ECN
An ECN (Electronic Communication Network) matches orders from many participants directly. The broker earns a commission rather than a markup.
With an ECN account, your order meets those of banks, funds and other traders in an electronic order book. The broker is not your counterparty: it charges a fixed commission per lot, and the spread reflects the raw market.
Spreads can drop to 0.0 or 0.1 pip on EUR/USD during the day, but they widen sharply around news and overnight. Total cost is therefore raw spread plus commission, often around $6 to $7 per lot round turn depending on the broker.
The term is sometimes used as marketing: an “ECN” account at a broker is not always genuine access to a multi-participant network. Read the order execution policy.