# Just Technologies - The independent FX cost benchmark for companies > Just Technologies measures the margin your banks charge on FX. It scores every trade against the real market rate the bank could have traded at (never the interbank mid, a midpoint price nobody can trade on) and against a network of similar companies, to the basis point, so a company can tell whether its FX pricing is fair and negotiate a lower margin. Just is paid by the company it protects, never by the bank it measures. ## Key terms - **Just Cost Index**: the independent benchmark of what companies pay their banks on FX. Each trade is scored against the real market rate that was tradable at that moment and against similar companies, expressed to the basis point. - **FX cost benchmarking**: measuring the margin (the bank's mark-up, hidden inside the exchange rate) that a company pays on its FX trades, against an independent reference of what was actually tradable, to judge whether the price was fair. --- Guides · The standard # What is independent FX cost benchmarking? Updated July 2026 · 8 min read · Approved by Just's benchmarking team The short answer Independent FX cost benchmarking measures what your bank charges you when you buy or sell foreign currency. It scores each trade against two references: the real market rate the bank could actually have traded at (never the interbank mid, a midpoint price nobody can trade on), and a set of similar companies. It puts a number, in bps and in money, on a cost that never appears as a line item, and it gives you the evidence to negotiate it down. Independent means paid by you, never the bank. ## What it is Every time a company converts currency, the bank adds a markup. That markup is the margin. It is folded into the single all-in rate on your trade, so it never appears as a fee. Benchmarking measures that margin, trade by trade, and asks one question: is it fair? The answer only means something against a reference, and independent benchmarking uses two: the rate the bank could actually have traded at, and what comparable companies pay for the same currencies and how far ahead each trade settles (the tenor). Independent FX cost benchmarking: measuring a company's bank FX pricing against the real market rate at the moment of the trade, and against a group of similar companies, to establish whether the pricing is fair. Paid by the company, never the bank. ## Why the cost is invisible today The margin sits inside the all-in rate on your trade confirmation, so no invoice, statement or system will ever show it. On top of that, the information is one-sided: your bank sees what every one of its clients pays, and you see only your own rate. Told that your pricing is competitive, you have no independent number to check it against. One number, no line item · Illustrative The make-up of that one all-in number makes the problem concrete. Proportions illustrative ## Why independent matters The question is whether the bank's pricing is fair, so the answer cannot come from the bank, and it cannot credibly come from anyone the bank pays. A benchmark can hold a price to account only when the party running it sits on the customer's side of the table. Just is paid by you, never the bank, so our only incentive is your result. We take no money from banks, no share of your trading, and we never route your trades. ## The mid versus the real market rate Most cost analysis compares your rate to the interbank mid: the midpoint between the price a bank will buy at and the price it will sell at. The gap between those two prices is the spread, and nobody can actually trade at the midpoint, so measuring against it produces a number your bank can wave away. Independent benchmarking scores every trade against the real market rate: a rate you could actually have traded at, for your trade size and direction (whether you were buying or selling), at the moment you traded. Nobody trades at the mid · Illustrative Just's reference rate is a proprietary blend built from independent market-data feeds, live bank quotes, and several electronic trading venues (ECNs). The sources are kept confidential by contract, and the reference rate used to score each trade is shown on every scored trade, so every number can be traced back to what it was measured against. Most trades settle right away at today's rate, a spot trade; a forward settles on a future date instead. For forwards, the future-date adjustment is calculated across both standard and odd dates out to 3-4 years, so a 47-day forward is scored as precisely as a standard 1-month one. Real market rate: a rate you could actually have traded at, for your trade size and direction, at the moment you traded. The margin is the gap between what you paid and that rate. ## Similar companies A trade scored against the real market rate gives you a margin in bps. A margin on its own is still hard to judge, so the second reference is a group of similar companies: what companies with comparable trading pay for the same currency pair, size, and settlement date. Just's benchmark is built on hundreds of companies, millions of benchmark trades and $2tn+ of total trade value measured. Customers have saved over $75M to date. As of mid-2026, measured across the Just benchmark network (counting basis). Illustrative · A ranking appears only where there are enough similar companies to make it fair Where there are too few similar companies to support a conclusion, no comparison is shown. Against that group, your number becomes a position: fair, or overpaying, and by how many bps, which converts directly into money on your trading volumes. ## How it works in practice 01MeasureEvery trade scored against the real market rate at the moment of the trade. 02BenchmarkYour margin against similar companies: same currency pair, size, settlement date. 03NegotiateThe evidence becomes a bank-ready case. The conversation stays yours. 04MonitorNew trades scored as they land, so margins creeping back up are caught in weeks. Scored, a single trade looks like this. SCORED TRADE · EUR/NOK SPOTIllustrative Trade valueEUR 5,000,000 Rate you were charged11.5579 Real market rate at that moment11.5420 Margin13.8 bps Cost of this tradeNOK 79,500 · ≈ EUR 6,900 One trade is a data point. A year of trades, scored the same way, is a cost line you can govern. See the full methodologyHow the reference rate is built, how deep the peer group goes, and the audit trail behind every scored trade. Read the method ## What changes when you measure Savings are measured on your own trading: last year's margin spend against this year's, before and after, against the same reference. Nothing is projected, and nothing depends on which way the market moves. Illustrative The same outcome for a mid-sized company, equally illustrative: trading EUR 40m a year, 34 bps down to 11 bps is roughly EUR 92,000 a year. The arithmetic scales with volume; the measurement works the same at either size. If the measurement instead shows your pricing is already fair, you hold independent, board-ready evidence of it. ## Just vs your existing stack: market data, RFQ panel, TCA Most treasury teams already run some of these tools: a market-data terminal, a multi-bank quote tool (an RFQ panel, where you ask several banks to quote and pick the best), and sometimes a cost report from a bank (transaction cost analysis, or TCA). Each answers a real question. One question stays open across all of them. The questionWas the price fair RFQ panelonly the banks you invited answersWhich bank won leaves openwas the price fair Terminala midpoint price nobody can trade on answersWhere the market is leaves openwas the price fair Bank TCAthe bank grading its own pricing answersCost vs the mid leaves openwas the price fair Justmeasured from your own trades answersThe margin you actually paid leaves opennothing - scored against the real market rate, and similar companies | | What it measures | Reference it scores against | Who pays whom | What it cannot tell you | |---|---|---|---|---| | Just | The margin on every trade, in bps and money, and your position against a group of comparable companies. | A real market rate: one you could actually have traded at, for your trade size and direction, at the moment of the trade. Shown on every scored trade. | Paid by you, never the bank. No money from banks, no share of trading volume, no routing of trades. | Which bank to trade with next. It measures pricing; it does not execute, route or advise. | | Bank TCA | Your trading cost over a period, usually reported on its own. | Typically the interbank mid, a midpoint price nobody can trade on. | Produced by or for the bank whose pricing it describes. | Whether the pricing was fair. A mid-based number from the bank being measured carries no verdict the bank has to engage with. | | Market data terminal | Live market levels: mids and indicative spreads across currency pairs and settlement dates. | The mid and rough quotes. Not tradable at your size or direction. | You pay for the data; the quotes are contributed by banks and venues. | What your own trades actually cost you, or what similar companies pay for comparable trading. | | RFQ panel | Which of the invited banks quoted best on each trade. | The other quotes in the same auction, not the market itself. | Typically paid for on the bank side of each trade. | Whether any of the quotes was fair. Every bank on the panel can quote a wide margin and one still wins. | Each row describes the tool category, not any named vendor. The quote tool and the terminal remain worth having; competition and market context answer their own questions. The benchmark answers the one they leave open: it measures the price you actually paid against a rate you could actually have traded at, and against what comparable companies pay. The FX Professionals Association makes the same point: bank spread grids (a bank's published margin table) are only indications, and real, observed trade data is the ground truth worth measuring against. On the regulatory side, the FX Global Code (a voluntary standard most major FX banks have signed) commits the banks that sign it to be transparent about their mark-up. Transparency on request is useful; an independent measurement of every trade is a different level of assurance. ## What it is not It is not advice, and it is not a broker stepping between you and your banks. Just never contacts your banks, never touches your trades, and never takes a share of your trading. You keep the relationship direct; the benchmark replaces guesswork with evidence. On data: nothing you send is shared with another company, everything feeding the benchmark is pooled and stripped of identifying details first, and identifiable data is deleted when you leave. SOC 2 audited - details at trust.gojust.com ## FAQ ### Is FX cost benchmarking the same as TCA? No. TCA (transaction cost analysis) usually measures cost on its own against the interbank mid, a midpoint price nobody can trade on. Independent benchmarking scores each trade against the real market rate at the moment of the trade and against a group of similar companies, so the number carries a verdict. ### What reference is each trade scored against? A proprietary blend of independent market-data feeds, live bank quotes and several electronic trading venues (ECNs). It is deep-book, meaning tradable at your actual trade size and direction, and the reference rate is shown on every scored trade. ### How are savings calculated? Last year's margin spend minus this year's, on your own trading, before and after, against the same reference. Nothing is projected. ### Do you contact our banks? Never. The evidence is prepared for you; the conversation with the bank stays yours. ### Who pays Just? You do. Paid by you, never the bank, so our only incentive is your result. Related FX forwards: pricing, cost, and how to benchmark them → The methodology → Glossary → Every trade scored against the real market rate, never the mid. Read the methodology Terms used here: real market rate · basis point · similar companies · reference rate Independent FX cost benchmarking for companies. Paid by you. Never by the bank. --- Guides · Bank negotiation # How to negotiate better FX rates with your bank Updated July 2026 · 9 min read · Approved by Just's benchmarking team The short answer To negotiate better FX rates with your bank, change three things: the unit, the structure, and the verification. Ask for every quote restated as an all-in margin per currency pair, in basis points, because pip quotes make the cost harder to compare. Award your flow pair by pair instead of accepting or rejecting a proposal whole. Keep your current pricing to yourself; a losing bank hears "not competitive" and nothing more. Read the exclusions, because trades outside the proposal stay priced one-off. And know what a bank can commit to before you ask: on a multibank platform, a guaranteed margin is usually not one of those things. ## The quoted number and the delivered number A bank quote and a bank commitment are different objects. On a multibank platform, margins are typically quoted as indicative. Two large US banks, asked during a 2026 multibank review to guarantee their quoted FX sales margins, both declined in writing. One declined on stated policy grounds. The other quoted attractive numbers and reserved the right to adjust them on the platform where the client actually traded. A negotiation can move the quoted number. Whether the delivered number moves with it is a separate question, and the closing paperwork does not answer it. ## What a bank can and cannot guarantee A disclosed sales markup agreement is a real compliance construct, not a brush-off. Bank policies that permit one typically carve it up the same way: allowed on spot, not beyond spot, and not on trades executed through a third-party platform. That pattern matters for how you open. A demand for a locked spread on a multibank platform is an ask the bank has to refuse, and a refusal early in a review costs credibility on everything else in the sheet. Asking again at the same level gets the same answer. Read a favourable-looking answer carefully. A bank that quotes tight numbers and then reserves the right to adjust pricing on the platform has given you a sheet you cannot rely on for the channel that carries your flow. That version is harder to spot than a flat refusal, because the numbers are on the page. ## Ask for what bank policy permits When a guaranteed margin is off the table, several structures are not. Each is something a bank can actually sign: - a most-favoured-pricing commitment rather than a fixed number - a scheduled pricing review with agreed remedies if realised margin drifts - tiered pricing against awarded volume - bilateral execution on a defined subset of flow, where disclosed markup is permitted - disclosed markup on spot trades, the one place policy usually allows it A refused guarantee closes an instrument and nothing more. In the 2026 review, the message that declined the guarantee also asked to be awarded additional flow. A bank that wants more volume has reason to keep negotiating the structures above. Two of these are worth asking for in writing, because most treasury teams have never requested either. Most-favoured pricing “In place of a fixed margin, we are asking for a most-favoured-pricing commitment: confirmation that the margins applied to our flow will be no worse than those applied to comparable clients at comparable volumes, for the term of the mandate.” Review with remedies “We would like a semi-annual pricing review against realised margin, with an agreed remedy if realised margin drifts above the proposed level. Please state what remedy you can commit to.” ## Convert every pip quote to basis points before judging anything Banks quote FX margins in pips. The cost of a pip depends on the level of the exchange rate it sits on, so one uniform pip quote is a different price on every pair. For pairs quoted to four decimal places, a pip is 0.0001, and one pip expressed in basis points is 1 divided by the rate. JPY pairs are quoted to two decimals, so a pip is 0.01 and one pip is 100 divided by the rate. Check which convention your sheet uses before applying the arithmetic. | Currency pair | Indicative rate | 1 pip as margin | |---|---|---| | EUR/GBP | 0.85 | 1.18 bps | | EUR/USD | 1.10 | 0.91 bps | | GBP/USD | 1.30 | 0.77 bps | | USD/CAD | 1.37 | 0.73 bps | | USD/CNH | 7.20 | 0.14 bps | The arithmetic is checkable on any trade. One pip on a EUR 10 million EUR/GBP trade is EUR 1,176 of margin. The same one pip on USD/CNH at 7.20 is USD 139 per USD 10 million. A flat sheet quoting one pip everywhere charges 61% more on EUR/GBP than on USD/CAD, and more than eight times what it charges on USD/CNH. The largest flows on a sheet are not necessarily the best priced ones. Basis points carry the comparison. For precision, ask for parts per million: 1 basis point equals 100 PPM, and at the low single-digit basis point margins typical of a large corporate book, PPM resolves differences that basis points round away. ## Spot and forward margins are usually additive Sales sheets quote a spot margin and a forward margin in separate columns. On most sheets a forward trade pays both, so the all-in forward margin is the spot pips plus the forward pips. Some sheets do quote an all-in forward margin instead. Establish which you are reading, because the difference is large. The tell is a forward column that reads lower than its spot column. Forwards are normally the costlier leg, so a cheaper-looking forward is the signature of an add-on rather than a standalone price. In the 2026 review, one pair was quoted at 5 pips spot and 3 pips forward, and the all-in forward cost was 8. Read alone, that forward column showed under 40% of the true cost. How far a forward column understates the total depends entirely on the ratio between the two columns. Ask for tenor alongside the margin. A 3-pip forward markup on a one-month is a different cost of carry from the same markup on a twelve-month, and a sheet that quotes forward margin without stating the tenor band is not comparable to one that does. Do not ask the bank whether its columns are additive. That question lets the bank choose whichever reading suits it, and if it would have honoured the cheaper reading, you have invited it not to. Ask instead for the proposal restated as an all-in margin per pair. ## Award per pair, not per bank Separate the award decision from the pricing decision. The natural output of a multibank review is a per-pair allocation, and treasury teams sometimes signal this themselves: the client in the 2026 review told its banks it might direct specific currency pairs to a single bank. The reason is in the shape of the numbers. A proposal that shows a net gain can still lose on most of its pairs. In that review, one bank's package produced its entire net gain on two currency pairs, while the remaining four were priced above the client's existing fills. Accepted whole, the package would have paid for the strong pairs with the weak ones. Treat every proposal as a menu, and award each pair to the bank that wins it. ## Keep your current pricing out of the room When a challenger's quote loses to your incumbent, do not say so. “Worse than we pay today” hands the bank your floor, and a bank that knows the floor can price to just beat it rather than to its best. State the outcome only: these pairs will not be awarded on this pricing. The effect is the same and nothing is disclosed. Apply the same scrutiny to savings claims made to you. If a claimed saving is computed against your blended average cost, and your incumbent fills some pairs tightly, the blended average sits above those fills. Moving flow to the challenger can then raise your cost on exactly the pairs the incumbent was winning. Decompose any claimed saving by pair and by counterparty before acting on it. Extend the discipline to everyone who corresponds with the bank. Explaining your own execution mechanics to a quoting desk gives it material to argue with, and the most common use is to contest the volume base the whole negotiation rests on. Agree internally what stays internal before colleagues are in direct contact. ## Read the scope Flow a proposal does not cover is unbenchmarked. One proposal in the 2026 review applied only to platform-executed trades at short tenors, for a defined subset of group entities. It excluded a payments portal and anything done direct with the sales desk, both of which remained priced one-off. List the exclusions before comparing anything. Expect an early question about sole-bank status. In that review, a bank opened by asking the client to confirm it intended to stop trading on the platform and execute with the mandated bank instead. Sole supply removes the comparison that disciplines pricing, so close the question plainly and expect it in another form later. Note the channel each answer arrives on. A reply sent privately to an advisor rather than into a thread with the client copied is often more candid, and easier to reopen without an audience. ## Three more requests to put in writing Each traces to a mechanism above, and each can go into an email as written. On the pip distortion “Please restate your proposal as an all-in margin per currency pair, expressed in basis points of the traded amount, or in parts per million.” On the platform carve-out “Please confirm in writing which execution channels the proposed margins apply to, and specifically whether they hold for trades executed on our multibank platform or only for bilateral execution.” On out-of-scope flow “For any entity, execution channel or tenor excluded from this proposal, please state the pricing basis that will apply, in the same unit as the in-scope quote.” None of these is an ask the bank must refuse. Each closes an ambiguity that otherwise stays open in the bank's favour. ## Where the negotiation stops Four of the mechanisms above have a negotiated fix. The unit can be restated. Additivity can be resolved. Per-pair award prevents strong pairs subsidising weak ones. Scope can be closed. The fifth is different. A guaranteed margin is available bilaterally, and on spot, where policy permits disclosed markup. It is generally not available on a multibank platform. So a treasury team that wants a contractual guarantee has a real option: move the flow it wants guaranteed to bilateral execution, and keep the platform for the flow where competition matters more than certainty. That is a genuine third control and it belongs in the decision. What it does not do is tell you whether the pricing you agreed is the pricing you received. On platform flow the quoted margin remains indicative. On bilateral flow the commitment holds only as far as its own carve-outs. In both cases the difference between the agreed margin and the delivered margin is invisible on a trade confirmation, which shows one all-in rate and no fee line. That gap closes with measurement: every fill scored against the rate the bank could actually have traded at in that moment, at your size and direction. The reference decides whether the number survives contact with the desk. The interbank mid is a midpoint nobody deals at, so a margin measured against it is easy to dispute. A margin measured against the bank's tradable rate is a fact the desk can check against its own book. Measurement is not enforcement. Your enforcement is the ability to reallocate flow. Measurement is what makes reallocation defensible, and what tells you it is needed. That is the measurement Just runs. ## FAQ ### Can my bank guarantee an FX margin? Sometimes. Disclosed sales markup agreements exist for spot trades executed bilaterally. On a third-party multibank platform it is usually unavailable: asked in a 2026 review, two large US banks both declined in writing, one citing policy that does not permit guaranteed sales margins beyond spot or on third-party platforms, the other reserving the right to adjust platform pricing. Ask instead for most-favoured pricing, a review cadence with remedies, or bilateral execution on a defined subset of flow. ### Should FX margins be negotiated in pips or basis points? Basis points. A pip is a fixed decimal, so its cost depends on the exchange rate underneath it: at 0.85, one pip is 1.18 bps of the traded amount, while at 7.20 it is 0.14 bps. A uniform pip quote is a materially different price on every pair. Ask for all-in margin per currency pair in basis points, or in parts per million, where 100 PPM equals 1 bp. ### Are spot and forward FX margins additive? On most sales sheets, yes: the all-in cost of a forward is the spot margin plus the forward margin, though they appear in separate columns. Some sheets quote an all-in forward margin instead, so establish which you have. A forward column reading lower than its spot column signals an add-on. Do not ask whether the columns are additive; ask for the proposal restated as an all-in margin per pair. ### Should I award all my FX flow to the bank with the best overall proposal? No. A package showing a net gain can lose on most of its pairs. In one 2026 review, two currency pairs produced a package's entire net gain while the remaining four were priced above the client's existing fills. Award pair by pair, to the bank that wins each one, and keep the reason to yourself: unawarded pairs are “not competitive”, never “worse than we pay today”. ### How do I know my bank is honouring a negotiated FX margin? Through measurement, because the paperwork will not tell you. A trade confirmation shows one all-in rate and no fee line, so the agreed margin and the delivered margin can differ with nothing visibly breached. Score every fill against the rate the bank could actually have traded at in that moment, at your size and direction. That comparison is what tells you whether to reallocate flow, which is the enforcement you actually hold. --- Guides · Forwards # FX forwards: pricing, cost, and how to benchmark them Updated July 2026 · 9 min read · Approved by Just's benchmarking team The short answer An FX forward is a trade for currency delivered on a future date, at a rate you fix today, so you know what a future payment will cost. The forward rate starts from the spot rate (the price for currency delivered now) and adjusts it by forward points, a set amount that accounts for the interest-rate gap between the two currencies. The part you cannot see is the margin: the bank's own mark-up, folded into the single all-in rate you are quoted. It shows up as no fee, and two banks can quote near-identical headline numbers while keeping very different margins. Knowing whether yours is fair means checking it against the real market rate at the moment you traded, never the mid (a midpoint price nobody can trade on), and against similar companies. ## What an FX forward is A forward is an agreement to exchange a set amount of one currency for another at a fixed rate on a future settlement date. A company with a EUR invoice due in three months can lock the rate now and remove the risk of the currency moving against it before payment falls due. One misconception is worth clearing early. The forward rate carries no view on where the currency will trade. It is a mechanical adjustment of today's spot rate, held in place by arbitrage (traders who would pocket a risk-free profit if the price drifted out of line), and it would be the same whether the market expected the currency to rise, fall or sit still. FX forward: a contract that fixes an exchange rate now for settlement on a future date, removing the uncertainty of where a currency will be when a payment falls due. ## How a forward differs from a spot trade A spot trade settles in two business days for almost every pair. A forward settles later, and its price differs from spot for a single reason: the interest-rate difference between the two currencies over the life of the contract. Everything else about the two trades is the same, including the fact that the bank sets the margin, not the market. A company that benchmarks its spot trades and leaves forwards unmeasured has usually left the larger cost unmeasured, because forward trades tend to be bigger and settle further out. ## How the forward rate is built Start with the spot rate, then add forward points that account for the interest-rate gap over the tenor, meaning how far ahead the trade settles. The currency with the higher interest rate trades below spot on the forward (a discount), the lower-rate currency above it (a premium). Arbitrage keeps this honest: if the points drifted from the rate gap, banks could lend in one currency, exchange, and lock a risk-free profit. FORWARD CONSTRUCTION · EUR/USD 12MIllustrative Spot rate1.0800 EUR interest rate2.5% USD interest rate5.0% Forward points (rate gap, 12M)+0.0270 Real market 12M forward1.1070 USD's higher rate puts the EUR/USD forward above spot. The points are a market input, visible to anyone with a data feed. The bank's margin enters after this step. Illustrative Forward points: the adjustment added to spot to produce the forward rate. It reflects the interest-rate difference between the two currencies over the tenor. The market sets the points; the bank adds its margin separately. ## Broken dates, and why they matter for cost Forward points are quoted for standard, round tenors: 1 week, 1 month, 3 months and so on. Those are the fixed dates. Real company cash flows rarely land on them, so most hedges (forwards put on to cover a specific payment) settle on a broken date in between: a settlement date with no standard quote of its own, priced by reading the line between the two nearest fixed dates, which is called interpolation. Broken dates deserve attention for one practical reason. The harder a price is for you to check, the more room there is in it, and a 47-day forward has no screen rate to glance at. Fixed tenors quoted · broken dates in between · Illustrative A benchmark has to handle this precisely. Just fills in the forward points across fixed and broken dates out to 3-4 years, so a 47-day EUR/USD forward is scored against a real market rate for that exact date, at the actual trade size, and on the correct side of the book (whether you were buying or selling). Forward points across the curve · Illustrative ## Where the margin hides Banks rarely quote a forward as a rate plus a separate fee. The margin is folded into the all-in forward rate, and because that rate already contains a legitimate market adjustment, the forward points, a few extra points of margin blend in without a trace. Look only at the rate and you see none of the cost. Proportions illustrative Put numbers on it: the same 12-month trade, taken apart. MARGIN INSIDE THE QUOTE · EUR/USD 12MIllustrative Real market 12M forward1.1070 Bank all-in quote1.1085 Margin15 points · ≈ 13.5 bps Cost on a EUR 10m hedge≈ USD 15,000 Twelve monthly hedges, same margin≈ USD 180,000 Nothing on the ticket itemizes any of it. ## The real risks of a forward A forward removes rate uncertainty and brings in exposures of its own. Counterparty risk: if the bank or the company cannot settle, the contract may have to be unwound at the current market price. Opportunity cost: once the rate is locked, you give up any favourable move before settlement. Both come with the instrument and are worth carrying knowingly. The hidden margin is a different kind of item. It is a pricing choice by the bank, and the one cost on this list you can measure and negotiate. Benchmark your forwardsYour executed forwards, scored against the real market rate for their exact dates and sizes. Prove your costs are fair ## How to benchmark a forward The reference has to match the trade. That means the real market forward rate at the moment you executed: same currency pair, same value date (the day the currency actually changes hands, broken dates included), and a rate you could have dealt at for your actual size, on the correct side of the book. The interbank mid fails this test on every count. The interbank market is the wholesale market where banks trade with each other; its mid is the midpoint between the buy and sell price, a number nobody can actually deal on. That is why analysis built on the mid rarely survives contact with the bank. A real market rate is harder to assemble and harder to argue with. 01Match the dateThe exact value date - fixed or broken. 02Match the sizeA rate you could deal at for your trade size, correct side of the book. 03Score vs marketAgainst the real market rate at execution. Never the mid. 04Rank vs peersSame pair, size and tenor as similar companies. The second reference is other companies like you: what similar companies with comparable trades pay for the same pair and tenor. Margins that look reasonable on their own often sit far from what similar companies pay, and margins on longer tenors deserve particular scrutiny because fewer customers check them. A comparison like this is only worth showing where there are enough similar companies to make it fair. The Just Cost Index is built on hundreds of companies, millions of benchmark trades and $2tn+ in total trade value measured. Customers have saved over $75M to date. As of mid-2026, measured across the Just benchmark network (counting basis). The real market rate: a rate you could actually have dealt at in the market, at your size and on the correct side of the book, at the moment you traded. For forwards, at the exact value date, fixed or broken. ## What a fair forward looks like There is no single fair number for forward margin. Fair is a position relative to companies like you, on the same pair, size and tenor, and it is provable. Illustrative Measured against similar companies, an expensive book shows up within weeks, and the evidence supports a negotiation you hold directly with your bank. As an illustrative reference point across a whole FX book: a company measured at 34 bps weighted average negotiated down to 11 bps with the same banks, worth roughly EUR 690,000 a year on a EUR 300m book. Forwards, with their longer tenors and larger tickets, are usually where the bigger share of that gap lives. ## FAQ ### How do banks make money on FX forwards? By adding a margin on top of the real market forward rate. The forward price already adjusts for the interest-rate gap between the currencies, so the margin sits inside the all-in number without showing up as a fee. ### Is the forward rate a forecast of the future spot rate? No. It is today's spot rate adjusted for the interest-rate difference over the contract period, set by arbitrage. It carries no view on the currency. ### What is a fair margin on an FX forward? There is no single fair number. Fair is defined relative to what similar companies pay for the same pair, size and tenor. A benchmark against similar companies measures exactly that. ### How do I compare forward pricing across banks? Score each executed trade against the real market forward rate for its exact value date and size, then compare the margins in bps. Headline rates on different dates and sizes tell you very little. ### Do broken dates cost more? They are priced by interpolation, so the market part is well defined. The margin is where broken dates can drift, because there is no screen rate for you to check. A benchmark that scores the exact date closes that gap. Related What is independent FX cost benchmarking? → The methodology → Glossary → Every trade scored against the real market rate, never the mid. Read the methodology Terms used here: forward points · broken date · the real market rate · basis point Independent FX cost benchmarking for companies. Paid by you. Never by the bank. --- Guides · Hedging # FX forwards vs options: what each one costs Updated July 2026 · 2 min read · Approved by Just's benchmarking team The short answer A forward fixes the rate for a payment or receipt you already know is coming. It is binding, so it removes rate uncertainty in both directions - you are protected if the currency moves against you, and you do not benefit if it moves in your favour. An option gives the right, not the obligation, to exchange at a set rate, for a premium paid upfront, which suits a cash flow that might not happen at all. Neither is objectively better. Forwards fit certain exposures, options fit uncertain ones, and most treasuries end up using both. Whether the cost shows up as a margin folded into the rate or as a mark-up inside the premium, the same question applies to either instrument: what would this have cost at the real market rate, never the mid. ## What a forward is An FX forward agrees a rate today for a currency exchange that settles on a set future date. The contract is binding - at that date, the exchange takes place regardless of where the market has moved. A European company due to pay USD for imports in three months can lock a rate now. If USD strengthens against EUR, the company is protected. If EUR strengthens instead, it does not benefit either. The trade-off is the same size in both directions. FX forward: an agreement to exchange a set amount of currency at a fixed rate on a future date. Binding on both sides - the exchange happens at that date, whichever way the market has moved. See how forward rates are priced for the full construction. ## What an option is An option is not binding. It can be exercised or left to expire. Say EUR/USD is trading at 1.20 and a company is worried USD will strengthen. It buys a put option (the right to sell EUR) struck at 1.18. If EUR/USD falls to 1.10, exercising the option is valuable - the company still deals at 1.18, well above the market. If EUR/USD stays above 1.18, the company simply lets the option expire. The only cost in that case is the premium already paid. FX option: a contract giving the right, not the obligation, to exchange currency at a set rate on or before a future date. The buyer pays a premium upfront - the only cost if the option goes unused. ## Which is better Neither instrument is objectively best. A forward and an option solve different problems, and the choice between them is a decision about certainty, not a decision about which is cheaper. Comparing the two on rate alone tells you very little without first asking whether the underlying cash flow itself is certain. ## When to use each The variable that decides it is whether the cash flow is certain or not. 01Certain flowA specific payment or receipt with a known date and amount. Lock a forward and know the exact number. 02Uncertain flowCash flow that might not materialize - year-end earnings that may or may not be repatriated, a deal that may or may not close. 03Exact risk profileForwards give a precise, locked risk and reward - no premium, no flexibility, one exact number either way. 04Optionality worth paying forOptions let you benefit if the forecast is right, and cap the loss at the premium if it is wrong. ## Blending both Most companies end up using both across a hedging program: forwards for the payables and receivables they already know are coming, options for exposures still in question, such as year-end foreign earnings, an acquisition that has not closed, or an asset sale under negotiation. The mix is a portfolio decision, built exposure by exposure, not a single choice made once for the whole book. Benchmark forwards and options alikeWhichever instrument you use, the same question applies: what would this trade have cost at the real market rate at execution. Prove your costs are fair ## FAQ ### Is an option always more expensive than a forward? Neither carries a fixed cost ranking. A forward has no premium but is binding either way. An option carries a premium in exchange for the right, not the obligation, to exchange currency. Compare the two only for the same exposure, amount and time frame. ### What happens if I hedge with a forward and the payment falls through? The forward is still binding. If the underlying payment or receipt does not materialize, the contract still settles, and any difference against the market rate has to be unwound at that day's price. This is exactly the case an option is built for. ### Do most companies use only forwards or only options? No. Most treasuries blend both across a hedging program - forwards for payables and receivables they know are coming, options for exposures that are still uncertain. ### Where does the cost sit inside an option premium? The premium is priced from market inputs - volatility, time to expiry, distance between the strike and spot - plus whatever margin the bank adds on top. The margin is harder to see than on a forward, because there is no single quoted rate to check it against. Related FX forwards: pricing, cost, and how to benchmark them → What is independent FX cost benchmarking? → Glossary → Every trade scored against the real market rate, never the mid. Read the methodology Terms used here: FX forward · margin · the real market rate Independent FX cost benchmarking for companies. Paid by you. Never by the bank. --- Guides · Settlement # Value dates and broken dates, explained Updated July 2026 · 1 min read · Approved by Just's benchmarking team The short answer Every FX trade has two dates: the trade date, when the deal is agreed, and the value date, when the currency actually changes hands. For a spot trade the gap between them is fixed by market convention, not by either party - two business days for almost every currency pair, one business day for a small handful. Weekends and public holidays push the value date further out, but they never change the rate you agreed. ## What a value date is A value date is the day the two currencies are actually delivered and received. It is distinct from the trade date, when the price itself is agreed. On a spot trade the two dates sit close together but are never the same day. On a forward, they can be months apart. Value date: the date the two currencies actually change hands, distinct from the trade date when the deal itself is agreed. Spot, fixed tenors and broken dates are all value-date conventions. ## Why spot isn't same-day A spot trade is a bilateral agreement to exchange currencies now, for value one or two business days later. The gap is historical and operational, not a technology limit. It reflects how long the correspondent banking chain in each currency's home market has conventionally taken to confirm and settle a trade, and the convention has held even as the underlying systems have gotten faster. ## The T+1 vs T+2 rule Standard spot settlement is two business days (T+2) for almost every currency pair. A small handful settle in one business day (T+1) instead. SPOT SETTLEMENT · BY CURRENCY PAIRConvention T+1 · one business dayUSDCAD · USDTRY · USDPHP T+2 · two business daysEvery other pair ## Weekends and holidays Business days, not calendar days, set the count, so weekends and public holidays push the value date out. A EURNOK spot trade agreed on a Friday values the following Tuesday - two business days forward, skipping the weekend. A public holiday in either currency's home country, falling between the trade date and the value date, pushes settlement a further day out again. ## FAQ ### Why does a EURNOK trade on Friday settle on Tuesday? Spot settlement counts business days, not calendar days. EURNOK is T+2, two business days forward. Agreed on a Friday, the two business days fall on Monday and Tuesday, so the value date is Tuesday. ### Does a bank holiday change the value date? Yes. A public holiday in either currency's home country, falling between the trade date and the value date, pushes settlement a further business day out. ### Is the one-day vs two-day settlement rule about technology? No. It is a historical, operational market convention built around how the correspondent banking chain in each currency's home market has traditionally confirmed and settled a trade. It has stuck even though the underlying systems could move faster. ### Does the same value-date logic apply to forwards? Yes, just further out, and a forward can settle on a broken date: a value date that falls between the standard quoted tenors. See how broken dates are priced for the detail. Related FX forwards: pricing, cost, and how to benchmark them → FX forwards vs options: what each one costs → Glossary → Every trade scored against the real market rate, never the mid. Read the methodology Terms used here: value date · broken date · spot Independent FX cost benchmarking for companies. Paid by you. Never by the bank. --- Methodology · Just We use cookies to understand how the site is used (analytics and session replay). See our privacy policy. Methodology # How we know the rate your bank was actually trading at. Your bank gives you one exchange rate. Built into it is the bank's own mark-up, called the margin. This page takes the two apart. ## Where the margin comes from. Interbank market 10.5420 banks trade with each other Interbank tier $9.6tn/day, global FX market Your bank your only way in other companies margin You Banks trade currencies with each other in the interbank market, the wholesale market where the real price is set. Your company cannot trade there directly, so you buy through a bank. The gap between that real price and the rate your bank gives you is the margin. Illustrative. Daily FX turnover: $9.6tn, BIS Triennial Survey, April 2025. Seeing more than a quote ## You saw a few quotes. We measure continuously. Interbank market banks only pricing gets worse further out What your banks showed you a few quotes What Just measured independent feeds, continuously Every trade, checked against the real market priced to the moment you traded sources kept confidential Your trade · 10.5565 The real market 13.8 bps the margin · illustrative scale The real market price is built from many live sources, not from any single bank. It is a rate you could actually have traded at, not the "mid" (the midpoint between the buy and sell price), which nobody can deal on. Tradable prices: the rate you could really have dealt at, for your trade size and direction. Forwards: trades that settle on a future date, standard or not, out to 3-4 years. Comparing you to peers ## How your costs compare to similar companies. We compare you only to companies genuinely like yours, matched on trade size, currency pair, how far ahead each trade settles, the type of trade, how many banks you use, and where you trade. A ranking appears only when enough similar companies exist to make it fair. Illustrative. ● You · Red worse than ~80% of peers Green · fairAmberRed · overpaying Hundreds of companies Millions of trades compared $2tn+ total trade value measured $75M+ saved for customers Companies: businesses with trades in our benchmark. Trades compared: individual customer trades checked against the real market price. Total value: the combined US dollar size of those trades. Saved for customers: documented savings across every customer, to date. As of mid-2026, across the Just benchmark network. The evidence ## One trade, taken apart. Here is exactly how we separate the real market rate from the bank's margin on a single trade. One trade · illustrative buy USD / sell SEK · 12-month forward Spot rate, for delivery now10.5000 Forward points (12-month adjustment)+0.0420 Real market rate your bank could trade at10.5420 Bank's margin, added on top+0.0145 All-in rate you were quoted10.5565 real market rate · margin 13.8 bps the bank's margin SEK 1,380 per million traded. Red zone · vs peers Measured against the real market rate, never the "mid". One basis point (bp) = 0.01%; here, 13.8 bps = 0.138%. ## Every number comes from records you already have. For each trade, we take the confirmation your bank already sent you and compare its rate to the real market rate at that exact moment. The difference is the margin. app.gojust.com / tradesillustrative data Every row is rebuilt from your own trade confirmation. Margin shown in PPM (parts per million): 1 basis point = 100 PPM. Names are fictional. FX Global Code · Principles 14 & 36 The FX Global Code is a voluntary standard signed by most major FX banks. It commits them to fair, reasonable mark-ups (Principle 14) and accurate, timestamped records (Principle 36). We never contact your bank; we only read the records you already hold. ## How a saving is measured. For a company trading EUR 300 million of currency a year: Year before 34 bps Year after 11 bps EUR 690,000a year, back23 bps on EUR 300m · illustrative What you actually paid in margin last year, minus what you pay this year, measured on your real trades. No estimates. ### A subscription, on your side of the table. Just is a yearly subscription, paid upfront. Paid by you, never the bank, so our only incentive is your result. We take no money from banks, no share of your trading, and we never route your trades.If your banks are already pricing you fairly, confirming it costs you nothing. ## Prove your costs are fair. If they are, it's on us. 30 minutes, on your own trade data, no obligation. Just Technologies The independent FX cost benchmark for companies. Paid by you. Never by the bank. ### Product How it worksMethodologyProve your costs are fair ### Proof CustomersSecurity & trust ### Company AboutPartnersGuidesFAQGlossary Just Technologies AS · Org.nr. 918 907 661 · Oksenøyveien 8, 1366 Lysaker Privacy · Terms · LinkedIn --- ## FAQ FAQ ## Straight answers ### How does a bank make money on your FX trades? The bank adds a margin (its own mark-up) on top of the rate it can trade at in the market, then quotes you one all-in rate: a single number with the mark-up already inside it. The margin never appears as a fee or a line item. The bank sets it per customer, at its own discretion, and it can change from one trade to the next even when nothing changes on your side. ### What is a normal FX margin for a company? It varies widely with company size, currency pair, how far ahead the trade settles (the tenor) and trade size, so a single "normal" number would mislead. What a benchmark shows is where you sit against companies with similar flow. As an illustrative example: a company measured at 34 bps against similar companies negotiated down to 11 bps with the same banks and the same volumes. On a EUR 300m annual book, that difference is roughly EUR 690,000 a year. ### Is my bank allowed to charge a margin? Yes. The margin is a legitimate price for the service and the risk the bank carries. The issue is information: the bank knows what every customer pays, and you know only your own rate. The FX Global Code, a voluntary industry standard, commits the banks that sign it to be open about their mark-up. Being open on request is still a long way from independent measurement. ### Why is the interbank mid a bad benchmark? The mid is the midpoint between the buy price and the sell price in the interbank market (the wholesale market where banks trade with each other). Nobody can actually trade at the mid. Your trades happen on the buy side or the sell side, never in the middle, so the mid is a reference point, not a real benchmark for what your trade should have cost. Just scores every trade against the real market rate, never the mid: a rate you could actually have traded at, for your trade size and direction, at the moment you traded. ### We keep three banks in competition. Isn't that enough? Competition tells you which bank was cheapest on a given trade. It says nothing about whether any of the quotes was fair. All three can quote a wide margin and one still wins. A benchmark measures each trade against the market itself, so competition and measurement answer different questions, and both are worth having. The full comparison: Just vs your existing stack. ### What data do we share, and where does it go? Only trades you have already done. Nothing you send is shared with another company. Everything feeding the benchmark is pooled and stripped of names first, and any data that could identify you is deleted when you leave. Just is SOC 2 audited - details at trust.gojust.com. We never contact your banks. ### Who pays Just? You do. Paid by you, never the bank, so our only incentive is your result. Just earns nothing from your trading volume, from any bank, or from routing you anywhere. ### What if our pricing turns out to be fair? Then you hold independent evidence of it, on the record, for the board and the auditor. If your banks are already pricing you fairly, confirming it costs you nothing. ## Glossary Glossary ## Eighteen terms, defined once The single rate on your trade confirmation. It combines the real market rate and the bank's margin into one number, which is why the cost never shows up as a separate line item. One hundredth of one percent. 10 bps of margin on a EUR 10m trade is EUR 10,000. Inside the product the same margin is reported in PPM: 1 bp = 100 PPM. A settlement date that falls between the standard ones, such as 47 days rather than a round one or two months. The price is worked out from the forward points on the standard dates on either side. The group of similar companies you are compared against: matched on trade flow, currency pairs, sizes and how far ahead trades settle. A comparison is shown only when enough similar companies exist to make it fair. Enough trading volume available in the market to absorb a trade at its full size. A deep-book reference rate is one you could actually have traded at for your full size, on the buy or sell side you needed. Electronic communication network: a venue where FX is traded electronically between many participants. Several ECNs feed the rate Just measures against. The adjustment added to the spot rate to produce a forward rate. It comes from the interest-rate difference between the two currencies over the life of the trade. The market sets it; the bank's margin is added on top separately. A contract that fixes an exchange rate now for a payment that settles on a future date. It removes the uncertainty of where the currency will be when the payment falls due. A voluntary code of conduct for the FX market. Principle 14 covers mark-up: the Code commits its signatories to fair and reasonable mark-up and to transparency about how it is applied. Principle 36 commits them to keep accurate, timestamped records of orders and executions. The midpoint between the buy price and the sell price in the interbank market (the wholesale market where banks trade with each other). No company can actually deal at the mid, which makes it a poor benchmark for what a trade should have cost. The bank's mark-up: what it adds on top of the real market rate. Measured in bps of the trade value. The number a benchmark puts a figure on. The unit the product surface reports margin in. 1 bp = 100 PPM, so a 13.8 bps margin reads as 1,380 PPM in the app. The finer unit avoids rounding away small margins on large volumes. The rule across Just: public materials state costs in bps and money; the product surface reports PPM. The independent rate a trade is scored against. Just builds its own from many live market-data feeds, bank quotes and several ECNs, and shows the rate used on every scored trade. Taking the measured evidence to your bank and negotiating a lower margin on future trades. The bank relationship stays direct; the evidence does the arguing. A trade for near-immediate settlement, conventionally two business days after the trade date (T+2). The time from trade date to settlement date. Margin should be compared within the same tenor, since pricing differs across them. A rate you could actually have traded at, for your trade size and direction, at the moment you traded. Just calls this the real market rate. The benchmark a bank cannot argue with. The date the two currencies actually change hands. Spot, fixed tenors and broken dates are all value-date conventions, and each carries its own fair price.