The short answer
The gold spread widens on news because the firms that supply prices step back when uncertainty peaks. Your broker’s XAUUSD price is built from quotes by banks and other liquidity providers. In the seconds around US jobs (NFP), inflation (CPI) and Fed decisions, those providers quote smaller amounts at wider prices, or pause for a moment, because nobody knows where the next trade will be. Your broker passes that wider market on to you.
A wider spread costs you twice: a short trade’s stop is checked against the higher ask, so it can be hit while the chart’s bid looks still, and your equity drops because open trades are valued at the price that would close them. The fixes are about timing and room, not about finding a broker where it never happens.
Why it happens
Think of the spread as the price of certainty. In a calm hour, many providers compete to quote gold and the gap between the best buy and sell price is narrow. Before a release:
- Providers cut risk. Nobody wants to be holding a large position quoted at the wrong price when a surprise number lands, so they quote less size and wider.
- The order book thins. Fewer resting orders means the next available price can be several dollars away.
- Prices jump, not glide. The first quotes after the number can be far from the last quotes before it. A market order or triggered stop then fills at whatever is available, which is slippage.
- Your provider may add protection of its own, for example a minimum spread around scheduled events, as allowed by its terms.
The same thinning happens at the daily break and at the Sunday open, which is covered in why the gold spread widens at rollover.
How big are news moves on gold?
Our own data shows why providers get nervous. In our study of US jobs reports, the 8:00–9:00 am New York hour that contains the 8:30 am release had a median range of $30.10 on the 25 NFP days since July 2024, against $17.00 for the same hour on ordinary weekdays (gold on NFP days). In two years of hourly data, NFP and CPI hours had a median largest wick of $15.10 (why gold has big wicks and spikes). Futures data does not record any broker’s spread, so we cannot give a universal “news spread”; the size of the moves is what drives it.
A worked example (illustrative numbers)
You are short 0.50 lot of XAUUSD (50 oz). Each $1 move is worth $50 to you. Your normal spread is $0.25.
At 8:30 am New York the CPI number lands. For a few seconds your provider’s spread widens to $2.50, and the bid does not move at all.
| Before | During the spike | |
|---|---|---|
| Bid | $4,000.00 | $4,000.00 |
| Ask | $4,000.25 | $4,002.50 |
| Spread | $0.25 | $2.50 |
| Your short is valued at | $4,000.25 | $4,002.50 |
| Change in open P/L | −$2.25 × 50 = −$112.50 |
Three things follow:
- Your stop. If your stop was at $4,002.00, the ask at $4,002.50 has passed it. It triggers, becomes a market order, and may fill even higher.
- Your equity. Equity fell by $112.50 in a second, without price moving. On an account using most of its margin, that can be enough for a margin call or stop-out; see margin call and stop-out on gold.
- Your chart. The bid candle shows nothing unusual, which is why it feels like a “hunt”. Our page on stops hit without price touching them explains the bid/ask mechanics in full.
How to measure your own broker’s news spread
General figures are less useful than your own. Over the next three high-impact releases:
- Turn on the ask line: right-click the chart → Properties (F8) → tick Show Ask line (MT4, Common tab) or Show Ask price line (MT5, Show tab). On MT5 you can also add the Spread column in Market Watch.
- Open a 1-minute chart a few minutes before the release time shown in the gold economic calendar.
- Record the normal spread, the widest spread you see, and how many seconds or minutes until it returns to normal.
- Compare with a second price source if you can, such as a demo with another provider. If both widen at the same moment, it is the market.
- Write the numbers in your trading plan next to each event type.
Six fixes that work
- Be flat or protected before the number. The simplest fix: no new trades from a few minutes before to a few minutes after a high-impact release.
- Give open trades room. If you hold through news, the stop needs to sit beyond the level plus the widest spread you recorded, and the lot size must shrink to keep the same dollar risk. The ATR stop-loss calculator and position size calculator do the arithmetic.
- Keep free margin high. A spread spike lowers equity instantly. Using a small share of your margin keeps you away from a spread-driven stop-out.
- Don’t place tight pending orders around the release. A buy stop triggers on the ask and a sell stop on the bid; a spread spike can trigger both sides of a straddle. Our test of the news straddle shows what that does.
- Wait for the spread to settle before entering. Many traders wait for the first 1- or 5-minute candle to close.
- Know the cost per dollar of spread. On gold, each $0.01 of spread is $1 per standard lot. The gold pip calculator shows what a given spread costs at your size.
When to question your provider
Spread widening at news is normal. These are not:
- The spread stays very wide for many minutes after the release while other sources have normalised.
- Fills on your stops are far beyond any price shown in the provider’s own tick history.
- Widening happens only around your positions, at quiet times.
Collect screenshots, the trade ticket and the time, and ask the provider in writing for the tick data for that minute. Our guide is my broker stop hunting me? walks through the evidence test.
Sources
- XAUUSD Global research: How gold reacts on NFP days (77 releases, February 2020 to October 2026) and Why gold has big wicks and spikes (COMEX hourly data, 30 October 2024 to 30 October 2026)
- MetaQuotes: Requirements and limitations in making trades (buys open at the ask and close at the bid; sells the reverse)
- Spreads and lot sizes in the worked example are hypothetical
Educational content only, not financial advice. Trading gold with leverage carries a high risk of loss.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my broker widen the gold spread during news?
Most retail providers build their prices from quotes supplied by banks and other liquidity providers. Just before and after a big release those providers quote less size at wider prices, or stop quoting for a moment, because the next price is very uncertain. Your provider passes the wider market on to you, sometimes with its own mark-up.
Is spread widening at news a sign of a bad broker?
Not on its own. Spreads widen across the market around NFP, CPI and Fed decisions. What matters is how wide, for how long, and whether it matches what other price sources showed at the same moment. A spread that stays very wide for minutes after the release, or only widens against your open positions, is worth questioning.
Can a wider spread close my trade even if price doesn't move?
Yes. A short trade’s stop-loss is checked against the ask, so a wider spread can reach it while the bid on your chart stays still. Your equity also falls when the spread widens, because open positions are valued at the price that would close them, and that can push a heavily used account into a margin call or stop-out.
How long does the gold spread stay wide after news?
Usually seconds to a few minutes, depending on the release and the provider. Watch your own platform’s spread through a few releases with the ask line on, and write down how wide it got and when it returned to normal. That record is more useful than any general figure.
Do raw-spread or commission accounts avoid news widening?
No. A raw-spread account shows the underlying market spread plus a fixed commission, and that underlying spread widens on news too. Fixed-spread offers exist, but they often come with requotes or rejected orders at the same moments instead.
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