STP Broker
Brokers & RegulationA broker that routes orders to external liquidity providers rather than taking the other side internally, marking up the raw spread instead.
An STP (Straight-Through Processing) broker routes client orders directly to external liquidity providers rather than taking the other side of the trade internally, typically earning revenue from a small markup on the raw spread. It sits between a market maker (which internalizes orders) and a full ECN (which offers direct depth-of-market access), usually with simpler all-in pricing than a raw-spread-plus-commission ECN account.
Because the broker isn't taking the opposite side of the trade, STP execution removes the structural conflict of interest that comes with a dealing-desk model.