Re:
paul
if a pair has more than 3 pip spread, i would still trade it keeping the timeframe & risk to reward ratio in mind.
i trade in peak hrs & pairs which don't show many porcupines, if you understand what i mean. i mean big ranging candles - frequently !
i trade only H4 & pairs are EURUSD, GBPUSD, AUDUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, AUDJPY, CHFJPY, USDJPY & GBPJPY.
if you apply H4 to above pairs, you will notice they are quite tradeable even if some may have a bigger spread.
also, set pip deviation in mt4 as 3, many people don't use this option because of which you MAY have a higher spread. some brokers give fix spreads on pairs, like i saw in an ad recently, fxcm offering 1.6 spread on EURUSD. so if you trade a shorter timeframe you can go with some brokers who assure you of a fixed spread.
hope, i answered to the best of my capability.
best regards,
rishi