Gold behaves differently from FX majors: spreads widen faster around news, and contract sizes differ between brokers. This guide walks through choosing an account type, checking the XAUUSD contract specification, setting sensible leverage, and connecting the account to MetaTrader 5.
Two settings cause most gold-trading problems at broker level: the contract specification and leverage. Check whether your symbol is standard XAUUSD (100 oz, about $10 per pip on 1.00 lot) or a mini contract such as XAUUSDm (10 oz, about $1 per pip) — using the wrong one makes every position size calculation ten times off.
Leverage does not change your risk, only the margin locked per trade, but high leverage invites oversized positions. Keep used margin well under a third of your equity so a normal drawdown never approaches the stop-out level.
Before automating anything — copier or expert advisor — place one small manual trade to confirm fills, spreads and swap behaviour on your account type.
A raw or standard account with tight gold spreads. Cent accounts are useful for very small balances because they allow meaningful sizing under $500.