Metals specialists vs FX generalists for XAU scalps

[LondonScalper]

When choosing where to scalp gold, there are two broad types of broker: those that are primarily FX brokers and offer metals as one product among many, and those with a stronger focus on metals and commodities. I've had accounts of both types over the years, and the differences were not what I expected.

Spread. I expected the specialist to be cheaper. On my own logs, the difference in average spread during London hours was small, and the FX generalist was sometimes cheaper during 08:00 to 11:00. The specialist was noticeably tighter in the Asian session and around the 13:30 US releases.

Execution during fast moves. This is where the specialist did better in my experience. During sharp moves, I saw fewer rejected orders and less slippage on my larger tickets, though my sample of fast moves is small.

My conclusion, for my trading: an FX generalist is fine for London hours gold scalping. If I traded gold mainly around data or in Asia, I'd look harder at a specialist.

[Shadow Trader]

Your split between London hours and data or Asia hours matches my experience closely.

I kept tickets on both types for three months and the specialist was not cheaper for me between 08:00 and 11:00 either. Average spread differed by a few cents most days. Where the specialist pulled ahead was from about 12:50 to 14:00 on US data days, with fewer requotes on size above my normal clip.

Execution on fast moves is the harder thing to measure. I logged rejected orders and slippage in dollars per lot. The specialist won on both, but the sample was only nineteen fast moves, so I am careful not to overclaim.

For my own trading, London gold on a good FX generalist is enough. I only care about the specialist path if I am planning to trade the release window, which I mostly do not on gold anymore.

One thing I would add to the comparison: swap and financing if you ever hold past the rollover by accident. That differed more than spread did on my two accounts.

Did you compare the same ticket size on both, or was the specialist tested with smaller clips?

[Shadow Trader]

One difference I'd add that never shows in a spread table is the minimum stop distance. On one of my accounts the gold stop level was 50 points, on the other it was zero, and on a tight scalp stop that changes which setups are even allowed.

The account with the wider stop level also had a freeze level near the market. During fast moves I could not modify a stop inside that distance, which looked like a rejection in my log but was really a contract rule.

So part of what looked like better execution on the specialist side was simply looser trading conditions. Once I tagged rejections by reason, the gap between the two shrank, though it did not disappear.

The daily maintenance break is the other quiet one. Gold pauses for about an hour around the rollover on both types, but the exact minutes differed, and one account reopened with a much wider spread for the first ten minutes.

LondonScalper, when you counted rejected orders during fast moves, did you split them by error type? A requote, an off quotes error and an invalid stop are three different problems.