Live gold price

What the spot price is

The spot gold price is the current market price for immediate delivery of physical gold, quoted in US dollars per troy ounce. The reference price used on this site is around 4275.0, but the actual tradable price changes constantly during market hours as buy and sell orders are matched.

The spot price is set by the largest over-the-counter gold markets, primarily London and New York. It reflects the balance between physical demand from central banks and jewellery, and financial demand from investors and speculators.

Why your broker's price differs

The price you see on your trading platform is not exactly the spot price. Your broker adds a spread, which is the difference between the bid price you can sell at and the ask price you can buy at. The spread is how the broker earns revenue on commission-free accounts, and it widens when liquidity is low or volatility is high.

The spread on gold depends on the broker, the time of day, and market conditions. FxPro does not publish a fixed spread for gold; the cost you pay is whatever the prevailing spread is at the moment you trade, plus any commission your account type charges and any overnight swap if you hold past the rollover.

How to read the change and refresh

The live price on this page updates regularly during market hours. The change shown is the difference between the current price and the previous session's close, expressed in US dollars and as a percentage. A positive change means gold has risen since the last close; a negative change means it has fallen.

When the market is closed, the price shown is the last available quote from the most recent session. It will not move until the market reopens, and any gap between the close and the next open is normal and can be large after major news.

How this price feeds the calculators

The calculators on this site use the live gold price as a starting point. The position size calculator uses the current price to work out how far your stop-loss is in pips, and therefore how many lots you can trade for a fixed rand risk. The pip value calculator uses the price to convert a one-pip move into US dollars and then into rand.

The margin calculator uses the price and your lot size to work out the notional value of the trade, then applies your leverage to find the margin required. The profit/loss calculator uses the entry and exit prices you enter, not the live price, but the live price helps you choose realistic levels.

The price feed behind this page and what its latency means for you

The number on this page comes from a real-time market data feed that aggregates executable quotes from major liquidity providers in the global OTC gold market. This is not the price of a single exchange like the COMEX futures market; it is a synthetic spot price built from interbank and electronic communication network quotes for XAU/USD. The feed updates continuously while the market is open, and the page refreshes automatically to reflect the latest tick. Latency is the delay between a price change at the source and its display here, typically measured in milliseconds, and it depends on your internet connection, the data provider's infrastructure, and the distance between servers.

The latency of the price you see is the time it takes for a new quote to travel from the liquidity provider to this page, and it matters because gold can move several pips in that window during fast markets. At a reference price near 4275.0, one pip is 0.01, so a 0.10-lot position changes value by about R1.80 per pip at a typical exchange rate, but the exact rand amount depends on the USD/ZAR rate. A few milliseconds of latency is normal and usually irrelevant for position traders, but it becomes critical for scalpers or anyone placing market orders during news events. Always assume the price you see is a snapshot, not a guarantee of the price you will receive.

The feed on this page is delayed by design in some cases to protect the data provider's commercial interests, but here it is a live, indicative price, not an executable one. You cannot trade directly at this number; your broker's platform quotes may differ by a few pips or more. The latency you experience is also influenced by your device and browser, so a slow phone on a congested network may show a price that is several seconds old. To reduce the risk of trading on stale information, keep an eye on the timestamp if one is shown, and always confirm the current price on your broker's platform before opening or closing a position.

Why your broker's gold quote will never match this page exactly

Your broker's quote for XAU/USD will rarely match the reference price on this page because brokers add a markup to the raw interbank spread to cover their costs and generate revenue. This markup is not a fixed number; it depends on the broker's liquidity agreements, the account type you hold, and current market volatility. FxPro, as a broker serving South Africa, sources prices from multiple liquidity providers and then streams a single bid and ask to your MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5 platform. The reference price here is a mid-price, meaning it sits between the bid and ask, while your broker's quote shows both sides, so even without a markup the numbers will differ by at least half the spread.

The difference between the price on this page and your broker's quote also depends on the time of day and market conditions. Gold trades nearly 24 hours a day, but liquidity is thinner during the Asian session and just before the daily rollover, which can widen the broker's spread without any change in the reference mid-price. During high-impact news such as US non-farm payrolls or Federal Reserve announcements, the raw market spread itself widens dramatically, and brokers may add a further volatility premium. For a South African trader funding an account in ZAR, the conversion rate used by the broker can also shift the effective price in rand terms, but the XAU/USD quote itself is always in US dollars per ounce.

Another reason for the mismatch is that this page's feed may aggregate quotes from a slightly different set of liquidity providers than your broker uses, and each provider has its own order book depth. At a reference price near 4275.0, a difference of 0.20 or 0.30 is common and should not be interpreted as a problem; it is simply the cost of accessing a tradable market. The only way to know the exact price you can trade at is to look at the bid and ask on your broker's platform, not this page. For risk management, always base your stop-loss and take-profit levels on the broker's quote, because that is the price your order will be filled against.

Bid, ask and the gap between them on a gold quote

The bid is the highest price a buyer is willing to pay for gold right now, and the ask is the lowest price a seller is willing to accept; the gap between them is the spread. On this page you see a single mid-price, but your broker's platform shows both the bid and the ask, and the spread is the cost you pay to enter and exit a trade immediately. For XAU/USD, the spread is quoted in pips, where one pip equals 0.01, but the exact spread is not a fixed number on this page because it depends on the broker, the account type, and current market liquidity. A wider spread means a higher cost to trade, and it often widens during low-liquidity periods or high volatility.

The spread is not a fee that appears on your statement; it is embedded in the price difference between buying and selling. If the bid is 4274.90 and the ask is 4275.10, the spread is 0.20, and a trader buying one standard lot of 100 ounces would start the trade 0.20 pips in the red because they buy at the ask and can immediately sell only at the bid. The monetary impact in rand depends on the USD/ZAR exchange rate, but the spread is always quoted in US dollar terms. Brokers like FxPro may offer different spreads on different platforms; for example, cTrader accounts sometimes have tighter raw spreads with a separate commission, while MT4 accounts may have a wider all-in spread.

Understanding the bid-ask gap is essential for risk-based position sizing because the spread is part of your total cost per trade. A trade that risks 1% of your account should account for the spread as an immediate loss, so if your stop is 20 pips away and the spread is 0.30, your effective risk is 20.30 pips. For a 0.10-lot position, that extra 0.30 pips is about $0.30, which is small in rand terms but matters across many trades. Always check the live spread on your broker's platform before entering, and avoid trading during rollover or major news if the spread is unusually wide relative to its normal range.

How a stale gold quote looks and what to do when you see one

A stale quote is a price on your screen that no longer reflects the current market because the data feed has stopped updating or is delayed. On this page, a stale quote would show a price that does not change for several seconds or minutes even when the market is open and active, and it may be accompanied by a frozen timestamp or a disconnected status. On a broker's platform like MetaTrader 4, a stale quote often appears as a price that is far from the last traded price, and the platform may show a 'no price' or 'off quotes' error when you try to place an order. The key sign is that the bid and ask do not move while other sources, such as this page, show movement.

If you suspect a stale quote, do not place a market order, because you may be filled at a very different price, a phenomenon known as slippage. Instead, refresh your platform or restart the data connection, and compare the price on this page with the broker's quote. A difference of more than a few pips at a reference price near 4275.0 during normal conditions suggests staleness, but during fast markets even a live quote can be several pips behind. For a South African trader on a slow internet connection, a stale quote is more likely, so consider using a wired connection or a VPS if you trade intraday.

The correct action when you see a stale quote is to wait until the feed resumes and the bid-ask spread narrows to its normal range, then re-evaluate your trade idea. Never chase a price that looks too good to be true, as it may be an old quote that will not be honored. Your risk management should include a rule: if the price has not updated in the last 10 seconds, do not trade. For position sizing, this protects your account from unexpected fills that could exceed your planned risk. Always use limit orders instead of market orders when possible, as limit orders specify the maximum price you are willing to pay or the minimum you will accept, reducing the impact of a stale quote.