The short answer
Your broker and TradingView show different gold prices because they usually show different things. Your broker shows its own bid price for spot XAUUSD, built from its own liquidity providers. TradingView may show a different company’s quote, a data provider’s spot index, a mid price, or a COMEX futures contract, which trades above spot. On top of that, platforms cut their candles at different times, so even the highs and lows of “the same” day can differ.
Small differences are normal. What matters is that your orders are filled at your broker’s price, so your stops and targets must be based on your broker’s chart.
The five reasons prices differ
1. Different feeds
Spot gold trades over the counter: there is no single exchange and no single live price. Each broker aggregates quotes from its own banks and market makers and adds its mark-up. Two brokers can differ by a few cents, sometimes more, at the same second.
2. Bid, ask or mid
MT4 and MT5 draw charts from the bid. Some charting feeds show the bid, some the last trade, some the mid (halfway between bid and ask). If the spread is $0.40, a mid chart sits $0.20 above a bid chart all day. See the gold bid and ask price explained.
3. Spot vs futures
COMEX:GC1! on TradingView is the front-month gold futures contract. Futures include the cost of carrying gold to the delivery date, mostly interest, so they normally trade above spot.
Illustrative calculation, not live data: with gold at $4,000, interest at 4% a year and two months to delivery, the carry is roughly $4,000 × 4% × 2/12 ≈ $27. That is why a futures chart can sit tens of dollars above your XAUUSD chart. Our guide to spot gold vs gold futures covers this in depth.
4. Server time and candle cuts
| How the day is cut | When the daily candle closes | Candles per week |
|---|---|---|
| Server time aligned to the New York close (common on MT4/MT5) | 5:00 pm New York | 5 |
| Feed or server running on UTC | 00:00 UTC | 5 plus a small Sunday candle |
| Feed or server on another local time | Midnight in that zone | Varies |
A daily high on one platform can belong to two different days on another. The same applies to H4 candles: if one platform starts H4 at 00:00 server time and another at 00:00 UTC, every H4 candle is built from a different four hours.
5. Delays
Free charting data can be delayed, especially for exchange futures data without a real-time subscription. Your broker’s quotes are live. A delayed chart will always “lag” your platform.
A worked example (illustrative numbers)
At the same moment you might see:
| Source | What it shows | Example price |
|---|---|---|
| Your MT5 (BROKER:XAUUSD) | Your broker’s bid | $4,001.20 |
| Another broker’s XAUUSD | Their bid | $4,001.45 |
| TVC:GOLD on TradingView | A data provider’s spot quote | $4,001.35 |
| COMEX:GC1! on TradingView | Front-month futures | $4,028.60 |
The three spot prices differ by cents: normal. The futures price is about $27 higher: also normal, because it is a different instrument. If you drew a level from the futures chart and placed a stop with your broker, you would be off by about $27.
How to fix the mismatch: step-by-step
- Find your broker’s own feed on TradingView. Search “XAUUSD” and look for your broker’s prefix. Use it in the form BROKER:XAUUSD. If your broker has no TradingView feed, choose a spot feed (TVC:GOLD) rather than futures.
- Compare prices side by side during a busy hour. Note the typical difference. Under a dollar for spot is normal.
- Line up the time. On TradingView, click the time zone at the bottom right of the chart and pick the one closest to your broker’s server time (many servers run on UTC+2 in winter and UTC+3 in summer) so intraday candle times match. Daily candles follow the feed’s own session, so for daily levels compare yesterday’s high and low on both platforms and use your broker’s. You can’t change MT5 server time, so always align TradingView to MT5, not the other way round.
- Mark levels on the chart you trade. Copy key levels to MT4/MT5 by price, then check them against your broker’s candles.
- Place stops and targets using your broker’s bid and ask, never another platform’s price.
The full symbol list is in gold symbol names on MT4, MT5 and TradingView, and a ready layout is in how to set up a gold chart on TradingView.
A broker’s “GOLD” symbol is not always spot. Some brokers offer gold CFDs based on a futures contract, with an expiry date in the name. Right-click the symbol in Market Watch and open Specification to check. Our guide to what a gold CFD is explains the types.
A quick sanity check when prices don’t match
Ask these four questions in order:
- Is it the same instrument? If one chart says GC, GC1!, a month code or “futures”, it isn’t spot. Expect a carry difference of tens of dollars.
- Is it the same price type? Bid vs mid explains a difference of half the spread; bid vs ask explains a full spread.
- Is it the same time? A delayed feed or a frozen platform shows an older price. Check the clock on each.
- Is it a quiet hour? Around the daily break, the Sunday open and holidays, different dealers’ quotes drift further apart and spreads widen. See gold spread widening at rollover.
If all four match and spot prices still differ by several dollars in a busy hour, ask your broker which liquidity it uses and how its XAUUSD is priced.
How to prevent confusion from now on
- Use one chart for decisions, ideally your broker’s feed.
- Write your broker’s daily close time in your plan.
- Know which instrument you are looking at: spot, futures or a futures-based CFD.
- When levels look “off”, check the feed before you doubt the level.
- For sizing, use your broker’s prices in the position size calculator and check pip values with the gold pip calculator.
More quick fixes are in gold trading problems solved.
Compare charts with other traders
In the XAUUSD Global community traders on different platforms and time zones compare levels every day, which makes feed differences obvious fast. The first month is free, then $19.99 a month.
Educational content only, not financial advice. Trading gold with leverage carries a high risk of loss. All prices in the example are illustrative.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the gold price on TradingView different from my broker?
Because they are usually different feeds. TradingView may show a futures contract, a data provider’s spot index or another company’s quote, and it may show the bid or a mid price. Your broker shows its own bid price built from its own liquidity providers. Small differences of cents to a dollar or two are normal for spot; futures can differ by much more.
Which gold price is the real one?
There is no single official live price. Spot gold trades over the counter between many banks, so every dealer has a slightly different quote. For your trades, the only price that matters is your own broker’s, because that is where your orders are filled.
Why is COMEX gold futures higher than spot XAUUSD?
Futures include the cost of carrying gold until the contract’s delivery date, mainly interest. With interest rates positive, the futures price is normally above spot, and the gap is larger for contracts further away.
Why are my daily candles different from TradingView?
Different time zones. Many MT4 and MT5 servers use a server time that makes the day end at 5:00 pm New York time, giving five daily candles a week. A feed or server that runs on UTC cuts the day at midnight UTC and may show a small Sunday candle, so highs, lows and closes differ.
Should I analyse on TradingView and trade on MT5?
Many traders do. It works if you use a chart whose price is close to your broker’s, ideally the same feed, and if you place stops with your broker’s prices, not TradingView’s. Check the difference between the two before every trade.
How big should the difference between two brokers be?
For spot XAUUSD, usually within the spread, often well under a dollar in liquid hours. It can be larger around news, the daily break and the Sunday open. A gap of several dollars that persists in quiet hours suggests a different instrument, such as a futures-based CFD.
Sources and further reading
- CME Group — Gold futures overview — Contract specifications and trading hours for COMEX gold
- LBMA — Precious Metal Prices — The LBMA Gold Price benchmark set in London
- MetaTrader 5 Help — Trading operations: basic principles — Order types, and which price (bid or ask) triggers each order and stop
External sites are independent of XAUUSD Global. Check dates and data yourself.