Commodities · XAU/USD
Gold Price
Gold is one of the most widely traded commodities and is often quoted like a currency pair. Here is how the gold price is quoted, where it trades and what tends to move it.
Updated · FXPIPS Editorial Desk · Educational content, not investment advice
Data
Gold price data
Indicative gold spot price in USD and INR, with links to the official benchmark publishers.
Drivers
What moves the gold price
01
Real interest rates
Gold pays no interest, so when inflation-adjusted yields on bonds rise, the opportunity cost of holding gold increases. Falling real yields tend to have the opposite effect.
02
US dollar strength
Gold is priced in dollars, so a stronger dollar makes it more expensive for buyers using other currencies. Gold and the dollar often, though not always, move in opposite directions.
03
Safe-haven demand
During financial stress or geopolitical uncertainty, some investors buy gold as a store of value, which can lift prices.
04
Central bank purchases
Many central banks hold gold in their reserves. Changes in their buying or selling can influence demand.
05
Inflation expectations
Gold is widely viewed as a long-term hedge against the loss of purchasing power, so changing inflation expectations can affect demand.
06
Jewelry and investment demand
Physical demand for jewelry, bars, coins and exchange-traded products adds to the overall balance of supply and demand.
What the gold price means
The gold price usually refers to the price of one troy ounce of gold in US dollars. A troy ounce is about 31.1 grams, slightly heavier than the ounce used for everyday goods. Because gold is so liquid and widely held, it is traded alongside currencies by many forex brokers.
How gold is quoted
In the currency market, gold carries the ISO code XAU, so the gold price in dollars is written XAU/USD. It works like a currency pair: the base is one ounce of gold and the quote currency is the US dollar. If XAU/USD is quoted at 2,000.00 (an illustrative price), one ounce costs $2,000.
Like forex pairs, gold has a bid price and an ask price, with the spread between them as a cost of trading. On FXPIPS calculators, a move of 0.01 in XAU/USD is treated as one "pip" by convention, but brokers define pips and points for gold differently, so always check your platform's contract specification.
Where and when gold trades
Gold trades in several connected venues:
- Over-the-counter (OTC) spot market, centered on London, where banks and dealers trade physical and unallocated gold. The LBMA Gold Price is set by an electronic auction twice each London business day and is used as a benchmark.
- Futures exchanges, notably COMEX (part of CME Group) in New York, where the standard gold futures contract covers 100 troy ounces.
- Retail brokers, which offer spot gold, CFDs or spread bets that track these markets.
Taken together, gold trades nearly around the clock from Monday's Asian open to Friday's US close, with activity typically busiest during London and New York hours. Check the Forex Market Hours tool to see how those sessions fall in your time zone.
Contract basics
For many retail brokers, one standard lot of gold is 100 ounces, though some use different sizes. With a 100-ounce lot, each $1 move in the price changes the position's value by $100.
Illustrative example: you buy 0.10 lots (10 ounces) at 2,000.00 and the price rises to 2,015.00. Your gross profit is (2,015.00 − 2,000.00) × 10 = $150. If instead it fell to 1,990.00, the loss would be $100.
The notional value of that 10-ounce position at entry is 10 × 2,000 = $20,000. With 20:1 leverage, the margin required would be $1,000. The Position Size Calculator and Margin Calculator can help you work through these numbers.
Gold and forex
Gold is often discussed alongside the US dollar and interest rates. When markets expect US interest rates to fall, the dollar may weaken and gold may find support, and vice versa. These relationships are tendencies, not laws, and they can break down. To understand the macro background, read Interest rates and currencies and Inflation and forex. The Dollar Index page explains a common way to measure broad dollar strength.
Risks
- Volatility: gold can move several percent in a day, especially around major economic data and central bank decisions. See volatility.
- Leverage: small price moves have a large effect on leveraged positions.
- Gaps: prices can open at a different level after weekends or breaks in trading.
- Overnight costs: holding leveraged gold positions overnight usually involves a swap charge or credit.
Gold is not a guaranteed safe haven; its price can fall sharply as well as rise. Trading gold with leverage carries a substantial risk of loss. This page is educational and does not provide investment advice.
This page is for education only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any instrument. Leveraged products such as CFDs and futures can lose you more than you expect; check your broker's contract specifications and your local regulations.