Last update: 12 October 2020
9 min read

The Best Forex Brokers for Gold Trading in 2024

Trading gold has always been a popular and lucrative activity and, with so many great forex brokers now offering spot metal pairs and CFDs, it’s never been easier to get involved.

Gold is considered to be a safe-haven asset, as it has historically maintained its value. In times of uncertainty, such as the recession of 2008 and the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic, people invest in gold to protect themselves against market volatility. For traders, like you, this demand makes the market more liquid and more profitable.

Many forex brokers offer gold trading on their platforms, yet not every broker is worth trading with. Luckily, our experts have reviewed hundreds of brokers to bring you a list of the very best. All of our recommended forex brokers for gold trading are reputable, licensed, and offer good spreads on XAU pairs.

Below you can find top picks for trading gold with forex brokers. You can also read on to learn more about the benefits of gold trading and why this commodity is so unique.

Best forex brokers trading gold


Pepperstone

Pepperstone


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Pepperstone is an international forex broker, regulated by the FCA and ASIC. Boasting over 70,000 traders around the world, you can rest assured this is a reputable broker with great gold trading opportunities. Trade XAU/USD, XAU/EUR and XAU/AUD in 100 or 5,000 lot sizes. With Pepperstone you can trade currency pairs, indices, stocks, commodities and cryptocurrencies. You can also utilize three trading platforms (MT4, MT5, and cTrader), benefit from a generous demo account and improve your trading with educational materials. Read review ›

AvaTrade

AvaTrade


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Choose to trade with AvaTrade, and you’ll be choosing an award-winning broker that serves over 300,000 clients. Regulated by 9 different authorities, including the CBI and ASIC, AvaTrade is one of the most reputable and secure brokers around. The broker offers the chance to trade gold with both EUR and USD. You can also trade over 700 other instruments in 8 asset classes, including currency pairs, stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies. The broker also boasts a great learning academy and a proprietary trading platform, making it suitable for all types of traders. Read review ›

Forex.com

Forex.com


Forex.com is a superior broker choice for any type of trader. When it comes to gold trading, you can trade 6 gold currency pairs (USD, AUD, EUR, GBP, JPY, and CHF) with margins from 0.5% and low spreads. It’s also easy to see why it’s considered one of the most trustworthy brokers around. Forex.com boasts several top-tier licenses, a transparent fee structure and numerous global awards. You can choose between three proprietary trading platforms (or use MT 4 &5), and you’ll benefit from 25/6 customer support, educational materials and extensive trading tools too. You can trade with Forex.com USA here, and Forex.com Canada here. Read review ›

EasyMarkets

EasyMarkets


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With licenses from both CySec and ASIC, easyMarkets offers you a safe and trusted trading environment. The broker offers 10 gold currency pairs, including common pairs such as XAU/USD and more exotic pairs such as XAU/SGD. You can also trade XAU/XAG. Aside from gold trading, easyMarkets also offers currency pairs, shares, cryptocurrencies, and indices. You can choose between 4 different account types and enjoy relatively low minimum deposit limits. easyMarkets also supports its clients with training resources, market news, trading tools, and research. Read review ›

FP Markets

FP Markets


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As one of the leading CFD brokers in the industry, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that there’s plenty of reasons to start trading with FP Markets. The broker offers three trading platforms and gives you access to over 10,000 assets (including cryptos, equities, futures, forex, and stocks). FP Markets also provides tight spreads and low non-trading fees. It’s easy to see why this licensed broker comes highly recommended by our experts, so why not try it out today?Read review ›

Why is gold a good investment choice?



Gold’s value is determined 24 hours a day on almost every day of the week by the market. Predominantly, gold trades are based on current market sentiments rather than by supply and demand, since newly-mined supply is always hugely outweighed by the amount of hoarded, over-ground gold. For this reason, why those who are hoarding gold decide to sell, the price of the commodity will fall, whereas when they choose to buy, the new supply is rapidly absorbed leading gold prices to rise ever higher.

There are numerous factors which account for increasing desire to invest in gold:

  • Concerns over instability in traditional banks – If political stability in a country is threatened or there are problems surrounding the money or banks within a nation, gold is always the first option investors turn to when they are looking for a safe way to preserve the value of their investment.
  • Inflation – if the property, bond or equity market rates of return have a negative outlook, it is common for people to turn to gold instead as an asset that is sure to maintain a high value.
  • Political crisis or warfare – when the world is plunged into chaos with political upheaval or warfare, people choose to hoard gold as a way of protecting their life savings. In this way, they can carry and store their savings easily or use them to trade for transport, shelter or food.
  • International liquidity – Precious metals like gold offer good international liquidity value, making it easy for the holder to sell their investment in any region of the world. There is always someone who is willing to purchase gold no matter where they are based in the world as its value does not depreciate.

How can you trade gold with a forex broker?

There are numerous investment options open to those who wish to participate in gold trading online. Here are some of the most common:

  • Commodity ETFs – ETFs or Exchange Traded Funds are accessible for all kinds of precious metals including gold. This is a liquid and convenient way of buying and selling gold.
  • Mutual funds and common stocks – This is a type of investment where precious metal miners’ shares are leveraged to the price movements in the precious metals market.
  • Options and futures – These markets offer leverage and liquidity to traders who are looking to make a large investment in precious metals like gold. The biggest profits can be made with derivative products however large losses can also occur

Which factors affect the gold trading market?

Gold is one of the oldest currencies in the world and forms the basis of the financial world, however, it is affected by only a few price catalysts. These three factors are made up of polar opposite reactions which each have an impact on market volume, sentiment and trend intensity:

  • Deflation and inflation
  • Fear and greed
  • Supply and demand

When an investor trades gold in response to one polarity while its opposite pole is controlling the price action, they are facing a higher risk. For example, should a sell off hit financial markets around the world in a major way, a trader may assume that fear will move the gold market and invest in the belief that fearful emotions will carry the price higher, however instead fears of inflation may trigger a decline with other traders selling aggressively which would cause a loss. There is always a combination of these forces at play in the world’s financial markets and these establish long term themes of long down trends and up trends.

Throughout history, one of the primary determinants of the price of gold is the level of real interest rates – the interest rate with inflation subtracted. If the real interest rate is low, alternative investments such as bonds and cash bring low or even negative returns which encourages investors to seek out other ways to protect their wealth. Conversely, if the real interest rate is high, both bonds and cash produce high returns and therefore gold holds less appeal as an investment.

Other factors which have an impact are indications which affect inflation like interest rate change announcements, treasury auctions and the Consumer and Producer price indices. Macroeconomic indicators like the GDP and Unemployment Rate reveal the state of a nation’s economy which may then encourage investors to either invest in gold or otherwise.

Changes in political climate can have a major impact upon gold’s prices. Should there be uncertainty about a war or conflict, investors may perceive that investing in a country’s currency or bonds could be risky and therefore choose to move their funds into gold.

Who invests in gold?

Numerous investors with opposing and diverse interests are often attracted to gold. Some long term players prefer to invest in physical gold, and they add a lot of liquidity to the market while helping to keep gold stocks and futures on an even keel because they are a source of continuous buying interest at lower prices. Many institutions who participate in hedging activity are also attracted to gold , selling and buying in combination with bonds and currencies in “risk off and risk on” strategies.

How does gold corollate with the US Dollar?

A major point of contention for those who trade in gold is the correlation between this precious metal and the US Dollar. The price of gold is always quoted in US Dollars and therefore it would seem logical that the assets are correlated inversely – i.e. that the values of the dollar and gold would move in opposing directions to each other. In basic terms, this means that when the dollar’s value rises, fewer dollars are necessary to purchase an ounce of gold. Alternatively, if the dollar’s value is low, more dollars are needed to buy the same amount of the precious metal. However this is not always strictly the case. Although generally speaking the correlation between the two assets is negative, occasionally, in times of great financial stress, there may be a rapid spike in the market. This is caused by traders purchasing both the US Dollar and gold as a safe haven asset at times of economic uncertainty.

Learn more about gold trading with forex brokers

Gold plays a key role in the financial market and can be traded online without the need to actually own the physical precious metal. This presents investors with an opportunity to make great profits. Trading gold online is virtually the same as Forex trading and it is usually offered by online Forex brokers. Rather than opting to trade to traditional currencies, it is possible to opt for gold trading instead.

In much the same way as trading foreign currency pairs, trading the spot metals market allows an investor to take either a short or long position in gold whilst taking a simultaneous opposite position with the US Dollar or some other major world currency. Spot gold trades globally with prices floating freely with their basis on supply and demand. Gold can be spot traded at any time of the day from Sunday night at 10 pm GMT right up to Friday night at 10 pm GMT. Although there is no central market for gold spot trading, the primary centres for gold trading online are in Zurich, New York and London. Typically, liquidity is at its highest during the period when New York’s trading hours overlap with those in Europe, equating to around 4 hours a day. Prices are fixed twice daily for gold which allows reference points to be set for intraday trading prices.

The spot gold price is quoted all over the world in US Dollars per Troy Ounce, and if, for example, a trader purchases an ounce of gold at the quoted price and sells it for a higher one, their profit would be the total difference between the two prices. This makes trading spot gold on a Forex platform almost identical to trading foreign currency pairs. A spot gold quote is read in a similar way to a Forex quote and it is represented in the same fashion. For example, in a case where gold is being traded against the US Dollar, the quote representation would be XAU/USD. Therefore, if for example the quote reads XAU/USD 800.27, the first symbol reflects one troy ounce of gold with the value of gold always being one. Therefore the price quote translates literally as one ounce of gold being equal to US$800.27.

Are there any disadvantages to trading gold online?

While many investors believe that online gold trading is the best way to ensure a long term safe investment of their funds, there are some downsides to this financial market:

    • Low rates of return – When compared to regular foreign currency trading, trading precious metals like gold leads to a low level of profit. This is because there is only a slight change in the price of gold over time and therefore trades must go on for a longer period in order for a significant return to be experienced.
    • Appreciation cycles – It is only during a period when paper currencies have depreciated in their value that gold will appreciate to the highest value.
    • Price correction – In the same way as other commodities in the financial markets, gold will experience a substantial amount of price correction. The disadvantage here is that if the trader does not hold onto the precious metal for long enough, those price corrections can work against them.

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