Week of 13 to 17 July 2026·Published
Week in Brief
Spreads on the major FX pairs held flat for a fifth straight session as currency volatility sat near multi-year lows. XM stayed the widest broker on EUR/USD, GBP/USD and USD/JPY all week, quoting 2.0 to 2.5 pips against a field mostly under 1 pip. Blackbull Markets was the cheapest broker overall, taking the tightest spread on 25 of 45 key instrument-days tracked.
Spread Movements by Instrument
EUR/USD
Stable- Week range
- 0.82 to 0.91 pips average across brokers
- Cheapest
- Blackbull Markets at 0.1 pips (Mon to Thu), Pepperstone at 0.1 pips (Fri)
- Notable
- XM held 2.0 pips every day, more than double the field. Blackbull nudged from 0.1 to 0.2 pips on Friday but stayed in the tightest tier.
GBP/USD
Stable- Week range
- 1.04 to 1.26 pips average across brokers
- Cheapest
- Blackbull Markets at 0.1 pips (all five days)
- Notable
- XM held 2.4 pips all week, the widest on the pair.
USD/JPY
Stable- Week range
- 1.03 to 1.08 pips average across brokers
- Cheapest
- Blackbull Markets at 0.1 pips (all five days)
- Notable
- XM held 2.5 pips all week, the widest on the pair.
XAU/USD
Stable- Week range
- cheapest quote held at 0.12 USD all week
- Cheapest
- Blackbull Markets at 0.12 USD (all five days)
- Notable
- Gold spreads stayed flat even as the metal slipped below 4,000 USD to year-to-date lows near 3,940 USD.
GER40
Tightened- Week range
- 3.08 to 5.14 points average across brokers
- Cheapest
- IG at 1.4 points (all five days)
- Notable
- Blackbull Markets cut its GER40 spread from 9.7 to 3.5 points on Friday, a 64 percent narrowing and the single largest broker move of the week.
US500
Stable- Week range
- 0.68 to 0.70 points average across brokers
- Cheapest
- IG at 0.4 points (all five days)
- Notable
- Swissquote held the widest quote at 1.1 points all week.
BTC/USD
Coverage improving- Week range
- cheapest quote at 15 across brokers
- Cheapest
- Pepperstone and ThinkMarkets at 15
- Notable
- Tracked broker coverage rose from one on Monday to four on Friday. AvaTrade held the widest quote near 25.
WTI/USD
Mixed, coverage-dependent- Week range
- cheapest quote held near 0.06 points
- Cheapest
- Blackbull Markets and Swissquote near 0.06 points
- Notable
- Broker coverage rose to six on Friday as oil prices surged. easyMarkets held the widest quote at 3.0 points.
Broker Spotlight
Blackbull Markets was the tightest broker of the week, cheapest on 25 of 45 key instrument-days including all five days on GBP/USD and USD/JPY. IG was cheapest on the equity indices, taking US500 and GER40 every day. XM was the consistent widest outlier on the three major FX pairs, quoting 2.0 to 2.5 pips against a sub-1-pip field all week.
Market Context
- Currency volatility sat near multi-year lows. The Dollar Index short-term volatility fell to levels last seen in 2021, and EUR/USD traded sideways around 1.1430. FX major spreads held flat all week as a result.
- A hawkish Fed and a firmer US Dollar pushed gold below 4,000 USD to year-to-date lows near 3,940 USD, yet gold spreads stayed flat with Blackbull cheapest at 0.12 USD.
- Oil prices surged into Friday. WTI broker coverage rose to six that day and easyMarkets held the widest quote at 3.0 points.
- Earnings season drove single-stock moves, including Netflix down nearly 10 percent on Friday, but equity index spreads stayed stable apart from Blackbull’s Friday GER40 cut.
To Watch Next Week
- Next week — ECB rate decision — EUR/USD, EUR/GBP. Deposit rate expected held at 2.25 percent with September live.
- Next week — Oil trajectory after Friday’s surge — WTI/USD.
- Next week — Gold testing year-to-date lows near 3,900 USD — XAU/USD.