.

Account type changes all three. A raw spread account moves cost from spread into commission. A cent account shrinks the money at risk but the spread in pips stays the same. Swap-free accounts vary between brokers, and some replace the overnight charge with a wider spread or a fixed fee, so read the schedule rather than the label. Nothing here is a recommendation, and figures differ between brokers.

Write the three numbers on paper before you open anything. If a broker's schedule does not state them plainly, that absence is information. The SEC Philippines keeps a list of registered entities, and a firm that is not on it is a separate problem from cost.