Live gold price

What the spot price is

The spot gold price is the current market price for one troy ounce of gold quoted in US dollars. It is set by the largest over-the-counter gold market, where banks, refiners and institutional traders buy and sell physical and derivative gold. The reference price used here is around 4275.0, but the live price moves constantly during trading hours.

Your broker's price for XAU/USD will not be exactly the spot price. Brokers add a spread — the difference between the bid (sell) and ask (buy) price — to cover their costs and risk. The spread can widen during volatile news or thin liquidity. The price you see on the platform is the one you can actually trade at, so use that number for your calculations.

How the quote changes

The gold price refreshes continuously during market hours as buy and sell orders are matched. A change of 0.01 in the price is one pip. For one standard lot (100 oz), one pip is worth $1.00, because 100 oz × 0.01 = $1.00. In rands, that pip value depends on the current USD/ZAR exchange rate.

When you enter a trade, the platform shows the bid and ask. You buy at the ask and sell at the bid, so you start slightly negative by the spread. The calculator uses the price you enter, not the spot, so your results match your actual trade. Always check the live quote on your platform before sizing a position.

Feeding the calculators

The live price is the starting point for every calculator. Position size uses the distance from entry to stop in pips, which depends on the current price. Pip value uses the price to convert ounces into dollar exposure. Margin uses the price and your leverage to find the required deposit. Profit and loss use the entry and exit prices you type in.

If the price moves 50 pips against you on a 0.10-lot trade, the loss is 0.10 × 100 oz × 0.01 × 50 = $5.00. In rands, that is roughly R90 at a USD/ZAR of 18.00. The calculators show formulas so you can check the maths. Because gold can move fast, fix your risk before you enter, not after.

Where the XAU/USD figure on this page comes from and what its latency means

The XAU/USD number displayed here is a reference price assembled from wholesale gold market feeds, not a price you can trade at directly. It is calculated from spot quotes contributed by liquidity providers and updated on a short delay. That delay, usually a few seconds, means the figure you see is a recent historical print rather than the live order book. For a South African reader checking the rand value of 100 oz, it is accurate enough for context but not for timing an entry.

Latency on a reference page matters because gold moves in cents within seconds. A delay of even three to five seconds can mean the displayed price is already several pips away from the broker’s current bid or ask. With one pip equal to 0.01 on XAU/USD, a 0.50 move is 50 pips. If you are calculating margin on a 0.10-lot position, about $85.50 at 1:200, use the broker’s platform quote, not this page, because the reference figure may not reflect the price your order will fill against.

The practical rule is to treat this page as a sanity check, not an execution trigger. It tells you roughly where gold is trading, which is useful when you are converting a move into rand or checking a position’s distance from a level. It does not tell you the exact price available right now. For that, open MT4, MT5, cTrader or FxPro Edge and read the live bid and ask. The reference figure and the tradeable quote will usually be close, but they are not the same number and should not be used interchangeably.

Why a broker’s XAU/USD quote differs from a reference price

A broker’s quote differs from a reference price because it is built from that broker’s own liquidity and includes the cost of doing business. The reference price is a composite of wholesale feeds; the broker’s bid and ask are the prices at which it will actually buy from or sell to you. Those prices include the spread, any markup, and the broker’s risk management. Two brokers can show different quotes at the same moment because they source liquidity differently and manage inventory differently.

For South African traders, the difference is visible when you compare this page with the FxPro platform. The reference might show 4275.0 while the broker’s ask is a few cents higher and the bid a few cents lower. That gap is not an error; it is the cost of trading. The size of the gap depends on market conditions, the instrument, and the broker’s model. It is not a fixed number you can rely on, and it can widen when volatility rises or liquidity thins.

The entity that serves South Africa is FxPro Markets Direct Costa Rica Latam SRL, and the quote you trade on comes from that entity’s setup, not from this page. Always check which entity your own account is opened with, because pricing and execution can differ between entities. The reference figure here is generic; the broker’s quote is specific to your account. When you place an order, the fill is based on the broker’s bid or ask, so that is the number that matters for your rand cost and margin.

Bid, ask and the gap between them on gold

The bid is the price at which the broker will buy gold from you, and the ask is the price at which it will sell gold to you. The gap between them is the spread, and it is the immediate cost of entering a trade. On XAU/USD, one pip is 0.01, so a spread of, say, 0.30 is 30 pips. You buy at the ask and sell at the bid, which means a new long position starts slightly underwater by the size of the spread. That is normal and is not a loss caused by the market moving.

The size of the bid-ask gap depends on liquidity, volatility and the broker’s pricing model. It is not a fixed cost and it is not something this page can quote for you. Around major news or the daily close, the gap can widen as liquidity providers pull back. For a 0.10-lot gold position, one pip is worth $0.10, so a 30-pip spread costs about $3.00 to enter. That cost is separate from margin, which at 1:200 is about $85.50 for the same position.

Understanding the gap helps you read the live price page correctly. The single number shown here is a reference mid-price, not a bid or an ask. The broker’s platform shows both, and your order fills at one or the other. If you are calculating the rand value of a move, remember that you must clear the spread before the trade shows a profit. The gap is a cost you pay for immediacy, and it is part of why the broker’s quote and the reference price will never be identical.

What a stale XAU/USD quote looks like and how to handle it

A stale quote looks like a price that has stopped moving while the market is clearly active. On this page, it might show the same figure for an unusually long time, or the timestamp might lag behind the current time. On a broker platform, a stale quote can appear as a frozen bid or ask, or a spread that is abnormally wide. Stale quotes happen when the data feed is delayed, the connection is poor, or liquidity is temporarily unavailable. They are not a signal to trade.

If you suspect a stale quote, do not place a market order based on it. Refresh the page or reconnect the platform, and compare the figure with a second independent source. On gold, a difference of a few dollars between sources can indicate a feed problem rather than a real price move. For South African traders, a stale quote during the local afternoon when London is open is less likely than during a quiet Asian session, but it can still occur. The safe action is to wait for the quote to update and confirm the spread has normalised.

A stale quote is dangerous because it can make a position look more profitable or less risky than it is. If you are calculating margin on a 0.10-lot position, using a stale reference price could mislead you about the rand amount required. Always use the live bid and ask from your broker’s platform for order decisions. This page is a reference tool; it is not designed to detect staleness for you. Treat any figure that has not changed while related markets are moving as suspect and verify before acting.

How often the XAU/USD reference refreshes and what a stale one looks like

The reference price on this page refreshes at short intervals, typically every few seconds, but it is not a real-time tick-by-tick feed. It updates as new wholesale data arrives, which means during quiet periods the figure may appear unchanged for longer than expected. That is not necessarily a stale quote; it can simply be a period of low activity. A genuinely stale quote is one that fails to update when the broader market is moving, or one where the timestamp is clearly behind.

You can spot a stale reference by comparing it with the broker’s live quote. If the broker’s bid and ask are moving but this page is frozen, the reference is stale. Another sign is a price that is far from the recent range without any corresponding news. On gold, a sudden 1.00 move is 100 pips and is significant; if this page misses it while the platform shows it, trust the platform. The refresh rate is a guide, not a guarantee, and the page is not intended for execution.

For practical purposes, use the refresh rate to decide how much weight to give the figure. If you are checking the rand value of a position once an hour, a few seconds of latency is irrelevant. If you are watching a level for an entry, the reference is too slow. The broker’s platform refreshes in real time and is the correct source for order placement. This page gives you context; it does not replace the live quote, and a stale reference should be discarded rather than traded on.

Spot reference versus the broker’s tradeable quote: which one your order fills against

Your order fills against the broker’s tradeable quote, not against the spot reference shown on this page. The reference is a mid-market composite used for information; the broker’s bid and ask are the prices at which it will execute your trade. When you buy XAU/USD, you pay the ask; when you sell, you receive the bid. The difference between the reference and the tradeable quote includes the spread and any broker-specific adjustments, and it is the tradeable quote that determines your entry price and margin requirement.

This distinction matters for South African traders because the rand cost of a position depends on the actual fill price. If you calculate margin using the reference price, you may get a slightly different figure from the platform’s margin calculator. At 1:200, a 0.10-lot gold position needs about $85.50 margin, but that is based on the broker’s price at the time. The reference price is useful for a rough check, but the platform’s number is the one that governs your account.

The entity serving South Africa is FxPro Markets Direct Costa Rica Latam SRL, and the tradeable quote comes from that entity’s pricing. Always confirm which entity your account is with, as this affects the quote you see. The spot reference on this page is not tied to your account and cannot be used to dispute a fill. If you need the exact price you will trade at, look at the broker’s platform. The reference is a guide; the tradeable quote is the contract.