Convention varies by broker: price moves in $0.01 ticks, and 'one pip' is quoted as either $0.10 or $0.01 depending on the platform — check yours before sizing anything.
On a standard 100 oz contract, a $0.10 move is $10 and a $1.00 move is $100. Contract sizes vary across brokers; the specification is authoritative.
Roughly Sunday 22:00 UTC to Friday 21:00 UTC with a short daily settlement break on many brokers (often around 21:00–22:00 UTC).
Most active in London and New York hours; US data releases (CPI, Fed) produce its biggest moves.
XAUUSD — spot gold against the dollar — is the most traded metal and one of the most traded instruments of any kind. It moves on real interest rates (gold pays no yield, so higher real yields hurt it), the dollar's strength, central-bank buying, and fear: geopolitical and financial stress send money into gold.
For traders the practical profile is: bigger dollar ranges than any forex major, broker-dependent contract conventions, and spreads wide enough that scalping economics differ fundamentally from EURUSD. It rewards planning and punishes improvisation.
How XAUUSD behaves
- Daily ranges in dollar terms dwarf forex majors — multi-dollar swings within a session are routine.
- US CPI and Fed decision minutes are its high-voltage windows; moves of $20+ in minutes happen.
- Trends persistently when real yields or crisis narratives are in play, then chops for weeks between narratives.
Risk notes for XAUUSD
- Pip/lot conventions differ across brokers more than any major — automated sizing must read the actual contract spec (RezSync Algo pulls this from the broker; never assume).
- Wider spreads plus high volatility means stops need generous room; tight gold stops are noise collectors.
- Weekend gap risk is real: gold reacts to geopolitical news that breaks while markets are closed.
Whatever the instrument, the sizing method is the same: place the stop where the trade idea is invalid, then size the position so that stop costs a fixed fraction of the account. Our position size calculator does that math, and the stop-loss and risk–reward guide explains why the order of operations matters.
XAUUSD — frequently asked questions
What are gold (XAUUSD) trading hours?
Roughly Sunday 22:00 UTC to Friday 21:00 UTC, with a short daily break around settlement on many brokers. Liquidity peaks in London and New York hours; Asian-session gold is thinner and slower.
How much is a pip worth on XAUUSD?
It depends on your broker's convention. On a standard 100 oz contract, each $0.01 move is worth $1, so a $0.10 move ('one pip' on most platforms) is $10, and a full $1.00 move is $100. Always confirm the contract size — this is the single most broker-variable instrument retail traders touch.
Is gold good for automated trading?
It can be, with two conditions: the system must read contract specifications from the broker rather than assuming forex-style math, and its risk limits must accommodate gold's larger ranges and news spikes. Forward-testing on demo matters even more here than on majors.
Reference information, not financial advice. Contract sizes, pip values, hours, and spreads vary by broker — your broker's specification is authoritative, and RezSync Algo always reads these values live from the broker rather than assuming them. Trading involves substantial risk of loss; forward-test on a demo account before any live decision.
Trade XAUUSD with the math enforced
RezSync Algo reads XAUUSD's real contract data from your cTrader broker, sizes positions stop-first, and runs AI trade review inside hard risk guardrails — demo-first, live strictly opt-in.