What does XAU/USD mean?
XAU/USD reads as “gold against the US dollar”. XAU is the ISO 4217 code for gold. The prefix “X” is used for units that are not a country's currency (XAG for silver, XPT for platinum, XPD for palladium), and “AU” comes from gold's chemical symbol, Au (from the Latin aurum). USD is the US dollar.
XAUUSD, with no slash, is exactly the same pair. The slash version is the traditional way to write a currency pair; the joined version is how the symbol typically appears on trading platforms such as MetaTrader.
In any pair, the first element is the base and the second is the quote currency. For XAU/USD the base is a fixed quantity of gold (one troy ounce) and the quote is expressed in dollars. The price therefore answers a single question: how many dollars does it take to buy one troy ounce of gold?
How to read an XAU/USD quote
The number on screen is an amount in dollars per troy ounce. If the price moves from 2,500.00 to 2,510.00 (purely illustrative figures, not a real quote), an ounce is worth 10 dollars more, a 0.4% gain against the dollar.
Two consequences are worth understanding from the start.
- The price blends two values. A move in XAU/USD reflects both gold itself and the dollar. A weakening dollar can lift gold priced in dollars even if nothing else changes.
- Gold is quoted in other currencies too. XAU/EUR, XAU/GBP and XAU/CHF all exist. The euro price is roughly XAU/USD divided by EUR/USD, so gold in euros can behave differently from gold in dollars. XAU/USD remains the global benchmark for liquidity.
The troy ounce: the unit behind the price
The ounce used for gold is not the everyday ounce. A troy ounce weighs 31.1035 g (31.1034768 g exactly), against 28.35 g for the avoirdupois ounce used on kitchen scales. One kilogram of gold is therefore about 32.15 troy ounces.
To convert an ounce price into a gram price, divide by 31.1035. With gold at 2,500 dollars an ounce (illustrative), a gram is worth about 80.4 dollars. In the wholesale market, a standard London “Good Delivery” bar weighs roughly 400 troy ounces, a little over 12 kg.
Bid, ask and spread: the two prices in every quote
Every quote carries two prices. The bid is the price at which you can sell; the ask (or offer) is the price at which you can buy. The ask is always above the bid, and the gap between them is the spread.
Illustrative example: a bid of 2,500.00 and an ask of 2,500.30 give a spread of 0.30 dollars per ounce. With a contract of 100 ounces per lot (a common convention, but set by each broker), that is roughly 30 dollars of entry cost per lot before the market has moved at all.
The spread is not fixed. It widens when liquidity thins (the weekly open, the end of the New York session, bank holidays) and around major data releases. The most liquid windows are covered in our guide to gold trading hours.
Spot, futures and CFDs: three ways to follow the same price
The same underlying asset can be reached through several instruments. Their prices are close, but never strictly identical.
| Instrument | What it is | Things to know |
|---|---|---|
| Spot | The price of gold for prompt settlement, quoted in a global over-the-counter market that runs almost continuously. | This is the classic “XAU/USD” quote. The wholesale benchmark is the LBMA Gold Price, set in London twice a day; brokers display a spot price derived from the interbank market. |
| Futures | A standardised contract to buy or sell gold at a set expiry. The standard COMEX gold contract covers 100 troy ounces. | A centralised market with public volume. The futures price differs from spot (cost of carry), and rolling to a new expiry can create a visible gap on a chart. |
| Gold CFD | A contract with a broker that mirrors the price change, without owning any gold. | Leverage, spread, financing charges (swap) and counterparty risk. This is usually what traders see on MetaTrader under the symbol XAUUSD. |
None of these is physical gold: buying bars or coins involves premiums, storage costs and a resale price that differs from the screen quote. For retail clients in Europe, leverage on gold CFDs is capped (20:1 under ESMA measures), precisely because these products are considered high risk.
What moves the price of XAU/USD
Gold pays no coupon or dividend, so its value depends on what investors would rather hold instead of bonds or cash. The main drivers are real interest rates, the dollar, central bank policy (rates and gold purchases), inflation, geopolitical tension and risk appetite.
No single factor dominates all the time; the weight of each changes with the backdrop. Our guide to what moves the gold price explains these mechanisms and their limits, and the one on real yields and gold goes deeper on the most studied of them.
Seeing XAUUSD on MetaTrader 5
On MetaTrader 5, gold normally appears as a broker-specific CFD or spot symbol. A few practical pointers:
- The symbol name varies. Depending on the broker you may find XAUUSD, GOLD, XAUUSDm, XAUUSD.r or another variant. In Market Watch, right-click and choose Symbols to bring it up.
- The Specification window (right-click the symbol) shows the contract size (often 100 ounces per lot, but check), digits, minimum volume and volume step, swap rates, trading sessions and the minimum stop distance.
- The chart plots the bid price by default; the ask line can be switched on in the chart properties, which makes the spread visible.
- The value of a move depends on lot size and on how the broker defines a pip or point: see the guide to XAUUSD pip, lot size and value.
The Windows app of XAU Terminal connects to MetaTrader 5 so the macro context sits next to your charts; the details are on the features page.
Terms worth knowing
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| XAU | ISO 4217 code for gold (one troy ounce of fine gold). |
| Troy ounce | Unit of mass for precious metals: 31.1035 g. |
| Bid / Ask | The selling and buying prices displayed; the ask is above the bid. |
| Spread | The gap between ask and bid; the implicit cost of a trade. |
| Lot | Standard position size; its conversion into ounces depends on the broker. |
| Pip / point | Smallest price increment; its definition varies between brokers. |
| Slippage | The difference between the requested price and the execution price, common in fast markets. |
| Swap | Financing charge or credit applied to CFD positions held overnight. |
| Leverage / margin | Mechanism that allows a position larger than the deposited capital, amplifying both gains and losses. |
| LBMA Gold Price | The wholesale benchmark for gold, set in London. |