I just logged into my Oanda practice account and the smallest spread is 10 pips now. Usually it's like 1.2 or .9 or something for EUR/USD. Why is it so high? Is this normal across all brokers? I looked at the average spread charts on oanda.com and it seems like that's pretty normal for a Monday. Does it always vary by day like this? http://fxtrade.oanda.com/spreads/recent_spreads.shtml When my profit targets are usually like 10-15 pips should I just sit out on days when the spread is so high?
Spreads fluctuate with liquidity. OANDA is probably raising spreads today because it tomorrow is a holiday.
Yes. BTW, Oanda bumps the spreads every Fri @ 345 and keep them in effect until Sunday 8pm. If you are holding over the weekend, you could get hit coming into the new week with those wide spreads, so either don't trade into the weekend (a no brainer) or loosen those stops.