Basics, updated 8 October 2026
Gold trading costs: spreads, commissions and swaps
What it really costs to trade XAUUSD: the spread, commissions, overnight swaps and slippage, and how they change your results.
Every gold trade starts slightly behind. Knowing by how much tells you which signals and timeframes are worth taking.
Spread
The gap between the buy (ask) and sell (bid) price. On major brokers, gold’s spread is typically $0.20 to $0.40, or 2 to 4 pips, in normal hours. It widens sharply at the daily rollover, the weekly open and around big news, sometimes to $1 or more.
On one standard lot, a 3-pip spread costs $30 per trade. On a scalp aiming for 50 pips that’s 6% of the target; on a 300-pip swing trade it’s 1%.
Commission
“Raw spread” accounts charge a commission per lot instead of a wider spread, often around $5 to $7 per round-trip lot. Compare the total: spread plus commission.
Swap (overnight financing)
Positions held past the daily rollover (5pm New York time) pay or receive a swap based on interest rates. Long gold usually pays a swap. It’s small for a day but adds up over weeks; check your broker’s swap rates if you hold trades for long.
Slippage
Your fill can differ from the price you clicked, especially for stops during fast moves. A stop at 4,109.00 might fill at 4,107.80 when CPI hits. This is why traders avoid holding tight stops through major releases.
What this means for signal results
Results quoted in pips, ours included, are before these costs, because they depend on your broker and account. As a rule of thumb, subtract about 3 pips per trade from published results to estimate a realistic net figure. See the performance methodology.