Guide · 3 min read

Gold spread explained: what it costs and when it widens

Short answer: The spread is the gap between gold's buy price (ask) and sell price (bid), and you pay it on every trade. With the usual 100-ounce lot, each 0.10 dollars of spread costs 10 dollars per lot. Spreads widen around the daily break, the Sunday open, thin hours and big news, and a wider spread can trigger a stop that the chart never touched.

Published: 24 October 2026.

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Every trade crosses the spread once. You buy at the ask and later sell at the bid, or the other way round. So a trade starts in a small loss equal to the spread, before the price has moved at all.

Turn the spread into money

The cost per trade is the spread in dollars of price, times the ounces per lot, times your lots.

A spread of 0.20 dollars on 1 lot of 100 ounces: 20 dollars.
The same spread on 0.10 lot: 2 dollars.
A spread of 0.50 dollars on 1 lot: 50 dollars.

These are examples, not any broker's prices. If your broker uses 10 ounces per lot, divide by 10. Our guide to what a pip is worth on gold explains the price steps, and the contract calculator shows what a move is worth per contract.

Spread-only and commission accounts

Spread-only: no commission. The broker's charge sits inside a wider spread.
Raw spread or commission: a smaller spread plus a fixed commission per lot.

Compare them by the total cost of one round trip per lot: spread in money plus commission. Do that sum at the hours you actually trade, because the spread changes through the day.

When the spread widens

The daily break: around 5:00 pm New York time, just before and after the one-hour pause.
The Sunday open: the first minutes of the week, when few prices are quoted.
Thin hours: late New York afternoon and early Asia.
Big news: the jobs report, inflation data and central bank decisions. See the economic calendar for the times.

How the spread hits a stop

MT5 draws charts from the bid price. A buy trade closes at the bid, so its stop and the chart agree. A sell trade closes at the ask, which sits above the chart by the spread. When the spread widens, the ask can reach a sell trade's stop even though the line on the chart stays below it. To see the ask, turn on "Show Ask line" in the chart's properties.

Check your own

In MT5's Market Watch, right-click, choose Columns and tick Spread to see the live spread in points. Your account's terms list the commission. Write down the spread at the hours you trade for a week, and you will know what your trading really costs.

The Monthly Pass and the Lifetime Pass are software licences for your own MetaTrader account. They score every robot and strategy you run the same way, with costs inside every number. See the plans.

FAQ

What is the spread on gold?

The gap between the price you can buy at (ask) and the price you can sell at (bid). You pay it once on every trade: you open at one side and close at the other.

How much does the gold spread cost per lot?

Spread in dollars of price times ounces per lot. With a 100-ounce lot, a spread of 0.30 dollars costs 30 dollars per lot, and 0.30 dollars per 0.01 lot. These numbers are an example; check your own broker's spread.

What is a raw spread or commission account?

An account with a smaller spread plus a fixed commission per lot. Compare accounts by the total cost of one round trip per lot, spread and commission together, not by the spread alone.

Why does the gold spread widen?

When fewer buyers and sellers are active or prices move fast: around the daily break at 5:00 pm New York time, at the Sunday open, in thin hours and around big news.

Can the spread hit my stop loss?

Yes. A sell trade closes at the ask price, but MT5 charts show the bid by default. If the spread widens, the ask can touch your stop while the chart's price never reaches it.

Is a lower spread always better?

Not on its own. Check the commission, the swap for holding overnight, and how far orders fill from their price. The cheapest account is the one with the lowest total cost for the way you trade.

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An educational tool. It is not investment advice. Trading leveraged products such as gold CFDs carries a high risk of losing money, and you can lose all of it.

BaroqTech makes software. It is not investment advice and it does not manage money. Trading leveraged products such as gold CFDs carries a high risk of losing money, and you can lose all of it. Results from a test or from a demo account do not predict results on a real account.

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The Cost Receipt

Spread, commission, swap and slippage, one by one: where each hides on your platform, and a worksheet to add them up per system.

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Gold spread explained: what it costs and when it widens

Turn the spread into money

Spread-only and commission accounts

When the spread widens

How the spread hits a stop

Check your own

FAQ

Gold EA Checking Kit, $9

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