The short answer
To trade spot gold, you open a position on the XAUUSD price, choose buy (you think the price will rise) or sell (you think it will fall), pick a size in lots, set a stop-loss and a target, and close the trade later. Your result is simple maths: price change × ounces. On 0.01 lot (1 ounce), a $10 move is worth $10. On 1 lot (100 ounces), the same $10 move is worth $1,000.
That is the whole mechanism. The hard part is not the button; it is sizing, timing and discipline. The rest of this guide takes each step slowly.
| Quick facts | Spot gold (XAUUSD) |
|---|---|
| What the price means | US dollars for one troy ounce of gold |
| Price on 5 Nov 2026 | about $4,137 (our live feed, 05:07 UTC) |
| Typical day in the last month | about $76 from high to low (COMEX futures, 20 sessions to 4 Nov) |
| Common contract size | 1 lot = 100 oz; 0.01 lot = 1 oz |
| Value of a $1 move | $100 per lot; $1 per 0.01 lot |
| Hours | Sunday 6 pm to Friday 5 pm New York, one-hour daily break |
If you live in India
Please read this before anything else if you are an Indian resident.
- For Indian residents, trading forex or CFDs, including XAUUSD, on overseas online platforms is generally not permitted under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA).
- The RBI permits resident forex trading only through authorised persons. That means permitted currency pairs on recognised Indian exchanges, through SEBI-registered brokers.
- Sending money abroad for margin trading on overseas forex or CFD platforms is not permitted under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS). Residents who use unauthorised platforms may face penal action under FEMA.
- The RBI publishes an Alert List of unauthorised forex trading platforms. The list is not complete, so a platform missing from it is not therefore authorised.
- Prop-firm challenges usually run on overseas forex/CFD platforms and involve paying fees abroad and receiving payouts from abroad, so the same FEMA concerns apply. We do not recommend them to Indian residents.
- Legal ways for Indian residents to trade gold: MCX gold futures and options through SEBI-registered brokers, and gold ETFs. See MCX gold vs XAUUSD and how to trade gold in India.
This is general information, not legal advice. Rules change; check the latest RBI and SEBI guidance or ask a qualified adviser.
The price lessons below (how gold moves, sizing, risk, timing) still apply to MCX gold, which follows the same global price converted into rupees.
Step 1: Understand what you are actually trading
Spot means “for delivery now” (in practice, within two business days in the wholesale market). The big professional spot market is the London over-the-counter market, where banks and dealers trade gold directly with each other. Its daily reference price, the LBMA Gold Price, is run by ICE Benchmark Administration, according to the LBMA.
Retail traders almost never take part in that market directly. Instead they trade a contract that follows the spot price, most often a CFD (contract for difference). With a CFD:
- you never own gold;
- you only exchange the difference between your entry price and your exit price;
- you can sell first (go short) if you think the price will fall;
- you pay costs: the spread, sometimes a commission, and an overnight swap if you hold past the daily rollover.
Our gold CFD guide explains these contracts in detail, and spot gold vs gold futures shows why a futures chart can sit $20 to $40 above a spot chart. Keep that gap in mind: levels from a futures chart do not line up exactly with XAUUSD.
Step 2: Learn to read the price
On your platform you will see two prices:
- Bid: the price you can sell at.
- Ask: the price you can buy at.
The ask is always a little higher. The gap is the spread, and it is the first cost of every trade: you start each trade slightly in the red. Our bid and ask explainer shows this with screenshots-in-words.
Gold is quoted to two decimals, for example 4,137.40. The last digit is one cent. Traders argue about what a “pip” is on gold (some say $0.01, many say $0.10), so ignore the word and think in dollars of movement. Our pip calculator turns any move into money for your size.
Step 3: Understand lots and what a move is worth
A lot is the unit of size. On most XAUUSD contracts:
| Size | Ounces | A $1 move is worth | A $76 day is worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 lot | 100 oz | $100 | $7,600 |
| 0.10 lot | 10 oz | $10 | $760 |
| 0.01 lot | 1 oz | $1 | $76 |
The $76 line uses the average high-to-low range of the last 20 COMEX sessions to 4 November 2026 (our calculation from daily bars; the smallest day was about $38 and the biggest about $159). Gold moves in tens of dollars a day, so even 0.10 lot can swing several hundred dollars in a day. Some platforms use a different contract size, so check the symbol specification. How much is 1 lot of gold? and how many pips gold moves a day go deeper.
Step 4: Understand margin and leverage
Margin is the deposit your platform holds while a trade is open. Leverage decides how big it is. At 1:100 leverage, you put up 1% of the trade’s full value.
Example: 0.01 lot = 1 ounce ≈ $4,130. At 1:100, the margin is $4,130 ÷ 100 = $41.30.
Leverage changes the margin, not the risk per dollar of movement. A $50 drop costs $50 on 1 ounce whether your leverage is 1:20 or 1:500. High leverage simply lets you open bigger positions than your account can survive. If losses eat your free margin, the platform may close your trades for you (a stop-out). Read gold leverage explained and margin calls and stop-outs before you choose a setting, and use the margin calculator.
Step 5: Know when gold trades, and when it gets wild
Spot gold runs almost around the clock on weekdays: Sunday 6:00 pm to Friday 5:00 pm New York time, with a one-hour break each day at 5:00 pm New York. From November to March that is:
| Opens (week) | Daily break | Closes (week) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| GMT | Sun 23:00 | 22:00–23:00 | Fri 22:00 |
| India (IST) | Mon 04:30 | 03:30–04:30 | Sat 03:30 |
| Dubai (GST) | Mon 03:00 | 02:00–03:00 | Sat 02:00 |
Volume is uneven. The quietest stretch is usually the Asian afternoon; the busiest is when London and New York overlap and when US data comes out at 8:30 am New York (13:30 GMT). Spreads usually widen at the daily break and around news. The market hours tool shows the sessions in your own zone, and when gold moves most shows the busiest hours from two years of data.
Step 6: Plan one trade on paper (worked example)
Here is a complete, made-up trade so you can see every number. It is an example of the maths, not a recommendation.
Account: $500. Rule: risk at most 2% ($10) on one trade.
- Idea: gold has pulled back to a level that held twice before, near $4,130. You plan to buy if it holds.
- Stop-loss: the idea is wrong if price breaks below $4,120, so the stop goes there: $10 away.
- Size: $10 risk ÷ $10 stop = $1 per $1 move = 0.01 lot.
- Target: the next level is near $4,150, $20 away. Reward-to-risk is 1:2.
- Costs: suppose the spread is $0.30. At 0.01 lot that costs $0.30.
- Outcomes: stop hit = about −$10.30 (−2.1%). Target hit = about +$19.70 (+3.9%).
Notice what this example forces you to see. On a $500 account, a $10 stop is small next to a $76 day. Gold can touch your stop on ordinary noise. That is why beginners with small accounts either accept a tight, high-quality setup, or risk less often, or keep practising on a demo. The lot size by account size table and the position size calculator do this maths for any account.
A 1:2 trade like this only needs to win about one time in three to break even before costs. The risk-reward calculator shows the break-even win rate for any ratio.
Step 7: Place the order (and the stop) correctly
On MT5 or a similar platform:
- Open XAUUSD (your symbol may have a suffix, such as a dot or a letter).
- Choose Market (fill now) or a Pending order (fill at your level).
- Enter the volume (0.01).
- Type the stop-loss and take-profit prices before you press buy or sell.
- After the fill, check that the stop and target show on the chart.
The step-by-step screens are in our MT5 setup guide and stop-loss and take-profit on MT5 mobile. If you see an error, the MT4 and MT5 error codes list explains each one.
Step 8: Review the trade, win or lose
Write down the entry, stop, target, size, the reason, and how you felt. After 20 or 30 trades, patterns show up: maybe you lose most on news days, or after two losses in a row. That review is where beginners turn into traders. Use our free trade journal or journal templates.
The beginner mistakes that cost the most
| Mistake | What happens | Better way |
|---|---|---|
| Trading 0.10 lot or more on a small account | One normal day can wipe out a third of the account | Size from your stop with the calculator |
| No stop-loss | One bad day decides the whole account | Set the stop before you enter |
| Moving the stop further away | Small losses turn into big ones | Accept the loss; the plan was wrong |
| Trading the first minute of CPI or NFP | Fills far from your price, wide spreads | Wait for the first hour |
| Using a futures chart’s levels on XAUUSD | Entries and stops off by $20 to $40 | Use one price source for levels and orders |
| Holding for weeks without checking swaps | Overnight costs add up | Check the swap calculator |
| Trading to win back a loss | Revenge trades, larger size, worse decisions | Read revenge trading and tilt |
Our list of 12 beginner mistakes covers more, with the fix for each.
Choosing where to trade (general checks, outside India)
We never name or rank providers. Whatever platform you look at, check these yourself:
- Licence: find the firm on its regulator’s own website, not on the firm’s site. Our licence-check guide shows how.
- Costs: typical spread on XAUUSD, commission per lot, swap rates.
- Contract size and minimum lot: is 1 lot 100 ounces? Is 0.01 the minimum?
- Leverage limits in your country, and the stop-out level.
- Withdrawals: methods, fees, and how long they take. Read the terms before you deposit.
Rules differ by country, so always check your own country’s regulator.
What to do now
- Read what XAUUSD is if any term above was new.
- Open a demo account and follow a 30-day demo practice plan.
- Place the worked example above on the demo, with the stop and target set before entry.
- Learn one simple setup from the best strategy for beginners.
- Work through the School of Gold stages, and keep the printable study notes next to your screen.
- Check the daily gold news and the markets board before each session.
Want to learn with other traders? The XAUUSD Global community has free early access: get free early access. The community is free during early access. If paid plans ever come, members will be told first and nothing is charged automatically.
Sources
- LBMA, LBMA Gold Price (administered by ICE Benchmark Administration)
- XAUUSD Global spot gold feed (
spot-close.json, 5 November 2026, 05:07 UTC) for the current price - XAUUSD Global calculation from COMEX gold futures daily bars (GC=F via Yahoo Finance), 20 sessions from 8 October to 4 November 2026, for the average daily range
- The trade, account size and spread in the example are hypothetical
Educational content only, not financial advice. Trading gold with leverage carries a high risk of loss.
Frequently asked questions
What is spot gold trading?
Spot gold trading means trading the current price of gold for almost immediate delivery, quoted as XAUUSD: US dollars per troy ounce. Most retail traders do it through contracts such as CFDs, where you never own the metal. You profit if the price moves in your direction and lose if it moves against you, multiplied by your position size.
How much money do I need to trade spot gold?
The smallest common size, 0.01 lot, is 1 ounce. At a gold price near $4,130 and 1:100 leverage, the margin is about $41, but a normal day’s move of $75 would be worth $75 on that position. Many beginners start on a demo account, then with a small amount they can afford to lose completely, risking 1-2% per trade.
Is spot gold the same as XAUUSD?
Yes, in everyday trading language. XAU is the code for one troy ounce of gold and USD is the US dollar, so XAUUSD is the spot price of one ounce in dollars. Gold futures, such as COMEX GC, are a different product and usually trade a few dollars to tens of dollars above spot.
When can I trade spot gold?
Spot gold trades almost 24 hours a day from Sunday 6:00 pm to Friday 5:00 pm New York time, with a one-hour break each day at 5:00 pm New York. From November to March that is Sunday 23:00 GMT (Monday 04:30 IST) to Friday 22:00 GMT. Your platform’s server clock may show different times.
Can Indian residents trade spot gold?
For Indian residents, trading forex or CFDs, including XAUUSD, on overseas online platforms is generally not permitted under FEMA, 1999. Legal routes include MCX gold futures and options through SEBI-registered brokers, and gold ETFs. This is general information, not legal advice.
How much is a pip on spot gold?
Most platforms treat $0.01 as the smallest price step on XAUUSD and many traders call $0.10 a pip, so definitions differ. The money is simpler: on a 100-ounce lot, every $1 move in gold is worth $100, and on 0.01 lot it is worth $1. Check your platform’s contract size first.
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