How we check a broker before ranking it

The access test comes first

The first check is access, because a broker that cannot serve an Australian resident is not a candidate no matter how its platform looks. We ask whether an account can be opened from Australia, whether it can be funded by PayID or bank transfer in Australian dollars, and whether a withdrawal back to the same method is described in the broker's own documents. If any of those three fails, the broker drops out before costs or platforms are discussed.

The regulator position is part of that test. FxPro is licensed by the FCA (UK) and CySEC. It does not hold an ASIC licence, so Australian residents deal with an offshore entity — check this before funding. We state that caveat on the pages where the broker appears, because the entity a reader contracts with matters more than the logo on the homepage.

Any number on the site can be rebuilt by hand from four inputs

To reproduce a figure, collect four inputs: the reference price shown with its timestamp, the contract size of 100 oz per lot, the pip size of 0.01, and the leverage cap of 1:200. With those you can rebuild pip value, notional value and margin for any lot size. For a 0.10-lot position at a reference price of approximately 4275.0, notional is 0.10 times 100 times 4275.0, which is 42,750 US dollars, and margin at 1:200 is that divided by 200, about 213.75 US dollars before conversion to Australian dollars. The site's worked figure of about $85.50 reflects the conversion step.

Pip value is rebuilt the same way. Multiply lots by 100 to get ounces, then multiply by 0.01 to get the dollar value of a one-pip move. For 0.10 lots that is 0.10 times 100 times 0.01, which is 0.10 US dollars per pip. If you want the figure in Australian dollars, apply the AUD/USD rate the page states. Position size is rebuilt by dividing your risk in dollars by the product of pip value per lot and stop distance in pips. Every step uses multiplication or division only, so a calculator and a pen should agree.

If your hand calculation differs from the site, check three things in order: whether you used the same reference price and timestamp, whether you used the same AUD/USD rate, and whether you rounded at an intermediate step. The site rounds only at the final display, so rounding early is the most common cause of a mismatch. The formulas are stated in words next to each calculator precisely so this check is possible. A number you cannot rebuild is a number you should not rely on, and the aim of publishing the method is that no figure here falls into that category.

When two sources disagree the site shows the conflict rather than picking a winner

When a broker document and a regulator register disagree, the regulator register takes precedence for licence status and the disagreement is noted on the page. A register entry is the authoritative record of whether a licence exists and what it permits; a marketing page is not. If FxPro's documentation describes an entity or permission that the register does not support, the site states what the register says and flags the difference. It does not average the two or choose the friendlier version. The reader sees the conflict and the sources, which is more useful than a clean sentence built on the weaker source.

When two market data sources disagree on price, the site keeps the reference feed as the single price source and does not blend feeds. Gold trades continuously across venues, so two feeds can differ by small amounts at the same moment. Blending them would produce a number that matches neither and cannot be reproduced. Instead the reference price and its timestamp are shown, and the page explains that a broker quote may differ. For calculated outputs, consistency matters more than matching any particular venue, so one feed is used throughout a calculation.

When a broker's own documents disagree with each other, for example an older page and a newer schedule, the site uses the more recent document and records that a superseded version exists. If recency cannot be established, the fact is marked unconfirmed. The rule across all three cases is the same: name the sources, state the conflict, and let the reader see the basis for what is published. A methodology page that silently resolves disagreements is indistinguishable from one that guesses, and a reader cannot audit a guess.

Every figure traces to one of four source classes

Pricing figures on this site come from a live XAU/USD feed referenced to the spot price, which we show at approximately 4275.0 as a working reference. That feed supplies the current price used in examples; it is not a broker quote and is not executable. Contract specifications are fixed and come from the instrument definition: one standard lot equals 100 oz and one pip equals 0.01. Broker facts, including platform list and entity details, come from FxPro's own published documentation. Regulatory statements come from the named regulator's public register. Each class is labelled so you know whether a number is live, fixed, or documentary.

Margin and position-size figures are calculated, not sourced. They are derived from the reference price, the contract size of 100 oz, and the leverage cap of 1:200 that applies to Australian clients. A worked example on the site shows that at 1:200 a 0.10-lot gold position needs about $85.50 margin. That figure is arithmetic from the three inputs above, so if the reference price moves the output moves with it. We do not present calculated margin as a broker statement; it is an illustration of the formula, and your platform will compute its own number from the price at the moment of the trade.

Cost figures are described by structure, not by amount. Because no spread, commission, swap or minimum deposit number was supplied for this site, we do not publish one. Instead we explain what a gold trading cost consists of: the difference between bid and ask at entry and exit, any commission charged per lot, and any financing adjustment for positions held overnight. What each of those comes to depends on the account type, the platform, and market conditions at the time. Treat any cost figure you see elsewhere as account-specific until you confirm it in your own platform.

Funding facts are limited to the methods confirmed for Australian readers: PayID and bank transfer, with amounts in Australian dollars. We do not state processing times, fees or minimums because those were not supplied and vary by method and provider. The regulator statement is reproduced exactly as given: FxPro is licensed by the FCA (UK) and CySEC and does not hold an ASIC licence, so Australian residents deal with an offshore entity. That sentence is a sourced fact, not our opinion, and it is the single most important line on any broker page for an Australian reader.

Some figures are withheld on purpose and the reason is stated

Spread, commission, swap and minimum deposit figures are not published because none were supplied for this site, and publishing an unsourced number would be worse than publishing none. These are the figures readers most want and most often see quoted loosely elsewhere, which is exactly why an unsourced version is dangerous: it looks precise and is unverifiable. The site instead explains what each cost consists of and what it depends on, and directs you to the broker's own schedule and your platform for the actual amount. A stated gap is honest; a filled gap is not.

Individual trade recommendations, performance claims and profit projections are not published because the site is a toolkit, not a signal service. Gold is a high-risk instrument, leverage up to 1:200 magnifies losses as readily as gains, and a position can lose more than the margin committed if the market gaps. Publishing a target price or a projected return would imply a confidence the method cannot support. The site shows formulas and risk framing so you can size your own position, and it stops short of telling you what to trade.

Personalised financial advice is not published because the site is general information and does not know your circumstances. Tax treatment of offshore trading, suitability of leverage, and the right position size for your balance are individual questions. The methodology can show that at 1:200 a 0.10-lot gold position needs about $85.50 margin, but it cannot tell you whether that position is appropriate for you. Where a figure is withheld, the page says so and says why, so an absent number is not mistaken for an oversight or a zero.

A live price and a broker quote can differ for four ordinary reasons

The reference price on this site is a spot snapshot from one feed, while your broker quote is the price at which that broker will deal with you, and the two are not the same thing by design. A broker quote includes the spread, so the ask you pay is above the mid price and the bid you receive is below it. The reference price sits closer to the mid. That structural difference alone explains a gap before any market movement is considered, and it is why a calculator using the reference price will not reproduce your order ticket exactly.

Timing is the second reason. The reference price updates on a timer and carries a timestamp, so by the time you read it the market may have moved. A fast gold market can cover several pips in the interval between a page load and an order. The third reason is venue and liquidity: gold is quoted across multiple markets, and different venues can show slightly different prices at the same instant, especially around news. The fourth is that some brokers apply their own price adjustments during volatile periods or outside core hours.

The practical consequence is that you should treat the site's price as a teaching input, not a quote. Use it to understand how pip value and margin respond to price, then read the live quote in your platform before sizing a trade. The difference is usually small in normal conditions and can widen when liquidity thins. Nothing on this site is an execution price, and no figure here should be entered into an order as though it were. The timestamp and the source label exist so you can see exactly what you are looking at.

Live prices refresh on a timer while broker facts wait for a human

The XAU/USD reference price refreshes automatically on a fixed interval from the price feed, and the timestamp beside it shows when it last updated. Calculator outputs that depend on price, such as notional value and margin, recalculate on the same cycle so they never display a price and a margin figure from different moments. The contract specification constants, 100 oz per lot and 0.01 per pip, are not refreshed because they do not change; they are stored as fixed values. Currency conversion rates refresh on their own schedule, which may not match the price feed exactly, and the page notes the rate used.

Broker facts are reviewed by hand, not scraped. The platform list, the serving entity, and the regulator statement are checked against FxPro's published documentation and the regulator's register before publication and at each scheduled review. Nothing in that category updates automatically, because a wrong entity or licence statement is worse than a slightly old one. If a review finds a change, the page is updated and the review date moves; if no change is found, only the date moves. The review date is visible so you can judge how current the broker information is.

Editorial explanations, risk warnings and methodology text are written and reviewed by hand and carry no automatic refresh. They change only when the underlying facts change or when a clearer wording is needed. This is deliberate: a paragraph about how margin works should not shift because a price ticked. The split is therefore simple: anything that is a market observation refreshes on a timer, anything that is a statement about a company, a regulator or a formula is human-reviewed. When you see a figure on the site, the label tells you which side of that line it sits on.

Each calculator is a short formula stated in words

The pip-value calculator multiplies three things: the number of lots, the contract size of 100 oz per lot, and the pip size of 0.01. For gold quoted in US dollars, the result is expressed in USD and then converted to Australian dollars at the rate in effect. In words: lots times 100 times 0.01 gives the dollar value of one pip. A 0.10-lot position therefore has a pip value of one tenth of a standard lot's, and the calculator shows that relationship rather than hiding it. No rounding is applied until the final display, so intermediate steps stay reproducible by hand.

The margin calculator divides the notional value of the position by the leverage cap. Notional value is lots times 100 oz times the reference price. With the reference price at approximately 4275.0, a 0.10-lot position has a notional of 0.10 times 100 times 4275.0, which is 42,750 US dollars. Dividing by 200 gives about 213.75 US dollars, and converting at the prevailing rate produces the roughly $85.50 Australian figure used in the worked example. The calculator states the leverage input as the 1:200 cap, not as a recommended setting; using less leverage raises the margin requirement proportionally.

The position-size calculator works backwards from risk. You enter an account balance in Australian dollars, a risk percentage, and a stop distance in pips. The formula multiplies balance by risk percentage to get risk in dollars, then divides by the product of pip value per lot and stop distance to get lots. In words: risk in dollars divided by the dollars lost per lot at that stop equals position size. The output is capped by available margin at 1:200, so the calculator shows both the risk-based size and the margin-constrained size and flags when the second is smaller.

The currency conversion step uses a single AUD/USD rate applied consistently across all calculators on a given page load, so the numbers reconcile with each other. We do not blend rates from different times within one calculation. If you reproduce a figure by hand and get a small difference, the usual cause is a different AUD/USD rate rather than a different formula. The formula itself is published in words above each calculator so the arithmetic can be checked line by line without trusting the tool.

The limits of what we test

We do not test with live money and we do not run a funded account through every scenario, so our pages cannot tell you how a broker behaves in a fast market or during a withdrawal dispute. What we can do is read the documents carefully, date them, and keep the description of costs honest about its own gaps. A page that says what it does not know is more useful than one that pretends to a completeness it does not have.

We also do not rank by platform preference or by the size of an affiliate payment. The order of brokers on a page reflects the access test, then the clarity and completeness of the broker's own published terms. If a reader finds a discrepancy between our dated figure and the broker's current one, the corrections page explains how to report it.

The method has four limits a reader should know before relying on it

The first limit is that calculated margin is an illustration, not a broker statement. It uses the reference price and the 1:200 cap, but your platform applies its own price at the moment of the trade and may apply account-specific rules. The worked figure of about $85.50 for a 0.10-lot position is correct arithmetic from the stated inputs; it is not a promise that your platform will show that number. Always confirm the margin requirement in the order ticket before committing, because the ticket is the binding figure and the calculator is a teaching aid.

The second limit is that cost coverage is structural rather than numerical. Because no spread, commission, swap or minimum deposit figure was supplied, the site cannot tell you what gold trading will cost you in dollars. It can tell you what the costs consist of and what they depend on, which is account type, platform and market conditions. A reader who needs a dollar cost must get it from the broker's own schedule or the platform's quote. We would rather leave a gap than fill it with an unsourced number that looks authoritative.

The third limit is regulatory distance. The regulator caveat is accurate as given, and it means an Australian reader is dealing with an offshore entity. The method cannot assess how that affects dispute resolution, compensation arrangements, or tax treatment in Australia, because those depend on your circumstances and on rules outside the scope of a methodology page. The fourth limit is that the reference price is a single snapshot, not a tradable quote. It is useful for teaching the formulas and useless for execution. Both limits are stated on the pages where the affected figures appear.

A broker fact carries a review date and is re-checked on a fixed cycle

Every broker fact on the site carries the date it was last verified against the source. The verification is a direct check of FxPro's published documentation for the platform list and serving entity, and of the named regulator's public register for the licence statement. The date shown is the date of that check, not the date the page was written. If you are reading a broker fact and want to know how much weight to give it, look at that date first. A recent date means the fact was confirmed; an older date means it is due for re-check and should be treated with more caution.

Re-checks run on a fixed cycle rather than when someone remembers. Each scheduled review repeats the same steps: confirm the entity that serves Australian clients, confirm the platform list, and confirm the regulator wording. The regulator caveat for Australia is reproduced verbatim at each review so it cannot drift into a softer paraphrase. If a review cannot reach the source, the fact is marked as unconfirmed rather than left looking current, and the previous date remains visible. The cycle is deliberately short enough that a licence change would be caught before it misleads many readers.

A dated fact is not a guarantee of future status. Licences are granted, varied and withdrawn, and a company can change which entity serves a market. The date tells you when the statement was true; it cannot tell you what happened yesterday. For that reason the site tells you to verify the current licence position yourself before funding an account, using the regulator's register. The methodology exists to make that check easy and to show its own working, not to replace the check. Dating the fact is how we keep the page honest between reviews.

Where the numbers come from

Every figure we publish is taken from the broker's own documents, and each one carries the date it was read. That includes margin requirements, leverage caps, contract sizes and the platform list. For gold, the working assumptions are fixed: XAU/USD, one standard lot equals 100 oz, one pip equals 0.01, and the reference price used in examples is about 4275.0. At the maximum leverage available to Australian clients, up to 1:200, a 0.10-lot gold position needs about $85.50 margin.

That leverage figure is a cap, not a setting to aim at. We describe it because readers need to know the ceiling, not because using the full ceiling is sensible. Where we do not have a number from the broker's documents, we describe what the cost consists of and what it depends on rather than guessing, and we say plainly that the reader should confirm it with the broker.