Live gold price (XAU/USD)

What the spot number actually is

The spot price is the price of one troy ounce of gold for immediate delivery, quoted in US dollars, and it is set by trading across the global over-the-counter market rather than by a single exchange. Large dealers and banks quote two-way prices, and the published spot number is a composite of those quotes. It is a reference, not a promise that you can deal at that exact figure.

Because gold trades continuously across time zones, the spot number changes through the session as quotes are updated. The reference price on this site, near 4275.0, is a snapshot for calculation, not a live executable quote. When you size a trade, use the price your platform shows at that moment, because the difference between a stale reference and the current market can be several dollars per ounce.

Why your broker's price differs: the spread

Your broker's price differs from the reference spot because it includes the spread, which is the gap between the bid and the ask. You buy at the ask and sell at the bid, so a position starts slightly behind the mid price. How wide that gap is depends on the broker, the account type, the time of day and how volatile the market is at that moment.

The spread is a cost you pay on entry and again implicitly on exit, and it is not a fixed number. It typically widens when liquidity thins, around rollover and during major news releases. That is why two traders using the same strategy can get different results: the cost of crossing the spread is part of the trade, not an afterthought, and it should be counted before the position is opened.

Reading the change and the refresh

The change figure shows how far the current price has moved from a previous reference, usually the prior close, and the refresh time shows how recently the number was updated. A large change on a fresh timestamp means the market is moving now. A large change on a stale timestamp means the number is old and should not be trusted for sizing.

Read the two together rather than in isolation. If the refresh has not updated for a while, the market may be closed or the feed may be delayed, and any calculation based on that price is only approximate. For an Australian trader checking the market in the morning AEST, the price will reflect the overnight US session, so the change figure is often the most useful part of the display.

How this price feeds the calculators

The reference price is the input that ties the calculators together. Position size uses it to convert a stop distance in dollars into pips, pip value uses it to express one pip in money, margin uses it to compute the notional value that leverage is applied to, and profit and loss uses entry and exit prices to produce the result.

Because every calculator depends on that input, a stale or mistyped price flows through all of them. Enter the price your platform is showing, not the reference figure, when you are preparing a real trade. The reference near 4275.0 is there so the tools work before you have a platform open, and so you can see how the arithmetic behaves at a realistic gold price.

Where the reference price on this page comes from and what its latency means

The number on this page is a spot reference for XAU/USD, sourced from wholesale gold market data and published for orientation rather than execution. It is built from interbank and electronic venue quotes around the reference level of 4275.0, then passed through a publication feed. Latency is the delay between the underlying market print and the number you see, and it depends on the data vendor, your connection and browser refresh. Treat the figure as a guide to where gold is trading, not as a quote you can deal on.

Latency matters because gold moves in fractions of a second, and a reference feed can lag the live market by an amount that varies with the provider and the time of day. One pip on XAU/USD is 0.01, so even a brief lag can leave the displayed number a few cents from the current bid or ask. In fast conditions the gap widens. The practical point is that the reference is a snapshot, and the price your order fills against is the broker's tradeable quote at the moment of execution.

You can reduce confusion by comparing the reference with your platform rather than assuming they must match. If the two differ by a small amount, that is normal publication and streaming delay, not an error. If they differ persistently, check your connection and the platform's quote status before acting. No reference feed can promise a specific latency, and this page does not. What it gives you is a consistent anchor for reading the market, while your broker supplies the executable price.

Why a broker quote differs from a reference price

A broker quote differs from a reference price because it is a tradeable two-way price built for execution, while the reference is a single indicative midpoint. FxPro streams its own bid and ask for XAU/USD, and the gap between them is how the broker covers the cost of making a market and managing risk. The reference has no such spread because you cannot trade it. So a difference of a few cents between the two is structural, not a fault, and it exists before any market movement is considered.

The size of that difference depends on the broker's pricing model, the liquidity it accesses, the time of day and market volatility. It is not a fixed number and this page does not quote one. What you can rely on is that the broker's ask is the price you buy at and the bid is the price you sell at, with the reference sitting somewhere between or near them. When you see the reference at 4275.0 and your platform shows a slightly different pair of numbers, both can be correct for their purpose.

For Australian residents the entity matters too: FxPro UK Limited serves Australia, and the quote you receive is from that offshore book. FxPro is licensed by the FCA (UK) and CySEC. It does not hold an ASIC licence, so Australian residents deal with an offshore entity — check this before funding. That regulatory setting does not change how the quote is constructed, but it is part of understanding whose price you are actually looking at when you compare it with a public reference.

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

Bid is the price at which the broker will buy gold from you, and ask is the price at which it will sell gold to you; the gap between them is the spread. On XAU/USD the ask is always the higher of the two, so a new long position starts slightly underwater by the size of that gap. One pip is 0.01, and the spread is quoted in those terms. The gap is the visible cost of entering and exiting, and it is set by the broker rather than by this reference page.

The width of the gap depends on liquidity, volatility and the broker's execution model, and it can change through the session. It is not a number this page states, because it is not fixed and varies by account and market conditions. What you can do is read the two prices on your platform before you trade, rather than assuming the reference is what you will pay. The difference between bid and ask is the first cost to understand, before position size and margin.

Margin is separate from the spread and is calculated on the position, not the gap. At the maximum leverage available in Australia of up to 1:200, a 0.10-lot gold position needs about $85.50 margin. That figure is a cap, not a setting to aim at, and it says nothing about the bid-ask gap you will cross. Keep the two ideas apart: the spread is the cost of the round trip, while margin is the collateral your broker sets aside while the position is open.

What a stale quote looks like and how to respond

A stale quote is one that has stopped updating while the market has moved, so the bid and ask on your platform no longer reflect where gold is trading. It typically shows as a frozen pair of numbers, a widening gap, or a platform message that quoting is unavailable. On XAU/USD a stale quote can leave the displayed price several cents or more away from the live market. The reference on this page may keep moving while your platform does not, which is the clearest signal something is wrong.

The cause is usually a data or connectivity problem between your platform and the broker, or a period when the broker has paused quoting around news or a session break. The right response is not to force an order into a frozen quote. Refresh the platform, check your internet connection, and compare the reference with the platform. If the gap persists, contact the broker's support rather than trading on a number you cannot verify. A stale quote is a warning, not an opportunity.

Stale quotes are a particular risk around the daily close and at weekends, when liquidity thins and quoting can pause. No page can promise that a quote is always fresh, and this one does not. What you can control is your own check: confirm the platform is streaming, confirm the bid and ask are moving, and only then act. If you are funding or preparing to trade, remember Australian residents deal with FxPro UK Limited, an offshore entity, so support and quote behaviour follow its systems.

How often this figure refreshes and how to tell it is stale

This figure refreshes on a short polling cycle rather than tick by tick, so it is a regularly updated reference rather than a live stream. The exact interval depends on the data feed and your browser, and it is not a guarantee of freshness. You can tell it is stale when the number stops changing while gold is clearly moving elsewhere, or when the timestamp or refresh indicator has not advanced. Compare it with your platform's moving bid and ask to judge whether the page is keeping up.

A stale reference is not dangerous on its own, because you do not trade on it; it becomes a problem only if you mistake it for an executable price. The broker's quote is the one that fills your order, and it updates independently. If the page lags, use the platform as the authority for execution and the page as context. If both appear frozen, treat that as a connectivity issue and resolve it before placing any order, especially with real money at stake.

Refresh behaviour also changes around market hours. Outside active trading the reference may update less often because the underlying market is quieter, and at weekends it may not move at all until the market reopens. That is normal, not a fault. The practical habit is to check the reference against the platform at the moment you intend to trade, and to accept that a reference page is a guide to the market, not a substitute for the quote you deal on.

Spot reference versus the broker tradeable quote you actually fill against

The spot reference is an indicative midpoint for reading the market; the broker's tradeable quote is the two-way price your order fills against. They serve different jobs. The reference tells you roughly where XAU/USD is, around the 4275.0 level in this example, while the broker's bid and ask tell you what you can actually buy or sell for right now. When you place an order, the fill is determined by the broker's quote at that moment, not by the reference number on this page.

The difference between them is the spread plus any execution effects, and it depends on the broker, the account type and market conditions. This page does not state a spread because it is not fixed. What you can do is read the platform's ask before buying and its bid before selling, and size the position with that cost in mind. At up to 1:200 leverage, a 0.10-lot gold position needs about $85.50 margin, which is separate from what the spread costs you on entry and exit.

For Australian readers, the tradeable quote comes from FxPro UK Limited. FxPro is licensed by the FCA (UK) and CySEC. It does not hold an ASIC licence, so Australian residents deal with an offshore entity — check this before funding. Funding is by PayID or bank transfer in Australian dollars, and the quote you see is the one that governs your fill. The reference is useful for context and calculators; the broker's quote is the number that matters at execution.