XAU/USD, compared properly
Gold trading brokers
Gold is quoted differently by every broker, which makes the advertised spreads incomparable until they are converted. On a standard 100-ounce lot: RoboForex publishes an average spread of 18 points, $18 a lot; Deriv advertises from 16 points with leverage to 1:800 and a swap-free option; FxPro and LiteFinance were showing 0.32 and 0.12 dollars an ounce live — $32 and $12 a lot at the moment we looked.
Conditions checked against each broker's own pages
What a lot of gold costs at each
Cheapest first on what we could verify. Published conditions and live quotes are marked separately: a published average spread is a commitment of sorts, while a live quote is one moment on one day and will be different when you look.
| Broker | Spread per 100 oz lot | Source of the figure | Leverage on gold | Overnight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LiteFinance | $12$12 a lot — quoted 4603.72 / 4603.84, a 0.12 spread per ounce | Live quote | 1:1000 on ECN and Classic accounts | Swap-free accounts offered |
| Deriv | $16From $16 a lot — advertised from 16 points | Published | Up to 1:800 on gold | Swap-free option published on the gold page |
| RoboForex | $18$18 a lot — average spread 18 points, and its own table prints the same $18 | Published | Account leverage up to 1:2000; metals may differ | Swap short 19 points, swap long −60 points; swap-free available |
| FxPro | $32$32 a lot — quoted 4663.18 / 4663.50, a 0.32 floating MT5 spread | Live quote | 1:500 on the accounts page | Swap long −67.9 points at the time of capture |
| Alpari | cannot be completedCommission of $18 per million of notional traded on metals — about $8 on a 100-ounce lot at $4,600 gold, plus the spread, which is not published | Commission only | Up to 1:3000 on ECN accounts | Not published |
| Bybit | cannot be completed$6 per lot commission on metals in Tight-Spread mode, on a raw spread it does not publish | Commission only | Up to 500:1 on metals | Daily swap applied; a 3-day charge on Wednesdays covers the weekend |
| Tickmill | cannot be completedDescribes competitive spreads on metals without publishing a figure | Not published | Up to 1:1000 on commodities on its global page; 1:30 retail under the EU entity | Not published |
| Libertex | cannot be completedLists metals among its CFDs; conditions are shown inside the platform | Not published | Not published outside the platform | Overnight fee charged per night held |
| ForTrade | cannot be completedLists gold among its CFDs; the conditions table is geo-gated | Not published | Not published | Publishes a silver overnight rule — net long positions above 0.2 lots carry a night spread — without a gold figure |
Scroll the table sideways →
Read from each broker's own pages on 24 August 2026, and converted to dollars per 100-ounce lot by us — a point on gold is one cent an ounce. Figures marked as live quotes were on the broker's own price widget at that moment and will differ when you look; published conditions are the sturdier number.
Why gold spreads cannot be compared as advertised
A standard lot of gold is 100 ounces, and that is where the confusion starts. RoboForex quotes an average spread of 18 points and, helpfully, prints $18 per lot beside it — a point on gold is one cent an ounce, so 18 points is 18 cents an ounce and $18 across a lot. Deriv advertises “from 16 points”, which is the same unit. FxPro and LiteFinance show the raw quote instead, and 0.32 or 0.12 there means dollars per ounce: $32 and $12 a lot.
Alpari and Bybit price gold differently again, as a commission: $18 per million of notional traded at Alpari, $6 per lot at Bybit in its Tight-Spread mode. A 100-ounce lot at $4,600 gold is $460,000 of notional, so Alpari's commission works out at roughly $8 a lot — on top of a spread it does not publish, which is why its total cannot be completed.
None of this is hidden; it is simply four conventions for one instrument. Converting them to dollars per 100-ounce lot is the whole job, and it reorders the list: the broker advertising the smallest number is not the cheapest.
A live quote is not a condition
Two of the figures above come from price widgets on the brokers' own pages at the moment we captured them. That is worth something — it is a real spread, on a real day, on the account the broker is selling — and it is not a commitment. Gold spreads widen around news and at the rollover hour, and a floating spread is floating by design.
Published averages are the sturdier number, and there are only two of them here: RoboForex's 18 points and Deriv's “from 16”. Note the difference in what those two claims mean — an average is a fact about the past month, “from” is a best case.
Everything else on this page is a broker that does not publish a gold spread anywhere we could read. That is the most common state of affairs in this market, and it is the reason a comparison table for gold is worth building at all.
Overnight is where gold gets expensive
Gold is a financed position, and the swap on it is large relative to the spread. RoboForex publishes −60 points for a long position held overnight — $60 a lot per night against an $18 spread to enter. Three nights of holding costs ten times what the entry did. FxPro was showing −67.9 points on the long side at capture.
There is also the Wednesday rule: most brokers charge three days of swap on Wednesday to cover the weekend, and Bybit states it explicitly. A position opened on Tuesday and held to Thursday pays four nights, not two.
Swap-free accounts change this arithmetic entirely rather than slightly, and both Deriv and LiteFinance publish one. If you intend to hold gold for more than a day, that option is worth more than any spread difference on this page.
Leverage on gold is not leverage on forex
Regulators treat gold as its own class. Under European and Australian rules retail leverage on gold is capped tighter than on major currency pairs, which is why Tickmill's European entity caps retail clients at 1:30 while its global instruments page advertises up to 1:1000 on commodities.
Offshore entities publish the numbers that make headlines: Deriv up to 1:800 on gold specifically, Bybit up to 500:1 on metals, Alpari up to 1:3000 on its ECN accounts. As everywhere else on this site, the figure follows the entity rather than the brand — and on an instrument that moves as much as gold, the cap is a feature rather than a restriction.
Questions people ask
Which broker has the lowest spread on gold?
Of the figures we could verify: LiteFinance was showing $12 a lot live, Deriv advertises from $16, and RoboForex publishes an average of $18. The first is a moment on one day and the last two are published conditions — and four of the nine brokers we track publish no gold spread at all.
How much is one lot of gold?
A standard XAU/USD lot is 100 ounces. At around $4,600 an ounce that is roughly $460,000 of notional, which is why leverage and swap matter more on gold than on most pairs — and why the spread, quoted in cents per ounce, becomes tens of dollars per lot.
What leverage can I get on gold?
It depends on the entity. European and Australian rules cap retail leverage on gold well below the forex limit — Tickmill's EU entity is at 1:30 — while offshore entities publish up to 1:800 at Deriv, 500:1 at Bybit and 1:3000 on Alpari's ECN accounts.
Why is holding gold overnight so expensive?
Because the swap is large relative to the spread: RoboForex publishes −60 points on a long position per night against an $18 spread to enter. Most brokers also charge three days of swap on Wednesday to cover the weekend. A swap-free account, which Deriv and LiteFinance both publish, removes that cost.
Is gold quoted in pips or dollars?
Both, depending on the broker. A point on gold is one cent an ounce, so an 18-point spread and a 0.18 spread are the same thing — $18 on a 100-ounce lot. Converting every quote into dollars per lot is the only way to compare brokers on gold.
Can I trade gold on MetaTrader?
Yes, at every broker here that runs it — gold appears as XAUUSD. Deriv also offers gold options alongside CFDs, and Bybit trades it on its MT5 CFD account. The platform makes no difference to the cost; the account does.
Getting the terminal itself is a different question — which version to download and where from. The full cost arithmetic for every account here is on what a trade actually costs, and a demo account lets you watch the gold spread widen around news before any money is at stake. Trading it from a phone is covered on gold trading apps. The same arithmetic for currency pairs is on what a trade actually costs, and the leverage caps that apply to gold follow the entity behind your account.