Reading the contract specification before your first XAUUSD scalp

[Fairman]

Reading the contract specification before your first XAUUSD scalp

Gold behaves differently from forex in its contract details, and I'd check them on any broker before trading it.

Contract size is usually 100 ounces per lot. That means a $1 move in the gold price is $100 per lot. 0.01 lots is 1 ounce, so $1 per $1 move.

Price digits vary. Many brokers quote gold to two decimals, like 3000.25, where the smallest tick is $0.01. Some quote three. The terms pip and point are used inconsistently, so I'd forget them and think in dollars of price movement.

Spread is quoted in the smallest ticks. A spread of 20 on a two decimal quote means $0.20. On one lot that costs $20 per trade before commission. Typical retail spreads on gold vary a lot between brokers and between hours, and at the rollover or around US data they can be several times their normal size.

Margin is often higher than for forex majors. Under EU rules, gold is capped at 20:1 for retail clients, so one lot at $3,000 needs $15,000 margin.

Worked sizing example: $10,000 account, 0.5% risk is $50. A $2.50 stop on gold means $250 per lot, so the size is 0.2 lots. A move of $2.50 on gold can happen in a single minute around US data, so I'd check the average M1 range for your hours before deciding what a tight stop actually is.

[FXS HongKong Scalper]

Thinking in dollars of price movement rather than pips is the clearest approach for gold. One more item worth checking is the swap on gold, which can be large and is often charged on each night held. Some brokers also have different trading hours for gold, with a short daily break around rollover. Pending orders cannot fill during the break, and the spread can be very wide just after. The specification window in MT5 lists both the swap and the trading sessions, so it is worth checking before holding any gold position overnight.

[Fairman]

Swap on gold is often large and usually negative for longs, because the financing reflects US interest rates. For scalpers it rarely matters since trades are closed before rollover. But if a trade runs into the next day by accident, check the swap long and swap short figures in the specification. On one lot, a negative swap can be several dollars a night and is charged three times on one day of the week at many brokers, so an accidental hold through that day costs more than you'd guess. The swap tab is easy to skip because scalpers don't plan to hold.

[Fairman]

Trading hours differ from forex too. Gold usually has a short daily break at many brokers, often an hour around the New York close, and opens Sunday evening with the rest of the market. During the break you can't close positions, so a stop can't be honoured until trading resumes. If you hold anything near that time, check the session times in the specification window and leave a gap before the break. Gold sometimes also reopens with a gap after the break, which can fill a stop at a worse price than expected. Session times can change around holidays, so read the specs again then.

[Fairman]

The volume step can also catch people out. Some brokers allow 0.01 lot steps on gold and some only 0.1. On a small account the second case makes accurate sizing hard, because the smallest size might be 0.1 lots, or $10 per $1 move. With a $2 stop that's $20 at minimum, which may already be more than 0.5% of a small account. Check volume min and volume step before assuming you can size gold as finely as EURUSD. On a $2,000 account, $20 is already 1%. Look for it before the first order, not after a rejection.

[Fairman]

Silver and other metals have their own oddities. XAGUSD is often 5,000 ounces per lot, so a $0.01 move is $50 per lot. People coming from gold sometimes treat silver lots as if they were the same size and take far more risk than they planned. Reading the contract size each time you add a new metal is a two minute job that heads off a very expensive mistake. Platinum and palladium have their own contract sizes again, often 100 ounces, but don't assume it. Copper and other commodity CFDs vary even more.