Almost every tool in this category charges a flat monthly subscription. You pay the same in a month it made you money and a month it lost you money, which means the seller's income does not depend on whether the product does its job. A performance fee changes that, and it is worth understanding exactly how, because the details decide whether it is genuinely fairer or just marketed that way.
A fixed monthly fee for access. Simple and predictable, and the overwhelming majority of the category works this way. The weakness is that it is paid identically whether you profit or not.
A percentage of profits and nothing else. Sounds ideal and is rare, because it gives the seller no revenue at all in a flat market while their costs continue. Where you do see it, check what happens in a losing period.
A modest access fee plus a percentage of realised profit. The fee covers the cost of running the thing; the percentage is where the upside is. This is what blank does.
Access is either £10 for a seven-day trading week, bought as you go with no subscription, or £35 a month on a rolling 30-day cycle. On top of that there is a flat 5% commission, and the mechanics of that 5% are the part worth reading.
It is charged on net realised profit, which means profit from positions that have actually been closed, netted against the losses in the same period. Unrealised gains on an open position are not charged. It is calculated per calendar month and taken on the last Friday of the month after the close.
It is measured against a high-water mark. If a month goes down, no commission is charged, and the following month has to recover the ground before any commission applies again. You never pay a performance fee twice for the same pound of profit.
Three questions separate a fair performance fee from a decorative one.
A fee on unrealised gains charges you for a paper profit that can evaporate before you sell. blank charges only on closed positions.
Without one, a tool that loses 20% and then gains 20% charges you a performance fee on the recovery. With one, it does not.
A 20% performance fee with a large monthly subscription underneath it is a subscription wearing a costume. Look at both numbers together, and at the broker's own spread and commission, which come out of the same profit.
Being straight about this: the £10 week and the £35 month are still paid whether blank wins or loses, so the alignment is partial rather than total. What the 5% does is put a meaningful part of the upside on the same side as yours, and the high-water mark stops the fee rewarding a recovery from its own drawdown.
That is the honest version. Any product claiming its incentives are perfectly aligned with yours is selling something.
Pure profit-only pricing is rare, because it leaves the vendor with no revenue in a flat market. The realistic version is a small access fee plus a percentage of realised profit. blank charges £10 per trading week or £35 a month, plus a flat 5% of net realised profit.
A flat 5% of net realised profit, charged per calendar month on the last Friday after the close, measured against a high-water mark. If the month is flat or down, no commission is charged.
It is the highest point your account has previously reached for fee purposes. A performance fee only applies to profit above it, so you never pay twice for the same gain and a recovery from a drawdown is not charged.
No. blank charges only on realised profit, meaning positions that have actually been closed, netted against losses in the same period. An open position showing a paper profit is not charged.
The first seven days are, for anyone signing up before 1 September 2026: no access fee and no commission at all. After that it is half price until the same date, then £10 a trading week or £35 a month.
£10 for a seven-day trading week, or £35 a month. Flat 5% on realised profit, high-water marked.
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