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Reviews By
Richard Berry
- Updated
Gold trading platforms let you speculate on the price of gold going up or down in the short term via leveraged derivatives like futures, CFDs, and financial spread betting. You can also invest in gold in the long term via gold ETFs and gold miners. You can use our comparison table of what we think are the best gold trading platforms in the UK to compare commission, minimum deposits and the type of gold trading each platform offers. All gold brokers featured are regulated by the FCA.
❓Methodology: We have chosen what we think are the best gold trading platforms based on:
- over 30,000 votes in our annual awards
- our own experiences testing the gold trading accounts with real money
- an in-depth comparison of the features that make them stand out compared to alternatives.
- interviews with the gold broker’s CEOs and senior management
City Index: Best broker for Gold CFD trading
- Costs & spreads: 0.8
- Minimum deposit: £100
- Account types: CFDs & spread betting
70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
City Index Expert Review: A Huge Range Of Added Value For Traders
Name: City Index
Description: City Index is one of the oldest spread betting and CFD brokers based in the UK. They were founded in 1983 and offer trading in over 13,500 financial markets, to around 126,000 active clients. City Index is currently owned by StoneX, a US brokerage listed on the NASDAQ valued at $1.75bn.
70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Is City Index a good broker?
City Index offers some of the best trading tools and analysis to help traders perform better. Their unique post-trade analytics and voice brokerage service make it an excellent choice for large and frequent traders.
They are one of the oldest and most established trading platforms offering CFDs and financial spread betting, with a huge range of markets to trade, post execution analytical tools and trading signals.
Pricing: Always competitive.
Market Access: Excellent coverage, especially for small-cap stock and exotic currency pairs.
Platform & Apps: Some excellent added value trading signals and portfolio analytics (even though the desktop version can be a bit fiddly).
Customer Service: Lots of experienced dealers to help with any issues.
Research & Analysis: City Index excel here, lots of education, signals and analysis.
Some of the best trader tools around
I opened my first City Index account way back in 2008, when they were one of only a handful of spread betting firms catering to high net worth traders in the City of London. Back then when I was a derivatives broker at MF Global, City Index used to hedge their CFD business through us so I could see they always had a fairly sophisticated client base. But over the years, as traders and investors have become more educated and akin to taking more risk, City Index now takes on more and more private clients.
If you’re thinking about trading with City Index, but haven’t quite made up your mind yet, I’ve tested all their trading platform’s features, visited their offices and interviewed their senior management for my review to hopefully provide enough information for you to decide if they are the right broker for you.I’ve always liked City Index, it’s been a stalwart of the London CFD broker scene since it was founded by Chris Hales and Jonathan Sparke in 1983 as a way for institutions to hedge their exposure through spread betting and CFDs. But soon became popular with more retail traders. Always advertising on billboards in the City, always having a colourful client base, always being bought and sold at the whim of billionaires and bigger boys. But in recent years, it had gone off a bit from its glory days. Back in the good ol’ days, you could open an account and put on a million-dollar trade over the phone with no ID, no deposit, and no idea. Well, you could if you happened to be on a yacht with Michael Spencer (the then City Index owner and City grandee), who was convinced he knew which way the Euro was headed and goaded one of his guests into putting the trade on, as the story goes away.
But those days are long gone and incumbent brokers have to fight hard to differentiate themselves against the fintechs nipping at their heels, as well as provide more trader tools to lure new customers back to traditional markets away from the wild west of Crypto.
City Index seems to have matured nicely though, it’s grown out of its lumbering adolescence under the ownership of Gain Capital and is now owned by US Behemoth StoneX (previously INTL FCStone). Since then, the platform has had a few upgrades and long-term investment products will hopefully be added shortly.
City Index Awards
In our latest awards City Index won “best trading app” in 2024 and “best trader tools” 2023. City Index has in previous years won “best trading platform”, “best trading app” & “best forex broker” in 2022.
Giles Watts, Senior VP of UK & EU at City Index said after winning best trader tools in 2023: “We are delighted to have been recognized for the added value we provide our clients. Delivering actionable post trade insights direct to the platform, is just one of the reasons our clients stay with us over the long term.”
Trading Platform
The City Index platform used to have a slightly off-the-rack feel about it, instead, the business relied on word of mouth and friendly referrals from HNW clients who would use experienced dealers to work large orders over the phone. Whilst voice brokerage still forms part of City Index’s offering, they are, as with everyone else, doing the majority of their business online and working hard to make their platform stand out.
Pricing & Spreads
City Index has always been competitive with it’s pricing. As City Index is an OTC broker they charge customers by widening the spread rather than adding commission after you trade. They are one of the cheapest around for trading UK stocks with the bid/offer being widened by only 0.08% (20% less than the industry standard of 0.1%) and for US stocks they only charge 1.8 cents per share (industry standard is 2 cents per share). Overnight financing rates are also inline with what you would expect 2.5% over/under SONIA rates.
Stocks, Forex, Indices and Commodities
You can buy over 13,500 stocks on City Index as a CFD or financial spread bet, however, you can’t trade equity options or invest in physical shares.
Obviously, they have access to more than the usual forex, index and commodity markets and add value with some nice thematic-themed indices (like ESG), and a good pool of sectors to speculate on. You can also trade options (CFD or spread bets thereof) on a good range of indices and commodities like Natural Gas or EU stocks. Plus, you can trade on synthetic markets. Everyone loves a bit of volatility speculation in choppy markets.
Spread Betting
Spread betting is City Index’s forte, and it’s the product that a lot of their high-net-worth customers use for trading stocks. As one of the original spread betting brokers City Index offers access to one of the widest selections of UK, US and European shares (as well as the major indices). The key advantage of spread betting of course is that profits are free of capital gains tax.
CFD Trading
Unlike spread betting CFD profits are subject to capital gains tax, so are less popular among UK traders. Historically, City Index would offer CFDs to more professional traders and spread betting to smaller clients. CFDs and spread betting are similarly priced with City Index, with the commission being included in the spread, which is slightly wider than the underlying market bid/offer. The main reason why both products are on offer is that spread betting is only available to UK residents, whereas City Index can offer CFD trading to its global client base.
Trading App
I actually prefer the City Index app to the desktop version of the trading platform. Sometimes I can find the desktop version to be a bit clunky, but the app is really slick, and clearly in our mobile-first world, where all the recent development has been focused. And why not, the desktop trading platform is brilliant for research, trading signals and post-trade analytics, but at the point of execution the app is a quick and simple stripped-down version with all the salient features front and centre.
MT4 (MetaQuotes)
You can trade on MT4 and MT5 with City Index, but functionality and market access is not as good as their main proprietary trading platform or some of their MT4 competitors. You can only trade around 84 markets on MT4 through City Index, but if you just want to trade the major markets, City Index is a good broker for MT4 based on their regulation, service and pricing.
Performance Analytics
Another acquisition from parent StoneX is Chasing Returns, now integrated into the platform as Performance Analytics. Which really drills down into where you are trading well and where you are losing money. Performance Analytics can break down your wins and losses and tell you what markets you trade best, what time of day you are most profitable, if you make money trading in quick succession or, if you do better if you take a break between trades. It’ll even tell you if your first trade of the day is often a winner or loser, or if you are a better bull or bear and also if you are as good at trading volatility as you pretend to enjoy doing, but letting you know if you trade better in calm or erratic markets.
Economic Calendar
One thing, though that does let them down is City Index’s economic calendar, it’s terrible. In fact, most brokers, even IG just have a bog standard list of upcoming earnings and economic announcements. But I think you need more from a trading platform these days, especially as when logged into the desktop platform the format is all off. One broker that has absolutely nailed their economic calendar is ThinkMarkets. With TM when you’re logged in you get a really good visualisation of previous data, volatility and most importantly what impact it had on relevant institutions like EURUSD. It’s a great way to see how markets have moved against previous numbers. Honestly, City Index should embed this too as it’s available from Trading Central who they have a deal with anyway.
Extended Hours Trading
You can trade CFDs premarket and after the market closes on a range of US equities in the pre and post-market sessions which bookend regular share trading in New York that takes place between 9.30 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. Eastern time.
The list of 73 stocks available to trade in the pre and post-markets includes leading US shares such as Apple, Microsoft and Nvidia. Widely traded names such as the Ark Innovation ETF, Coinbase, Robinhood and Gamestop.
As well as established blue chips like Bank of America, Boeing, Procter and Gamble, and Walmart, alongside a selection of index-tracking and thematic ETFs.
Pros
- Excellent trading tools
- Post-trade analytics
- Publically listed (part of StoneX)
Cons
- Trading only, no investment account
- Limited options markets
- No direct market access
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Pricing
(5)
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Market Access
(5)
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Online Platform
(4.5)
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Customer Service
(5)
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Research & Analysis
(4.5)
Overall
4.8Forex.com: Gold & Currency Trading
- Costs & spreads: 0.8
- Minimum deposit: £100
- Overnight financing: 2.5% +/- SOFR
- Account types: CFDs
75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
FOREX.com Review: 24-Hour Trading Platform Test Drive
Is FOREX.com a good trading platform?
I took FOREX.com out for a 24-hour test drive, trade with real money and try some of their key features on the streets of the City of London. Here’s what happened…
“For FX sake”, I thought to myself when I decided to write a review about a forex broker that offers access to the forex market for forex traders because on the surface, that’s what forex trading platforms do, so I didn’t really think I’d have much to say. I’m not normally a fan of forex trading becuase, a. I’ve never had much success at it and b. I find the nuances of intra-day technical analysis too complicated.
I’m a sort of old-fashioned trader, I like to look at the market and think it’s either overvalued or undervalued and in my mind anyway, that is easier to do when looking at a company’s share price, an index or even a commodity. But for some reason, with forex trading, I’ve never really got the hang of it.
Having said that I have dealt currency for about 20 years now, but more as a broker rather than as a trader. And I know that the currency markets are not only hard to understand, they come with all sorts of complexities. For instance, I used to do some prime brokerage for institutions that would hedge their currency exposure when buying aeroplanes. So we would do deals like buying 50m EURSEK, then roll it forward for delivery in 2 months’ time. A massive headache when trying to market it up. Or dealing in GBPEUR, or was it EURGBP? I remember once, marking up (or down) a forward the wrong way. It would have been a €20k error, but fortunately, the dealer didn’t know what they were doing, so we styled it out. At one point, forex trading for me was a big income generator, but also the type of business I hated most. It was so bad at one point that the broker next to me refused to pick up the phone if he knew it was a big FX trade coming through. He’d get all red and sweaty and pretend to be busy filling another customer.
I was, in fact, so frustrated with how opaque pricing was in currency trading, that I decided to start up my own currency brokerage specialising in high-value currency transfers £250k upwards) and undercutting everyone. It was called Berry FX, you can still see the demo on Youtube. Basically, personal service with the best rates anywhere ever. But alas, I am a better marketer than a salesman, so I now just let other currency brokers compete for clients by trying to offer the best exchange rates.
But you don’t really care about that. You want to know what I think of Forex.com.
24 Hour Test:
I thought I’d try something a little different with this review and have a bit of fun with it. So I took forex.com out for a 24-hour test drive around the City of London, putting some real trades on whilst going about my business to see if I could make any money.
I started out at the Bank of England with £10k on account at 11:30. Lunch was a few minutes walk from the tube station, so I took the opportunity to put some trades on using Forex.com’s trading Signals. I’ve used these for years; back in 2018, they were known as GetGo; it was a stand-alone forex trading app. When I reviewed it back in 2018, I said back that it was the future of forex trading signals but are they still?
There are a couple of things that make these signals better than the rest.
They tell you the success rate
The signal is linked to an order ticket
When I was walking down King William Street to L’Antipasto to meet my contacts at Forex.com for lunch, I put a few traders on. First, I looked at the trades that had a historic success rate of over 50% and followed them. Then I looked at trading signals that had a success rate of less than 50% and traded against them. It’s a pretty simple strategy that generally works (not always, though). Used the classic stop/limit risk/reward ratio to of aiming for twice the potential loss as a potential win. Again, simple forex trading strategies. The market is not hard to call, but if you get a trade right, it often pays to let it run for longer, but if it’s wrong, close it sooner.
Trading Central:
Then after lunch, on the way to my next meeting, I took a few moments on London Bridge, in the glorious sunshine with Tower Bridge in the background, to take a look at some of the other signals on forex.com, Trading Central. Now, Trading Central has been providing technical analysis to brokers for decades and provides a constant stream of manually and automatically updated trading ideas throughout the day to give traders an indication of where the markets may go.
It’s not as fluid as their trading signals, as you have to put the trades in manually, but still gives you a bit of stimulus. This is great for someone like me because I generally have an idea of what I want to do from eyeballing a chart (I did, after all, run a technical analysis division for five years), but it’s nice to get confirmation of your thoughts one way or another.
Execution:
When you are actually trading there are some great other features on the app like:
Swipe to trade: a bit like Tinder (so I hear – I’ve been married for 12 years).
Chart on tickets: with a quick tap, you can bring up a chart when on the order ticket (to double-check)
Working orders on charts: when looking at a chart, you can see your working orders and positions
Position potential: as well as seeing what margin is required when placing a trade you can also see and set your stops and limits as a potential monetary amount instead of pips.
Post-Trade Analytics:
Once you’ve done a bit of trading, you can review your trading history and see where you do well and where you can improve. This is a great feature as it can break down how well you trade by time of day, markets or volatility. You can also set up “Play Maker” if you have a trading strategy and want to stick to it. Obviously, you can’t get that sort of data in a 24-hour test drive, so I’ll have to revisit that another time.
Demo Account:
Forex.com have a pretty good demo account, in fact, it’s hard to tell the difference between the demo and live trading platform. You get the same functionality and as trades are OTC, the same prices.
However, when I opened a demo account to test them, I already had a real account. So after I got my demo account login details, I clicked through to the “webtrader” portal (and this is quite funny or alarming, depending on how you look at it), my live account details were auto-filled in by Google Chrome.
Now, had I not been checking my email, to ensure that they had sent me through my credentials (as Interactive Brokers didn’t for some reason when I tested their demo account), I may not have noticed that I was logging into a live account. It could have been disastrous if I’d started ttrading away thinking it was paper money. Even more so as you get £10k in demo funds and I’d deposited £10k in my live account when I took forex.com on a 24-hour trading signal test drive around The City.
It reminded me of when a trader thought that he was trading on a demo account and put $1bn worth of orders through and then sued his broker because they voided his €10m profits. But, that’s unlikely, to happen to me because even on demo accounts I don’t get thank lucky. And almost certainly won’t happen to you because why would you open a demo account after already having a live one unless you were reviewing it?
TradingView & MetaQuotes
I had a good play about with TradingView, as it’s now the go-to destination for traders. TradingView is a sort of social network for traders where you can view charts (they are excellent) and post trading ideas (a pinch of salt). As TradingView has grown, they have also become an execution venue too, so you can link your Forex.com trading account and deal straight from the charts. This shouldn’t be too much of a stretch for most traders as the charts on the Forex.com app and web-based platform are provided by TradingView (who incidentally are one of the largest financial-based websites in the world now).
You can also trade on MT4, if you are into that sort of thing…
Am I a Forexpert?
I did make money on day one, mainly thanks to putting on a GBPUSD trade that covered most of the losses from some of the other trades. When I used their trading ignals five years ago, I also made money. Day two wasn’t so good, on my way to an investor show, I gave back a few pennies but still ended up on top. But I have to admit my traders were calculated guesses rather than heavily researched positions. I don’t like holding positions overnight, as day trading reduces not only your margin requirements but also increases the amount of sleep you get because you don’t wake up with cold sweats in the middle of the night worrying about Asian interest rates.
Overall would I recommend forex.com? Well, yes, if you are going to trade Forex and don’t know where to start, it’s a massive brand with global reach and owned by a listed brokerage with an institutional pedigree. As far as box-ticking is concerned, they tick the lot. Or should I say pip the lots…
Pros
- Trading Signals
- Post Trade Analytics
- Forex Specialists
Cons
- Limited Market Range
- No DMA
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Pricing
(5)
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Market Access
(4.5)
-
Online Platform
(5)
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Customer Service
(5)
-
Research & Analysis
(5)
Overall
4.9Pepperstone: Automated Gold trading on MT4
- Costs & spreads: 0.5
- Minimum deposit: £1
- Account types: CFDs & spread betting
75.3% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Pepperstone Expert Review: Automated Global Trading
Is Pepperstone a good broker?
Pepperstone is a great trading platform for traders who want low costs, wide market access and wide range of trading platforms, including one of the best MT4/MT5 packages available to retail traders worldwide.
Pricing: Razor tight pricing (on their Razor account).
Market Access: Mainly FX, but lots more stocks are being added.
Platform & Apps: Pepperstone’s MT4 and cTrader packages are top-notch.
Customer Service: Local offices around the world and personal account managers for large active traders
Research & Analysis: Lots of education and technical and algo indicator documentation.
Pros
- Tight pricing
- Wide range of MT4 markets
- Pre-built MT4 indicator packages
Cons
- Limited market access
- Only third-party platforms
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Pricing
(5)
-
Market Access
(3.5)
-
Online Platform
(4)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(4)
Overall
4.1Spreadex: Gold trading with personal service
- Costs & spreads: 0.3
- Minimum deposit: £1
- Account types: CFDs & spread betting
72% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Spreadex Expert Review: Financial Trading With Excellent Personal Service
Is Spreadex a good broker?
Spreadex offer some of the best personal service for large spread betting and CFD traders and has built a reputation for great tech and trading and as such won “best spread betting broker” in the 2024 Good Money Guide Awards.
Pricing: Spreadex is super competitive and not afraid to undercut the competition
Market Access: Excellent, lots of access to exotic derivatives and smaller cap stocks
Platform & Apps: All developed in house and quick to add new features
Customer Service: Personal service is what sets Spreadex apart from other brokers
Research & Analysis: A good mix of technical indicators on the Spreadex platform and daily briefings from the financial dealing desk.
Pros
- Spread betting & CFDs
- Smaller cap stock trading
- Great customer service
Cons
- Not publically listed
- No physical investing
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Pricing
(4.5)
-
Market Access
(4.5)
-
Online Platform
(4)
-
Customer Service
(5)
-
Research & Analysis
(4)
Overall
4.4Plus500: Global CFD Platform for Trading Gold
👍Featured👍
- Markets available: 2,000
- Minimum deposit: £100
- Account types: CFDs
80% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
Plus500 Expert Rating: A global markets platform for global trading.
Is Plus500 a good broker?
Yes, Plus500’s trading platform has evolved nicely over the years from a simple interface to an intuitive execution venue for CFDs on the major markets and stocks.
Pricing: It’s dynamic so moves with the market for minimum spreads
Market Access: Very good, Plus500 are always first to try new asset classes
Platform & Apps: Basic execution, but it does the job well
Customer Service: Plus500 doesn’t have a phone option, but its live chat is sufficient
Research & Analysis: Some sentiment, but limited education and analysis.
Overall, Plus500 is a good online trading platform for traders who do not want to do anything more complicated than buy and sell CFDs. The broker does provide sentiment indicators and are quite transparent with costs and fees. In summary:
- Plus500 is a trading platform that offers CFDs.
- You can trade a range of assets on Plus500 including stocks, indices, and currencies.
- There are no commissions when placing a CFD trade on the Plus500 platform but there are some other fees to be aware of.
- The platform offers a range of features including a demo account, alerts, market news, and an economic calendar.
- There are platforms that offer more markets than Plus500.
Pros
- With Plus500, you can trade CFDs on a range of assets including shares, currencies, indices, and ETFs.
- There are no commissions when placing a CFD trade on Plus500’s platform.
- Plus500 offers a range of features to help traders navigate the markets and capitalise on opportunities including charting tools, alerts, an economic calendar, and market news.
Cons
- Other platforms offer more markets than Plus500.
- You can only trade CFDs on the platform (you can’t invest in stocks directly).
- You can’t contact the company by telephone if you require support.
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Pricing
(4.5)
-
Market Access
(5)
-
Online Platform
(5)
-
Customer Service
(4.5)
-
Research & Analysis
(4)
Overall
4.6IG: Best broker for spread betting on Gold
70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider.
IG Expert Review: The original and still one of the best brokers
Is IG a good trading platform?
Yes, IG provides an excellent all-round trading and investing brokerage service. IG pioneered online trading and financial spread betting for private clients and remains not only one of the largest online trading platforms, but also one of the best. IG stands out through deep liquidity, high market range and excellent added value such as trading tools and analysis.
Pros
- Vast range of markets
- Excellent liquidity & DMA equities
- Listed on the London Stock Exchange
Cons
- Customer service can be slow
- No DMA futures trading
- Still charges inactivity fee
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Pricing
(4.5)
-
Market Access
(5)
-
Online Platform
(5)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(5)
Overall
4.7Interactive Brokers: Discount Gold trading & conversions
- Costs & spreads: 0.0007%
- Minimum deposit: $2,000
- Account types: CFDs, DMA, futures & options
60% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
CMC Markets Expert Review: Great Tech For Active Traders
Is CMC Markets a good broker?
Yes, CMC Markets has always offered, and still does one of the best trading platforms for high-frequency and active traders. It’s a good choice for those who want to trade on tight spreads, with a platform built on exceptional tech.
Pros
- Excellent trading platform
- Good liquidity
- Unique sentiment tools
Cons
- Trading only, no investing account
- Limited smaller cap stocks
-
Pricing
(5)
-
Market Access
(4)
-
Online Platform
(5)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(5)
Overall
4.6CMC Markets: High-tech Gold trading platform
- Costs & spreads: 0.3
- Minimum deposit: £1
- Account types: CFDs & spread betting
74% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
CMC Markets Expert Review: Great Tech For Active Traders
Is CMC Markets a good broker?
Yes, CMC Markets has always offered, and still does one of the best trading platforms for high-frequency and active traders. It’s a good choice for those who want to trade on tight spreads, with a platform built on exceptional tech.
Pros
- Excellent trading platform
- Good liquidity
- Unique sentiment tools
Cons
- Trading only, no investing account
- Limited smaller cap stocks
-
Pricing
(5)
-
Market Access
(4)
-
Online Platform
(5)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(5)
Overall
4.6Saxo Markets: Best broker for Gold ETFs & investing
- Costs & spreads: 0.5
- Minimum deposit: £500
- Account types: CFDs, futures & options
70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Saxo Expert Review: Professional Grade Trading & Investing For Everyone
Is Saxo Markets a good broker?
Yes, Saxo has a great choice of accounts for beginners with SaxoInvestor and for professionals, the more sophisticated SaxoTrader go provides direct market access. The pro platform, analysis, and direct market access may be too complicated for beginners. But, for experienced traders, its coverage, commissions and research are unrivalled.
Saxo Markets is an excellent trading platform for retail traders and investors who want institutional-grade pricing, robust execution and wide market coverage.
Awards: Saxo won best investing app and best DMA/Professional account in 2024. Before that, in our 2023 awards, Saxo won ‘Best CFD Broker’, and ‘Best DMA & Professional Trading Account’. In 2022 Saxo also scooped ‘Best Bond Broker’.
Pricing: Commissions have just been reduced further making Saxo one of the cheapest brokers
Market Access: Saxo offers a huge range of markets for both derivatives trading and physical investing
Platform & Apps: Saxo has an industry-leading robust workhorse of a platform
Customer Service: Experienced dealers for active larger customers
Research & Analysis: Some of the best opinions on the markets around.
Plus, with Saxo posting its best financial results in history (with over $118bn customer funds on account) and now that it has been 70% bought out by J. Safra Sarasin Group, they will be in an even better position to continue to provide excellent market access. This, combined with founder Kim Fournais still owning 28% will keep the firm’s customer-first ethos intact.
Pros
- Direct market access
- Low commissions
- Robust trading platform
Cons
- Seen as a trading platform for professionals
- Have to subscribe for live prices
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Pricing
(4.5)
-
Market Access
(5)
-
Online Platform
(5)
-
Customer Service
(5)
-
Research & Analysis
(5)
Overall
4.9eToro: Copy other people’s Gold trading
51% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money
eToro Expert Reviews: One Of The Most Innovative Brokers Around The World
Is eToro a good broker?
Yes, eToro does have its flaws for experienced investors, but if you are just getting started eToro is a great introduction to financial markets. eToro is actually a very innovative trading platform offering copy trading, social networking and unleveraged CFDs.
Pros
- Really simple to use
- Social and copy-trading
- Set your own leverage
- Pre-built sector portfolios
Cons
- Can only trade and invest in USD
- No SIPPs or ISA
- No direct market access
-
Pricing
(4.5)
-
Market Access
(5)
-
Online Platform
(4.5)
-
Customer Service
(4.5)
-
Research & Analysis
(4.5)
Overall
4.6XTB: Good Gold trading educational material
- Costs & spreads: 0.35
- Minimum deposit: £1
- Equity overnight financing: -0.02341% / -0.00159% DAILY
- Account types: CFDs
81% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
XTB Review: A Great All Round Trading & Investing Platform
Is XTB a good broker?
XTB, are a decent all-round trading platform and a good choice for most small-to-medium sized CFD traders. They are publically listed in Poland and offer, competitive spreads on a fairly wide range of markets.
The key things to focus on when considering trading with XTB are:
- They have their own proprietary trading platform. When I interviewed Omar Arnaout, the XTB CEO Omar Arnout, he said “I’m really proud of our platform and honestly believe it’s one of the best in the market.” Rightly so.
- They really push client education, XTB won “Best Trading Platform Education” in our 2023 awards (although they didn’t show up to collect the trophy, they never do). You can read their Q&A on forex education here.
- Customer service is paramount. Omar said that “first and foremost is the customer service”. I really agree with this as I think it’s important to have a few different trading accounts (diversify, diversify, diversify) and you’ll trade more with the broker that treats you best.
Pros
- Publically listed
- Mulitple platform choices
- Innovative order types
Cons
- Not UK based
- No DMA
-
Pricing
(4)
-
Market Access
(4)
-
Online Platform
(4)
-
Customer Service
(4)
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Research & Analysis
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4Compare Gold Trading Platforms
| Gold Broker | Gold Trading Costs | Minimum Deposit | GMG Rating | More Info | Risk Warning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.8 | £100 | See Platform | 70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
 | 0.8 | £100 | See Platform | 75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. | |
 | 0.5 | £1 | See Platform | 75.3% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
| 0.3 | £100 | See Platform | 80% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. | |
 | 0.0007% | $2,000 | See Platform | 60% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
| 0.3 | £1 | See Platform | 64% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
 | 0.3 | £250 | See Platform | 70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider. | |
| 0.5 | £1 | See Platform | 65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
 | 0.9 | $50 | See Platform | 51% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money | |
| 0.3 | £1 | See Platform | 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
 | 0.35 | £1 | See Platform | 73% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
 | 19 cents | £10 | See Platform | 66.95% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider |
Best Gold Trading Platforms For Spread Betting/CFDs & Futures
No one broker offers a combination of all three and only Saxo and Interactive Brokers offer gold futures trading to retail clients in the UK.
You can spread bet and trade CFDs on gold/silver prices directly with a large number of spread betting firms, such as IG. Spread betting is speculating on the direction of an asset price. You don’t actually own the gold physically – just the price movements of gold.
If you expect gold price to rally, you open a long position in gold, which is either based on spot prices (position normally closed at the end of the session) or futures prices (depending on the latest contract month, called the front month).
On the other hand, if you anticipate gold prices to drop, you open a short position.
The key in spread betting is the position size: How much are you going to bet on each position? Too large (relative to your equity) the position may hit your portfolio hard if prices move adversely. Too small the gains are insufficient to compensate for the losses. The art of spread betting is selecting a position size that makes the gains larger than losses over time.
Note that spread betting gold prices is more speculative that owning gold ETF because the leverage is higher. Some spreadbet instruments are based on gold futures prices, which need to be rolled over at certain months, adding costs to the position.
CFDs are a more global product for European traders as they do not benefit from the UK tax breaks. Futures are really for larger traders as they are traded on an exchange with have large minimum contract sizes.
Best Gold Options Trading
Another way to bet on gold prices is to buy options on gold/silver prices. Options are financial derivatives that leverage one’s position on the direction of gold prices.
IG offers gold options via spread bets and CFDs, and you can trade gold options with DMA through Interactive Brokers and Saxo.
To acquire options, you pay a premium to buy or sell gold/silver at certain prices. This premium depends on price volatility, interest rates and the ‘strike price’. That is, the price you wish to buy gold. You can win or lose a large amount of capital with options since options can expire worthless. On the other side, you can sell options for a premium (option writing).
Clearly, options are not a suitable avenue for everyone due to the complexity of the instrument and the embedded leverage of the contract. Options are short-term instruments that magnifying the returns on gold prices.
What are the cost of trading and investing in gold?
Depending on what you own, there are cost in investing in gold. Owning physical gold, for example, entails storage charges and insurance cost. Security is also another issue.
Trading financial gold prices – such as spread betting – will incur transaction costs slippage and overnight financing charges. Over time, these trading frictions are not cheap. You will have to beat these frictions to make money in trading gold.
Overtrading is a risk for traders because of these frictions. Overtrading means a trader is buying and selling too frequently – instead of waiting for good market opportunities.
Another word of warning: the cost of trading gold often increases during volatile sessions.
During a period of market upheaval, because brokers will widen spreads to protect their positions. Slippage will increase tremendously.
When the price moves are dramatic – say limit up for five consecutive sessions – exchanges may even will increase margins to calm things down. By demanding more collateral may force a liquidation of positions.
A recent famous disruption in commodity trading was Nickel in March 2022. Prices soared in the initial phase of the Ukraine war. LME ceased trading immediately and canceled trades.
What are the risks in buying gold?
From the investment point of view, all assets carry risk. Not all that glitters is gold.
Warren Buffett, for example, has advised the public against buying too much gold. This is because the metal has no earnings, dividends, and certainly no growth.
“Gold,” explained the guru, “has two shortcomings, being neither of much use nor procreative….if you own one ounce of gold for an eternity, you will still own one ounce at its end.” That’s right, gold does not grow, nor compound. In his eyes, gold is inferior to the likes of Coca-cola (KO) and Apple (AAPL) since these fantastic companies grow over time, do share buybacks, and distribute dividends.
For example, since late 2022 Nvidia (NVDA) rocketed nearly 900 percent as its revenue soars from increased AI usage. You will not find these sort of mad growth in gold, ever.
Another risk come from leveraged positions in gold. Whenever traders borrowed money to increase the position size in gold, it invites troubles. Gold prices can be very volatile at times.
Therefore, investors should only allocate a sensible amount of their portfolio in gold, and only trade the metal if they have sufficient technical knowledge to do so.
Like all asset classes, gold prices go up and down. Buy gold at the wrong price or at the wrong time can result in a significant portfolio drawdown. For example, owning gold in the early eighties after the bubble burst led to a significant wealth contraction.
More importantly, gold bull markets don’t come around all that often. The last time we had a big bull was back in 2001 to 2011 – ten years of consecutive price increase. After that, prices slumped by 40-50 percent. (Gold miners performed even worst – some collapsed by 80-90 percent.)
So the second risk of trading gold is missing out the long bull in gold. This is known as the ‘sin of omission’.
Then, it must be pointed out that when trading gold futures and options, be aware of the inherent leverage. Gold prices themselves are already volatile enough. Coupled with leverage, this is a recipe for volatile – and sometimes disastrous – results. Ergo, the third risk in trading gold is overleverage. Do not fall into this trap.
The last risk in gold trading is missing out on opportunities elsewhere. When gold is in a bear market, a trader should concentrate on other assets instead of forcing trades in gold.
What moves gold prices in trading?
Gold is a macro asset. It derives its price pattern mostly from macro conditions.
Of course, supply and demand is important. But these statistics are often backward looking and contain little or no predictability that traders can use. And then there is the issue of accuracy. Few authoritative statistics are available to confirm the global gold supply or demand. Hence, these statistics may not impact gold’s day-to-day prices.
What, then, moves gold prices?
Economic Indicators
Since gold is a macro asset, economic indicators can swing its price chart sharply. Data such as US GDP, unemployment, Fed minutes or FOMC meetings are some of the catalysts that affect gold prices.
Sometimes, a financial crisis will also hit gold prices acutely. The Euro crisis in 2009-2011 sparked a rush into safe haven assets – assets like the Japanese Yen, Swiss Franc and gold. The latter soared from $1,300 per ounce to $2,000.
Fundamental economics
Later, quantitative easing programs also led to periodic rallies in gold prices. In June 2020 during the pandemic, gold prices surged as the Fed sought to resuscitate the wilting economy by pumping an enormous amount of credit into the banking system. Part of this liquidity flowed into gold.
Market sentiment
The general market sentiment also impact gold prices, perhaps inversely. When ‘risk off’ strikes, it may lead to a frantic buying of gold.
Technical indicators
Lastly, technical patterns in gold is equally important. For two reasons. First, strength begets strength. A strong gold price will attract more speculative capital and this will push gold prices higher. Second, many funds trade based on price movements alone. A breakout above, say the round number level at $1,500, will immediately cause a cascade of buy orders. Trend traders follow gold trends with trend-following indicators like 150-day moving average. Of course, technical patterns may fail. A failed breakout leads to whipsaws. An uptrend can reverse abruptly.
Financial prices are not set in stone. There are many factors can can move prices. Ultimately, gold prices are based on supply and demand. If you are long term investors buying at $1500 or $1550 makes little difference. The issue is finding the suitable strategy for you.
⚠️ FCA Regulation
All gold trading platforms that operate in the UK must be regulated by the FCA. The FCA is the Financial Conduct Authority and is responsible for ensuring that UK gold brokers are properly capitalised, treat customers fairly and have sufficient compliance systems in place. We only feature gold trading platforms that are regulated by the FCA, where your funds are protected by the FSCS.
Gold Trading FAQs:
IG is one of the best brokers to trade gold with as you can speculate via tax-efficient spread betting, as well as trade CFDs and invest in physical gold through shares and ETFs.
You can either trade gold directly on exchange with a futures and options broker, or speculate on derivatives through an OTC product like spread betting or CFDs.
You can but it is very expensive to store and take delivery of enough gold to speculate on. It is much cheaper and safer to trade gold through an FCA-regulated commodities broker.
Yes, you can make money trading gold if you time the market correctly. However, as with all speculative trading, a large percentage of retail traders lose money if using leverage.
The safest or lowest-risk way to buy gold is to invest in a Gold ETF through an FCA-regulated investment platform. However, it’s important to note that if the price of gold goes down your investments will be worth less.
Richard Berry
This article contains affiliate links which may earn us some form of income if you go on to open an account. However, if you would rather visit the gold brokers via a non-affiliate link, you can view their gold trading pages directly here:
