MT5 brokers for scalping metals: what to check before shortlisting
Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2026 4:27 pm
For XAUUSD and XAGUSD scalping on MT5, a list of names goes stale quickly. A list of checks lasts longer.
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?
- 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.
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?