Instrument Guide · Updated Last updated: August 2026
Gold (XAU/USD) Trading Brokers 2026
Reviewed by Markets Desk · FX-Brokers editorial
Gold is the instrument most often traded on assumptions imported from forex, and most of them are wrong. It is capped at 20:1 rather than 30:1, its spread is quoted in dollars rather than pips, and its overnight financing is a carry cost rather than an interest-rate differential. This page covers the mechanics that actually decide what a gold position costs you, and is explicit about which of those numbers our broker database records and which it does not.
Quick Answer
Retail leverage on gold is 20:1— 5% margin — under both the ESMA rules applying to EU/EEA brokers and the FCA rules applying in the UK. Gold sits one band below major currency pairs at 30:1 and one band above every other commodity at 10:1, so a gold lot ties up meaningfully more margin than the same notional in EUR/USD.
The costs that follow from that: a dollar-quoted spread that cannot be compared to a pip spread, and an overnight carry charge that compounds on any position held longer than a session.
Looking for measured gold spreads?
This page is the instrument guide: how XAU/USD is priced, margined and financed, and which brokers we can link to. The measured spread-by-spread comparison of EU-regulated gold and commodity brokers — including oil, commodity counts and per-broker swap figures — lives on a separate page: Best Gold & Commodity Brokers in Europe. Live gold pricing and per-broker gold pages sit under /markets/gold.
Gold Is a 20:1 Instrument, Not a 30:1 One
The retail leverage caps below apply to clients of EU/EEA-regulated brokers under the ESMA measures in force since 2018, and to clients of UK-regulated brokers under the FCA rules in force since 2019. The two regimes set identical figures for gold. Nothing about the broker you choose changes them — they are a function of the instrument and your client classification, not of the firm.
| Asset class | Max retail leverage | What it means here |
|---|---|---|
| Major currency pairs | 30:1 | EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY and the rest of the majors. This is the number most people have in mind when they think of retail forex leverage — gold does not get it. |
| Gold (XAU/USD) | 20:1 | Gold sits with minor currency pairs and major indices, one band below the majors. A 20:1 cap means 5% margin: a one-lot XAU/USD position ties up five times more margin than the same notional in EUR/USD. |
| Commodities other than gold | 10:1 | Silver, platinum, palladium, crude oil and the rest. Gold is carved out of this band and treated as less volatile than the metals it is usually grouped with. |
| Individual equities | 5:1 | Single-name share CFDs, including gold miners — which is a different exposure from gold itself, and a differently capped one. |
| Cryptocurrencies | 2:1 | The lowest band. Relevant here only because gold and crypto are marketed side by side as inflation hedges while sitting ten bands apart on margin. |
The practical consequence is a position-sizing one. Traders who move from majors to gold without recalculating frequently open a gold position at the size their EUR/USD margin habit suggests, find it consumes half again as much of the account, and end up closer to the margin close-out level than they intended — before the instrument's own volatility is taken into account.
How Gold Pricing Works — and What We Do Not Record
A scope statement first, because it decides what the rest of this page can honestly claim. Our broker database records one spread field per broker, and it is EUR/USD. There is no XAU/USD spread field. So this page publishes no per-broker gold spread — deriving one from a broker's EUR/USD entry would be a fabrication, and the two are not even quoted in the same units. The measured gold spreads we do hold are on the Europe gold and commodities ranking.
Dollars per ounce, not pips
Gold is quoted in US dollars per troy ounce, so its spread is a dollar-and-cent figure on a four-digit price. Comparing it to a 0.6-pip EUR/USD spread is a category error: the two are different units on different price scales, and any table that ranks them together is measuring nothing.
The spread is not the whole cost
On a raw or ECN account the gold spread arrives alongside a per-lot commission, and both are separate from the overnight financing charge. A tight headline spread on a position held for three weeks can be the smallest of the three costs by the time it is closed.
Widening is concentrated, not constant
Gold spreads sit near their tightest during the London and New York overlap and widen around the daily rollover, the Asian session open, and scheduled US inflation, payrolls and central bank events. Average spread figures smooth exactly the moments a gold strategy trades through.
Contract size is a per-broker setting
A standard XAU/USD lot is 100 troy ounces at most brokers, making a $1 gold move worth $100 per lot — but mini and micro contracts exist and the multiplier differs between firms. Read the instrument specification; it determines margin, pip value and the size of every subsequent calculation.
Overnight Swap Costs on Metals
What the charge represents.On a currency pair, the overnight swap reflects the interest-rate differential between the two currencies. Gold has no interest rate, so the metals swap reflects the cost of carrying the position instead — financing plus the broker's markup. That is why gold swaps tend to be asymmetric, with the long side typically paying and the short side paying less or receiving.
Weekend settlement is charged mid-week. Most brokers apply a multiple swap charge on one day of the week to cover the weekend, so a position that looks cheap to carry on four days is not on the fifth. A gold swing strategy that habitually holds across that day pays for three nights every week it stays open.
Swap rates move, so we quote none.Every broker publishes its own metals swap table per instrument, and the rates change as financing costs do. Any figure quoted on a comparison page is a snapshot and ages badly, which is why the number to work from is the one in your own platform's instrument specification on the day you open the position, not one carried over from an article.
Swap-free accounts move the cost, not the total. Where a broker offers a swap-free or Islamic account, gold is a common inclusion — but the financing is normally recovered through an administration fee, a wider spread, or a holding-period limit after which charges resume. Our records carry a swapFree flag per broker; they do not carry the terms attached to it, so read those on the broker's own account page before assuming a long-held gold position carries no financing.
Brokers You Can Open a Gold Account With Here
Sorted by our instruments score. Only brokers with a live affiliate arrangement and an evidenced, unexpired promotable ruling for this market appear with a link, so this set is narrower than our editorial coverage. The metals column reports what each broker's own record states — where it states nothing, the row says so rather than assuming gold is offered.
| Broker | Instruments | Max retail leverage | Swap-free available | Min deposit | Open |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PepperstoneBaFin, CySEC, FCA, ASIC | 8.8/10 | Up to 1:30 | Yes | None | Visit Pepperstone |
| Trade NationFCA, CMVM, ASIC, SCB, FSCA | 7.7/10 | Up to 1:30 | Not recorded | None | Visit Trade Nation |
| TickmillCySEC, FCA, FSA | 7.5/10 | Up to 1:30 | Yes | €100 | Visit Tickmill |
Leverage column shows the broker's recorded retail cap across instruments. The 20:1 gold band applies within it — a broker recording “up to 1:30” still margins gold at 20:1 for retail clients.
Pepperstone
Instruments 8.8/10Our record describes Pepperstone's catalogue as around 1,200 instruments including commodities, precious metals among them.
- Platforms
- MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader, TradingView
- Account types
- Standard, Razor
- EUR/USD spread
- 0.0 pips (Razor), 0.69 pips (Standard)
- Withdrawal fee
- Free
EUR/USD is shown because it is the spread our database records. It is not a gold spread and should not be read as one.
Our broker record does not enumerate a metals list for this broker. Check the instrument specification on the broker's own site before opening a gold position.
- Platforms
- TN Trader, Trade Nation App, MetaTrader 4, TradingView
- Account types
- Standard
- EUR/USD spread
- 0.6 pips (fixed)
- Withdrawal fee
- Free
EUR/USD is shown because it is the spread our database records. It is not a gold spread and should not be read as one.
Tickmill
Instruments 7.5/10Our record enumerates Tickmill's spot metals as gold, silver, platinum and palladium, alongside roughly 80 forex pairs and CFDs on WTI and Brent crude.
- Platforms
- MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, Tickmill App
- Account types
- Classic, Raw, Tickmill Trader
- EUR/USD spread
- 0.0 pips (Raw), 1.6 pips (Classic)
- Withdrawal fee
- Free
EUR/USD is shown because it is the spread our database records. It is not a gold spread and should not be read as one.
2 of 3linkable brokers carry an explicit metals description in our records. For the rest, the instrument list on the broker's own site is the source — and the specification page is worth opening anyway, since contract size and margin requirement live there.
What Separates Gold Brokers From Forex Brokers
| Factor | Why it matters for gold specifically |
|---|---|
| Contract specification | Lot size, tick value and minimum trade size differ between brokers on gold far more than on EUR/USD. Everything you calculate afterwards depends on this number, so it is the first thing to read, not the last. |
| Published swap table | A broker that publishes its metals swaps per instrument, with the multiple-charge day stated, is one you can cost a multi-day position on. One that does not is asking you to find out after the fact. |
| Behaviour around US data | Gold trades US inflation, payrolls and central bank decisions harder than it trades anything else. Execution quality in those ten-minute windows matters more than the average spread across a quiet Tuesday. |
| Margin close-out level | With gold at 20:1 and a 50% close-out rule applying to retail accounts under both the ESMA and FCA regimes, a gold-heavy account reaches close-out on a smaller adverse move than a majors-only account of the same size. |
| Metals coverage beyond gold | Silver, platinum and palladium sit in the 10:1 band, not gold's 20:1. A broker offering the full metals set lets you spread across them, but the margin arithmetic changes with each one. |
Related Comparisons
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the maximum leverage on gold for retail traders?
What is XAU/USD?
Why is the gold spread quoted differently from a forex spread?
What are swap costs on gold and when are they charged?
Which brokers can I open a gold position with through this page?
CFD Risk Warning
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. A high percentage of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
This website is for informational purposes only. The content does not constitute investment advice. Trading leveraged products carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results.