> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.hydravision.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.hydravision.ai/products/asset-profiler/session-cost.md).

# Session Cost

The panel headed **"What the session costs you"**, with three bars for Asian, London and New York.

{% hint style="warning" %}
**The common misreading.** That the step range already accounts for this. It doesn't. Every other number in the report uses the **average** spread across all sessions, so it neither rewards nor punishes you for when you trade. This panel is the one thing the report hands over untouched.
{% endhint %}

### What it means

Spread isn't constant through the day. On most assets it's widest when the relevant market is closed and tightest when it's busiest.

The panel shows the average spread in each session, the penalty for trading the worst session instead of the best, and what that penalty is worth as a share of your total entry cost.

The badge in the header tells you straight away whether it's worth acting on: **minor** or **material**.

### How to read

The number to look at is **round-trip penalty as a share of the entry cost**. That's the extra you pay to open and close a pair in the worst session rather than the best, measured against everything it costs you to do so.

The badge flips to **material** once that share reaches 25%. Four of the six sample assets cross it:

| Symbol | Cheapest session | Penalty     | Share of entry cost | Badge    |
| ------ | ---------------- | ----------- | ------------------- | -------- |
| GER40  | London           | 431.6 ticks | **145%**            | material |
| US30   | New York         | 234.3 ticks | **68%**             | material |
| EURCAD | New York         | 7.1 ticks   | **31%**             | material |
| XAUUSD | New York         | 6.0 ticks   | **27%**             | material |
| EURUSD | New York         | 1.1 ticks   | 12%                 | minor    |
| XAGUSD | New York         | 2.8 ticks   | 9%                  | minor    |

<figure><img src="https://3755235599-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F9jMFtiGRmjSb3oxcTvx7%2Fuploads%2Fbnv0qQzlEBt6TqJiNBNF%2FAP%20-%20GER40%20Sessions.png?alt=media&amp;token=4140131e-0d39-4e61-b9d4-fbd41b8c239f" alt=""><figcaption><p>GER40 Session</p></figcaption></figure>

GER40 is the case worth studying. Its average spread in the Asian session is 295.8 ticks, against 80.0 in London. Trading the German index while Germany is asleep costs you **more than the entire rest of your entry cost combined**. No step size adjustment comes close to that as a lever.

<figure><img src="https://3755235599-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F9jMFtiGRmjSb3oxcTvx7%2Fuploads%2FBg02drXL5BiO8OOd7lok%2FAP%20-%20EURCAD%20Sessions.png?alt=media&amp;token=af69a630-55fb-45b0-9d12-ad8ce23865c9" alt=""><figcaption><p>EURCAD Session</p></figcaption></figure>

EURCAD clears the threshold without drama — a few ticks each, but a few ticks measured against a small entry cost.

<figure><img src="https://3755235599-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F9jMFtiGRmjSb3oxcTvx7%2Fuploads%2Fh6EhpwbSpg8EOvVQIiXC%2FAP%20-%20EURUSD%20Sessions.png?alt=media&amp;token=dddbb325-9bd5-463b-8ca4-25d8931ed517" alt=""><figcaption><p>EURUSD Session</p></figcaption></figure>

At the other end, EURUSD's 12% is real but small. Moving your trading hours to save 1.1 ticks on a 9.3-tick entry cost is unlikely to be worth reorganising your day for.

### Why the band ignores it

Deliberately. The Profiler doesn't know when you trade, and building an assumption in would make the verdict depend on something it can't see. So the band, the compression figure and the verdict all use the all-session average.

The practical consequence: if you can restrict yourself to the cheap session on a **material** asset, your real costs are better than the report says. If you're forced into the expensive one, they're worse. Neither shows up anywhere else in the report.

{% hint style="info" %}
**A capped-spread note.** On some assets the quoted spread spends much of the day pinned at its widest. Where the report detects this it says so, because it changes the advice: there's less tightening to wait for than the average suggests, so either trade the cheap session or accept the number.
{% endhint %}

### Worth also glancing at the spread distribution

Below the session bars are three figures: spread at the median, at the 90th percentile, and at its worst.

The gap between the median and the maximum tells you how spiky the asset is. EURUSD's median is 1 tick and its worst is 137: the average is calm and the tail is not. EURCAD's worst is 595 ticks against a median of 7.

Those spikes are usually news events and rollover. They don't move the averages much, but they're what you meet if a grid happens to open into one.

### What to do with this

* Check the badge. **Minor** means move on; **material** means this is your biggest available saving.
* On a material asset, restricting trading hours will do more for your costs than any step-size change.
* Remember the report's other numbers assume you trade all sessions equally.