Best Broker for Gold Trading: Total Cost of 1 Lot at XM, HFM, XS and Exness

The cost of a gold trade has three parts: the spread, a commission on some accounts, and the swap when you keep the trade open overnight. This page adds up these costs for 1 lot of gold at XM, HFM, XS and Exness, using our own measurements.

For a gold trade that you close on the same day, HFM’s Unlimited account has the lowest cost. You can open an Unlimited trading account from HFM’s registration page.

Which Broker Is the Cheapest Place to Trade Gold?

For a gold trade that you close on the same day, HFM Unlimited costs the least, at $10.70 for 1 lot, or $8.00 after the ForexFanClub rebate. XS Standard comes second after the rebate, and XM Ultra Low costs the most of the four.

ForexFanClub pays you back part of the cost of every lot as a rebate, so the cost after the rebate is what a trade really costs you. The table below shows the account with the lowest gold cost at each broker, with the spread and any commission added together.

1 lot of gold, closed the same day

	Total	After the rebate
HFM Unlimited account	$10.70	$8.00
XS Standard account	$18.64	$10.44
Exness Raw Spread account	$15.02	$12.32
XM Ultra Low account	$30.30	$21.30

HFM Unlimited comes first both before and after the rebate, because its gold spread was the narrowest of all the accounts without a commission. In some countries, HFM Unlimited has a different name, such as InfinityX in India and KATANA in Japan.

The rebate changes the order behind HFM Unlimited. Exness Raw Spread costs less than XS Standard before the rebate, but the ForexFanClub rebate on XS Standard is larger, so XS Standard ends up cheaper.

These figures are for a trade that you close before the daily rollover at 5 pm New York time. If you keep a gold buy position open overnight, you also pay the swap, and the swap can change which broker is the cheapest.

How Much Does It Cost to Hold Gold for Several Days?

One night of normal swap on a 1-lot gold buy position costs $72.04 at HFM, and this swap is about 9 times the cost of the trade itself. So for a gold buy position that you keep for several days, the rule that removes the swap matters more than the spread.

All four brokers have a way to trade gold without swap, but the $0 lasts for a different time at each broker. At XM, no swap on gold is part of the Ultra Low account, with no limit in days. XS gives 5 swap-free days on gold, but only to clients in selected countries.

HFM and Exness give you a swap-free status instead, and both brokers can remove the status when you hold large positions for a long time. XM can also remove its exemption if a large share of your positions stays open overnight only to avoid swap.

So if HFM removes the swap-free status, a gold buy position held from Monday to Friday on HFM Unlimited costs $440.24, because Wednesday night counts as three nights. On XM Ultra Low, the same week costs $21.30, which is the cost of the trade alone.

Our swap-free brokers comparison explains each broker’s rule in full.

Which Broker Should You Choose for Gold?

The best broker for gold depends on how long you keep your trades open, because the swap grows with every night and the spread does not.

• Day trading
  On gold trades that you close the same day, HFM Unlimited has the lowest cost, at $8.00 per lot after the rebate. You can open an HFM account (opens in a new tab) with our rebate, and the Unlimited account needs a larger first deposit than HFM Pro. HFM pays no rebate on trades closed within 2 minutes.
• A few days
  On a gold buy position held for a few days, HFM Unlimited still costs the least while its swap-free status lasts, but HFM gives no number of days. For a fixed number, XS Standard costs $10.44 per lot after the rebate, with 5 swap-free days on gold in selected countries. You can open an XS account (opens in a new tab) and ask XS’s live chat about your country.
• Weeks
  For gold buy positions that you keep for weeks, XM Ultra Low suits you best, because no swap on gold is part of the Ultra Low account, with no limit in days. Each trade costs $21.30 per lot after the rebate, which is less than one night of normal swap at the other brokers. You can open an XM Ultra Low account (opens in a new tab).
• Selling gold
  On a gold sell position, the normal swap goes the other way, and the broker adds it to your balance each night. On XM Standard, a 1-lot sell received $16.81 a night in our data, so three nights cover its higher trade cost of $37.15 per lot.

Questions People Ask About Gold Trading Costs

Does slippage change which broker is cheapest for gold?

We cannot measure slippage fairly, because slippage is different on every order.

Slippage depends on the moment, the size of the order and how fast the price moves, so a fair test would need a very large number of real-money trades at each broker.

The spread, the commission and the swap are the costs that you can compare before you trade, and these three are the costs on this page.

What does 1 lot of gold mean?

At XM, HFM, XS and Exness, 1 lot of gold is 100 ounces, so a $1 move in the gold price is $100 on 1 lot. On 0.01 lot, every cost on this page is 100 times smaller.

Our XAUUSD pips guide shows how to count gold moves in dollars.

Is the cheapest broker for gold also the cheapest for currency pairs?

Not always, because the cheapest account changes from one instrument to the next. For example, on EURUSD another account had the lowest cost on the same day.

Our lowest spread comparison ranks every account on 16 instruments, gold included.

Which Page Do You Need Next?

To check the swap rules before you hold gold overnight, you can start with our swap-free brokers comparison.