Trading gold can be tricky if your broker doesn't provide a good spread, much less a well-regulated environment. These Australian brokers are specifically picked for those two reasons.
Gold often becomes one of the most popular choices for precious metals trading. Because of its unique position within the world's economic and political systems, gold is almost always sought after. This provides excellent liquidity and opportunities to profit in nearly all conditions. It is also a hedging instrument during high inflation and is a safe haven when the global market is in turmoil.
There are different ways to acquire gold, one of which is to buy it directly in its physical form. But, that can be a problem if the traders do not have a safety box. A more practical way to trade gold is through Contract for Difference (CFD).
However, a trader should use the service of a CFD broker that provides access to the gold market to do this. Choosing the right broker is very important and for gold trading, what traders should look at first is the gold spreads. Aside from that, checking the broker's regulations and security is highly recommended. Australian traders, for instance, are generally inclined to trade with ASIC-regulated brokers. If we talk about this particular condition, which are the most recommended ASIC brokers for gold trading?
Contents
1. IC Markets
One of the best ASIC brokers for gold trading is probably IC Markets. This broker is known for its raw spread account where they offer one of the tightest spreads in the market. This also works for gold trading. For now, the minimum spread of XAU/USD in IC Markets is 0.000 pips with an average of 1.083 pips for the raw spread account. For the standard account, the minimum spread is 1 pip with an average of 2.083 pips. Traders won't be charged a commission fee in the standard account, so in the end, it still offers good trading costs.
IC Markets also offers a different way to trade gold through Futures CFD. This product allows traders to enjoy spreads as low as 0.00 pips. To maximize their buying powers, IC Markets provides leverage up to 1:500 straight from MetaTrader 4, 5, or the cTrader platform. There is no need to install a new platform solely for trading CFD.
IC Markets is an online forex broker operating under the company of International Capital Markets Pty Ltd. Traders under the Australian jurisdiction are provided with the trading service of IC Markets AU that is headquartered in Australia and licensed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
On the other hand, non-Australian traders who open an account in this broker are registered under IC Markets SEY that is based in Seychelles, and regulated under the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (SFSA). The dual operation is a result of the relatively new rules from ASIC that prohibit their regulated broker to offer trading services outside Australia.
Classified as an ECN broker, IC Markets provide clients with MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader as platform trading options. This broker also follows market trends to include Cryptocurrencies as one of its products, enriching its already wide selection of trading assets that include Currencies, Indices, Metals, Energies, Softs, Stocks, as well as Bonds.
The minimum deposit in IC Markets is in the middle range compared to other ASIC-regulated brokers, as it reaches $200 for every client. Market analysis materials are also prepared regularly for trading insights on IC Markets's official website, proving their competence to serve their traders with important contents created by market experts that work specifically for them.
For payment methods, IC Markets allows funding and withdrawal via wire transfer, credit card, PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, FasaPay, UnionPay, as well as Bitcoin via BitPay. The more interesting aspect from this broker is its multi-base currencies that include USD, AUD, EUR, GBP, SGD, NZD, JPY, CHF, HKD, and CAD.
As the trading technology in IC Markets is highly equipped with co-located servers and extremely low latency (especially on cTrader), the broker is widely known for its capability in hosting traders with the special needs for high-frequency trading as well as scalping.
To sum up, IC Markets is a fitting destination for active traders looking for a well-regulated broker. IC Markets is also flexible in terms of base currency and payment methods, signaling their commitment to welcome traders beyond their home country. As of late 2019, IC Markets provided their website in 18 international languages including English, Korean, Indonesian, French, Spanish, Italian, Malay, German, and Chinese.
2. Pepperstone
Pepperstone is another great ASIC regulated broker for gold trading. This broker has razor-sharp pricing from Tier 1 banks. That means traders can get competitive spreads from as low as 0.05 points on spot gold with no commissions. Pepperstone uses tier liquidity to make sure all commodity trades are filled in full with no partial execution or requotes. In fact, they claim to have 99.95% fill rates. Pepperstone also offers gold CFD trading with leverage and no expiry or rollovers.
Pepperstone was founded in 2010 by a team of experienced traders with a shared commitment to improve the world of online trading. Based in Melbourne, Australia, they grew to become one of the largest forex brokers in the world. If traders want to find a broker that provides low spreads, fast execution, and award-winning support, then the answer is Pepperstone.
Pepperstone has a strong legality guarantee because it has been licensed by the Australian regulator ASIC and FCA. Traders' funds can be deposited in segregated accounts at top Australian banks, one of which is the National Australia Bank (NAB). Therefore, the safety of funds is not a concern if a trader chooses to open an account in Pepperstone.
They succeeded in collaborating with 23 top banks to bring Bid to investors instantly via optical fiber. This allows all orders to be executed 100 percent automatically with low latency up to 0.05 milliseconds, without dealing desk intervention and requotes, as well as with super low trading costs.
Trusted by over 73,000 traders around the world, Pepperstone processes an average of USD12.55 billion of trading volumes every day. Because of that, they have many awards such as:
- The Best Global Forex ECN Broker 2019 and Best Forex Trading Support-Europe
- Best Australian Broker and Best Trading Platform 2018 by Compareforexbrokers.com
- Best Forex ECN Broker, Best Forex Trading Support, and Best Forex Trading Conditions by UK Forex Awards 2018
With the many rewards gained, Pepperstone hopes to attract more and more traders from all over the world. The rising performance of Pepperstone is not only due to the super-tight spreads and fast execution that it provides, but also because many traders are interested in trading with deposits in currencies other than US Dollars.
For this reason, Pepperstone is one of the most market-responsive brokers because it is willing to accept deposits in 10 currencies, which include AUD, USD, EUR, CAD, GBP, CHF, JPY, NZD, SGD, and HKD.
Trading in Pepperstone would allow traders to choose between 11 trading platforms: MT4 for desktop, MT4 Mac, MT4 iPhone, MT4 Android, MT4 iPad/Tablet, MT5, WebTrader, cTrader WebTrader, cTrader cAlgo, and cTrader Mobile. The choice of trading platforms may seem confusing to novice traders, but actually, it is very useful because it has fast execution.
When trading forex, traders can enjoy raw spreads from 0.0 pips on Razor accounts, over 61 currency pairs, and commission-free account funding on a wide range of deposit options. In addition to currency pairs, Pepperstone provides many types of trading instruments, including CFDs for indices and shares, commodities, and cryptocurrencies.
Instruments in commodity trading are pretty much diversified. Not only metal, gold, and silver, but traders can also trade with soft commodities such as cotton, sugar, coffee, cocoa, and orange juice. Pepperstone also provides trading on energy (oil and gas).
There are two types of accounts provided by Pepperstone, namely Razor accounts, and Standard accounts. If you area beginner, it is recommended to choose a Standard account with an average EUR/USD spread of 1.0-1.3 pips and free commission.
Those with particular trading styles such as scalpers and algorithmic traders may enjoy the lower cost setup traditionally seen in a Razor account, with a commission from AUD7 round turn of 100k traded. You can start trading with a minimum lot of 0.01 (micro) and 1:400 leverage.
As a Pepperstone client, a trader can fund and withdraw with alternative methods including Visa, Mastercard, POLi internet banking, bank transfer, BPay, PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, and Union Pay.
If you are new to trading or looking to practice your trading strategies in a risk-free environment, you can create Demo Account in Pepperstone. But if you are an experienced trader or prefer to learn by doing, Pepperstone provides a Live Account that allows you to trade with live executions and pricing.
Traders can also follow and copy strategies from popular traders using third-party services while learning how to improve their trading abilities. Pepperstone has partnered with a range of social trading platforms that traders can choose from, such as Myfxbook, ZuluTrade, Mirror Trader, MetaTrader signals, and Duplitrade.
3. FP Markets
Another amazing ASIC-regulated broker for gold trading is FP Markets. This broker has one of the lowest spreads for XAU/USD, with minimum spreads of 0 pips and an average of 0.13 pips for their ECN account. In addition to that, the spread for the standard account is not too bad, which is around 0.31 pips. FP Markets also allows XAU/AUD trading, but the spread is higher (between 0.29 pips for the ECN account and 0.65 pips for their standard account). They make sure to provide an exceptional trading environment by giving reliable and fast execution with the help of advanced charting tools, technical indicators, and live market news.
Keeping positions open overnight won't result in the overnight/rollover fee reducing your earnings, so you don't have to worry about it. FP Markets offers the most competitive swap rates in the industry by introducing Swaps Points in the form of a live swap rates list on the MT4 and MT5 platforms. Here are some examples:
- ACWI: -5.00 for long positions and -2.50 for short positions.
- ADAUSD: -20.00 for long positions and -20.00 for short positions.
- AGG: -5.00 for long positions and -2.50 for short positions.
4. AvaTrade
AvaTrade is a great ASIC-regulated broker for gold trading. They make sure traders can enjoy gold trading smoothly and effortlessly. Aside from competitive spreads, traders can also amplify their trades with a leverage of up to 400:1. Traders can choose to go long or go shorts from the powerful MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platforms. For busy traders, AvaTradeGO can be a great choice to assist their mobile trading endeavor. Meanwhile, newbies can train using the AvaTrade free paper trading account before investing with real money.
Avatrade can be called one of the most well-rounded brokers that support almost all trading styles. Not only allowing hedging, scalping, and expert advisor (EA), Avatrade also completes their service with One-cancels-the-other order (OCO) and AutoTrading in many variants of automated trading systems.
AvaTrade was founded in 2006, with the primary mission to empower people to trade with confidence. If traders are still confused about what is the best broker for supporting trader's trading, AvaTrade perchance option of traders, because it has been evaluated and honored for some of the industry's most remarkable financial and technological achievements that it provided to clients.
In 2019, the Dublin-based broker got achievement from Daytrading.com as The Best Forex Broker 2019. Besides, the company is honored as Best Forex Broker, Best Bitcoin CFD Trading Provider of the year, and Best Affiliation Programme in the European area.
Furthermore, for traders who have high mobility, AvaTrade provides many platforms that allow traders to trade using laptops and mobile phones. The availability of the free Autochartist tool in the platforms is the best support for both novice and experienced traders because it makes it easier for them to find trading opportunities without the need to glance at charts all day.
The Autochartist free signal is provided in Gold Account, Platinum Account, and AVA Select. By opening an account in AvaTrade, traders don't have to pay for getting a full Autochartist service. Autochartist itself is a market scanner tool that can detect trading signals from various technical perspectives.
Traders can access AvaTrade in many variants of platforms, such as AvaTradeGO, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, Automated Trading, Mac Trading, Web Trading, Mobile Trading, and AvaOptions.
In terms of regulation, AvaTrade is regarded as a superior broker because it has a lot of credible licenses. That way, even with deposits of up to ten thousand dollars, security can be guaranteed. Applying the Segregated Account system, AvaTrade is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland (No.C53877), ASIC Australia (No.406684), JFSA Japan (No.1662), and South Africa (FSP 45984).
Can traders lose more than their deposit abruptly in the event of high volatility? AvaTrade explicitly answers no, as traders have negative balance protection.
With a minimum deposit of USD100, AvaTrade offers various leverage depending on the trading instruments; whether it is forex (starts from 30:1), indices (starts from 20:1), commodities (starts from 5:1), ETFs (starts from 5:1), or cryptocurrencies (starts from 2:1).
AvaTrade has committed to a set of values in relation to customers. Therefore, the company provides the best trading experience, offering multilingual customer service and the most sophisticated and user-friendly trading platform.
New traders can also learn forex trading in the Education tab on AvaTrade's official website. Traders will find a wide collection of articles, video tutorials, and more tools that will assist them every step of the way. It is an important requirement as the forex market might be a bit overwhelming and even scary at times, so traders need to make sure that they are fully prepared to begin trading in the real account.
There are many types of account types provided by AvaTrade. There is also an Islamic Trading Account, which is uniquely provided for Muslim Traders. Islamic account type is similar to a regular one with one key difference; it is not subject to any special fees or interests (swap-free), which sits well with the finance principles of Sharia Law.
If traders have felt confident for forex trading, traders can choose AvaTrade as an ideal choice. The minimum deposit and various platforms offered to make it a suitable destination for even beginners who would like to try forex trading for the first time.
5. ThinkMarkets
ThinkMarkets offers some of the most competitive trading conditions in the market including tight spreads, low to zero commissions, and a variety of account types. They have one of the tightest spreads for XAU/USD that starts from 0.1 pips and 15 cents on pro accounts. This broker also allows their clients to trade CFDs or spread bets on gold. They use the latest technology to provide the best pricing and execution speed in order to deliver superior service to traders throughout their trading journey.
As a multi-asset online brokerage, ThinkMarkets present a wide range of trading assets starting from Forex to Precious Metals, Commodities, Indices, Shares, and Cryptocurrencies. The Australian-based broker is established in 2010 and has since opened additional headquarters in London and regional offices throughout Asia-Pacific, Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and South America.
Along with its history operation, ThinkMarkets has been awarded and recognized many times in various aspects. Most recently, they won the Best Value Broker in Asia at the 2020 Global Forex Awards.
Average FX spreads for traders opening an account in ThinkMarkets start from 1.2 pips for the standard account, while ThinkZero provides the best trading experience with 0.1 pips spread. Still, traders may need to consider that ThinkZero applies commission from $3.5 per side for every 1000,000 trading volumes.
As a global online brokerage, ThinkMarkets operates under various financial regulatory institutions. For example, ThinkMarkets Australia is managed by TF Global Markets (Aust) Limited and is licensed by the Australian Financial Services as well as the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) with ABN: 69158361561. ThinkMarkets UK is registered under the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) by the company name of TF Global Markets (UK) Limited (number: 09042646).
ThinkMarkets consistently try to improve their trading environments with various advanced products. Automatic trading fans are provided with free VPS Hosting, while passionate traders who'd like to experience beyond MetaQuote platforms can try ThinkMarkets' proprietary platform called ThinkTrader.
The trading platform is available on 3 different interfaces specifically designed for Web Desktop, Tablet, and Mobile displays. Furthermore, customized tools such as 80+ drawing tools and more than 125 indicators for technical analysis accessible even through Mobile screens would certainly provide a brand new trading on-the-go experience.
As far as market updates go, trading in ThinkMarkets would be accompanied with news from FX Wire Pro that is known for its strict policy toward upholding objective journalism and delivering critical, trusted information in real-time. Information segments covered by FX Wire Pro include Economic Commentary, Technical-level Reports, Currency and Commodities, Central Bank Bulletins, Energies and metals, together with Event-driven Flashes.
For payment methods, ThinkMarkets offer the gateway via bank transfer, credit card (Visa and MasterCard), Skrill, Neteller, POLi internet banking, BPay, and Bitcoin wallet.
All in all, it is safe to say that for a company that started business since 2010, ThinkMarkets is an accomplished broker in terms of legal standing and innovation in trading technology. As an additional safety assurance for traders, this broker underlines its commitment to provide a $1 million insurance protection program which is made possible by ThinkMarkets' insurance policy with Lloyd's of London that protects clients' funds for up to $1 million in the unlikely event of insolvency.
6. GOMarkets
GOMarkets provides a competitive spread in XAU/USD, starting from 0.2 pips and an average of 1 pip for the GO Plus+ account. They claim that their spreads are aggregated from 22+ Tier 1 and 2 liquidity providers. Fyi, this broker is widely recognized as Australia's first MT4 broker. They have since added MT5, mobile apps, and a web-based version of each MetaTrader to their trading platform ion.
Go Markets is a broker established in Australia in 2006. Go Markets has also been licensed by the Australia Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), identified by its AFSL 254963. Go Markets has some partnerships with various specialists in global securities and derivatives, thus it can provide better service to their customers by bringing this expertise on board. Go Markets is well known for having some branches in the UK, Taiwan, and Hongkong.
Go Markets commits to give the best to their clients, by refining their technology and improving their service and clients' education. Furthermore, Go Markets is also willing to continuously provide the best trading experience to the clients through reliable customer service, transparent pricing, low-latency trade execution, and platform stability.
When it comes to trading, the right platform is needed to carry out your trades perfectly. GO Markets offers both the powerful MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 as desktop and mobile trading platforms for traders. Since Go Markets has been acknowledged as the first MT4 broker in Australia, they do some improvement by adding MT5 and a web-based trading platform to fulfill their clients' needs for suitable platforms.
MT4 for mobile allows new and seasoned traders to trade anywhere and any time, analyze markets and easily access all Expert Advisors. The main difference between MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 and their associated mobile trading platforms is that MT4 is predominantly a Forex trading platform, while MT5 is a multi-asset CFD trading platform. Moreover, the internationally trusted Go Markets Metatrader 4 Platform has these advantages among many others:
- No dealing desk involvement
- Spreads from 0.5 pips
- Leverage up to 500:1
- No hedge restrictions
By opening an account in GO Markets, traders will be provided with some of the most advanced and powerful trading tools in a range of markets when it comes to online CFDs Trading. For traders who just start, honing skills in GO Markets' demo account can familiarize themselves with the broker's trading platforms and tools.
While for those who want to start real trading, GO Markets allow for flexible trading on a range of Forex and CFDs including Shares, Commodities, Indices, and Cryptocurrencies through MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platforms.
Go Markets is very pleased to announce that they will be soon using Currenex technology, a born of Currenex interbank liquidity, to provide more liquidity to their clients.
GO Markets ease their clients' money transfer through Client Portal. They can open accounts and deposit funds in 9 currencies (USD, GBP, EUR, NZD, SGD, CHF, CAD, HKD, AUD). Whereas, deposit and withdrawal can be done either by bank transfer or e-payment (FasaPay, Neteller, and Skrill). Clients do not need to worry about deposit and withdrawal fees, because GO Markets does not charge any internal deposit fees using Visa/Mastercard, Skrill, Neteller, and Bank Transfer.
Last but not least, Go Markets also guarantees the clients' funds by protecting their privacy and financial information with maximum care. Go Markets employs leading security systems and has strict procedures in place to protect clients' information.
If you want to start trading in Go Markets with a little cash and low risk, Go Markets offers special accounts where clients can start trading with a few dollars and the ability to trade from one cent per pip only. There is a $500 deposit limit in these accounts and Expert Advisors use is allowed.
Tips for Trading Gold CFD
Generally, trading gold isn't hard to learn, but it does require a certain skill set to trade this commodity in addition to choosing the right broker. Novice traders can definitely try but they should trade lightly. Otherwise, they might fail to take full advantage of the gold price fluctuations.
As a matter of fact, there are several things to consider before actually entering the gold market. Just like any other financial product, gold trading also contains some risk especially if we're talking about the CFD instrument. Here are some tips to trade gold the correct way.
1. Not For Short-Term Investment
Gold is more suitable for long-term and medium investments, therefore it can be difficult to see price changes in the short-term price trends. Unfortunately, new traders tend to be greedy when they buy gold. Most of the time, they think that trading gold will bring them enormous profits in a short time. What they should understand is that the main advantage associated with gold is long-term risk avoidance. The proportion of personal investments in gold should not be too high, and traders need to be cautious when trading gold.
2. Watch Your Leverage
New traders tend to be greedy and use high leverage to add their buying power. In return, they tend to panic if the gold trend suddenly reverses and heads in the opposite direction. Such transactions are very dangerous because it has the risk of compounding their losses. That being said, new traders are advised to use smaller leverages since it is safer and won't let them risk losing too much should the price move unexpectedly.
3. Understand What Moves Gold
It is important to understand what factors move the price of gold. By understanding the price drivers, gold traders can anticipate what's about to come and manage the risks better. Gold itself reacts only to a limited number of factors. Each of these forces can impact the sentiment, volume, and trend intensity. These include inflation and deflation, greed and fear, as well as supply and demand.
That being said, trading gold is not without risk. This is why it is also important to have discipline in strategies and risk management.
2 Comments
Aug 7 2023
i like gold
Aug 7 2023
i like it