MT5 brokers for scalping metals: what to check before shortlisting

[FXS London Scalper]

For XAUUSD and XAGUSD scalping on MT5, a list of names goes stale quickly. A list of checks lasts longer.

• Contract size and digits. Gold is usually 100 oz per lot, silver often 5,000 oz. Some brokers differ, which changes your risk per point.
• Commission on metals. Not always the same as on FX; sometimes per lot, sometimes built into the spread.
• Spread in the first minutes after 13:30 London. Log it on a few US data days; averages hide this.
• Stop level and freeze level in the symbol specification, plus whether they change around news.
• Trading hours. The daily break around the US close, and early closes on holidays.
• Swap, only if you ever hold past rollover.

Then test with micro lots: ten market orders at your normal times, logging fill versus requested price.

A tip: compare cost per trade in dollars for your usual size, not spreads in points. Different contract sizes make point spreads misleading across brokers.

What else belongs on a metals checklist?