XAUUSD
XAUUSD is gold priced in US dollars, where XAU is the code for one troy ounce of gold.
A price of 4,330 means one troy ounce costs 4,330 US dollars. It is traded like a currency pair, with the dollar on the quote side.
Gold is quoted in dollars and cents, so its decimals and its pip behave differently from EURUSD.
Where the name comes from
Currencies and metals have three-letter codes. XAU is gold (X for a commodity, AU from aurum, Latin for gold) and USD is the US dollar. Silver is XAG for the same reason.
Brokers sometimes add a letter or suffix, such as XAUUSDm or XAUUSD.r, for a different account type. The instrument is the same; the contract size or costs may not be.
What a move is worth
On most brokers one lot of XAUUSD is 100 ounces. Every dollar gold moves is then 100 dollars on one lot, and one pip, counted as 10 cents, is 10 dollars on one lot.
| Position size | Ounces | Gold moves 1 dollar | Gold moves 1 pip (10 cents) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.00 lot | 100 | 100 dollars | 10 dollars |
| 0.10 lot | 10 | 10 dollars | 1 dollar |
| 0.01 lot | 1 | 1 dollar | 10 cents |
A worked example
With gold at 4,289, one lot of 100 ounces is worth 428,900 dollars. At 1:500 leverage the margin to open it is about 858 dollars; 0.01 lot needs about 8.58 dollars.
A typical gold day over the last year moved about 92 dollars from high to low. On 0.01 lot that is about 92 dollars of movement on the position, on 0.10 lot about 920. That is why the lot size matters more on gold than on most currency pairs.
Questions people ask
What does XAUUSD mean?
It is the price of one troy ounce of gold in US dollars. XAU is the code for gold and USD for the US dollar.
How much is one lot of gold?
On most brokers one lot of XAUUSD is 100 troy ounces, so it moves 100 dollars for every dollar change in the gold price. Check your broker's contract size.
What is a pip on XAUUSD?
Most traders count 10 cents as one pip on gold, worth 10 dollars on one standard lot. MetaTrader's smallest step is a point of 1 cent.
Source: The 92 dollar typical day is measured by FXSynapse AI on our broker's XAUUSD daily bars, weekdays from 24 Sep 2025 to 23 Sep 2026. Contract size and leverage vary by broker and account.
Also called: gold, what does XAUUSD mean, what is XAUUSD, XAU meaning, XAU USD meaning
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A definition, not financial advice. Trading carries a risk of loss.