Gold (XAU/USD) is one of the most heavily traded commodities in the world, often moved by the same macro forces that drive currency markets. That's why most forex brokers offer it, and why many traders treat it as a close cousin of FX rather than a separate asset class.
Retail gold trading is typically quoted as XAU/USD (the price of one troy ounce of gold in US dollars) and traded on margin through CFDs in much the same way as a currency pair, using the same platforms (MT4, MT5, cTrader) most brokers already offer for forex. Gold also trades on futures exchanges like COMEX for institutional and professional participants, but CFDs are the standard retail route.
Gold is widely understood as a non-yielding asset, so its price tends to move inversely with real (inflation-adjusted) interest rates: when real yields fall, the opportunity cost of holding gold instead of interest-bearing assets falls too, which tends to support gold's price, and vice versa. Beyond rates, gold is sensitive to US dollar strength (since it's dollar-priced), inflation expectations, central bank gold reserve buying, and safe-haven demand during geopolitical stress or periods of market risk-aversion.
Spot gold CFDs are the dominant retail method: you're trading price movement on margin without taking physical delivery, the same mechanics as forex CFDs. Futures contracts (COMEX) are the institutional/professional equivalent, and physical ownership (bullion, coins) or gold ETFs are separate routes entirely, outside the scope of what the brokers on this site offer.
Gold trades nearly 24 hours a day alongside the forex sessions and is generally very liquid, but volatility increases sharply around major US economic data releases (particularly inflation prints and Federal Reserve decisions) and unexpected geopolitical events, since gold often reacts to the same headlines as safe-haven currencies.
Gold CFDs carry the same leverage risk as forex: a relatively modest price move can represent a large percentage move against your margin. Gold can also gap over weekends or holidays if major news breaks while spot markets are closed, and spreads can widen materially during high-impact data releases. Confirm a broker's specific margin requirements and spread behavior around news events before trading gold with real capital.
Selected from our Top 12 for confirmed breadth of commodity/CFD instrument range in our research. We haven't independently audited gold-specific spreads across all 12 brokers, so confirm current XAU/USD pricing directly before trading.