Global Investing
FX Terminal
Two adjacent sub-sections that sit in the same row of the terminal: Reference Spreads shows typical ECN trading costs per pair, and Retail Market Sentiment shows retail trader positioning via the Myfxbook community. Used together, they give a complementary view of execution cost and crowd positioning.
The Reference Spreads panel shows typical ECN (Electronic Communication Network) spreads for the seven major FX pairs, expressed in pips. These are representative spreads — not live quotes from a specific broker — and represent average conditions during normal market hours.
The horizontal bar represents the spread relative to the widest reference pair shown. A shorter bar means lower cost (tighter spread). The value is color-coded by cost tier:
Spreads are not static. They compress during high-liquidity sessions and widen during thin periods. Understanding when spreads are their tightest is essential for execution-sensitive strategies:
| Session | UTC Hours | EUR/USD Typical | USD/JPY Typical |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 22:00–07:00 | 1.2–2.0 pip | 1.5–2.5 pip |
| Tokyo | 00:00–09:00 | 0.9–1.5 pip | 0.8–1.2 pip |
| London | 08:00–17:00 | 0.4–0.9 pip | 0.8–1.5 pip |
| New York | 13:00–22:00 | 0.3–0.7 pip | 0.9–1.5 pip |
| London–NY Overlap | 13:00–17:00 | 0.2–0.5 pip | 0.7–1.2 pip |
| News event (any) | ±2 min | 5–20 pip | 5–20 pip |
Below the Reference Spreads, the Retail Market Sentiment widget shows the percentage of retail traders who are currently long vs. short each major pair, sourced from the Myfxbook community platform.
Each pair is shown with two numbers: the long percentage and the short percentage. These sum to 100% and represent the directional positioning of Myfxbook's tracked account community in real time.
Myfxbook is a third-party platform where retail forex traders connect their live broker accounts for automated trade tracking, performance analysis, and social sharing. The "Forex Outlook" widget aggregates the open positions of all connected accounts by pair and direction.
Retail sentiment data is most useful as a contrarian indicator. The underlying logic: retail traders, as a group, tend to be wrong at extremes. When the overwhelming majority of retail positions are on one side, the market has already extracted most of the available profit from that move — meaning the next significant move is likely in the opposite direction.
| Sentiment Reading | Contrarian Interpretation | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| 70–80% Long | Moderate contrarian short signal. Crowd is bullish but not at extreme. Monitor for trend exhaustion. | Medium |
| >80% Long | Strong contrarian short signal. Extreme crowd positioning historically precedes meaningful reversals. | High (contrarian) |
| 45–55% either side | Neutral. No useful signal from sentiment alone. Defer to rate differentials, COT, and price action. | None |
| 70–80% Short | Moderate contrarian long signal. Most retail short positions suggest limited further downside. | Medium |
| >80% Short | Strong contrarian long signal. Extreme short crowd often precedes sharp short squeezes. | High (contrarian) |
Retail positioning data from Myfxbook has meaningful limitations that professional traders account for:
These two sections work together to inform when and how to execute — not only what direction to trade. Consider:
The highest-quality setups from the Retail Market Sentiment section arise when retail sentiment extremes align with COT institutional positioning in the opposite direction — meaning retail is crowded one way while smart money is positioned the other way. This is the core confluence signal.