A new Nasdaq Economic Institute analysis estimates that brokers’ all-in cost to execute $10,000 of U.S. equity trading is now about 10 cents, based on data through 2025.
What did Nasdaq find?
The study measures cost per dollar traded rather than per share, reducing distortions caused by different stock prices. It estimates that all-in costs have fallen by roughly one-third in nominal terms since 2017 and by about 50% after inflation, to around 9 cents in 2017 dollars for each $10,000 traded.
The measure covers execution, market-data, connectivity, infrastructure and opportunity costs. It is not necessarily the commission charged to an individual investor’s account.
Why have costs fallen?
Nasdaq links the decline to higher dollar trading volumes, which spread fixed costs across more activity, and to competition among execution venues. At the same time, market fragmentation adds connectivity, routing and operating complexity.
The investor angle
Lower market-infrastructure costs can support execution efficiency and liquidity, but they do not guarantee a better price on every order. Actual outcomes still depend on spreads, order size, stock liquidity and broker routing policies.
The institute also says Nasdaq has been the cheapest established exchange group since 2018. That ranking comes from Nasdaq’s own analysis and should not be presented as an independent industry consensus.
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