On the chart, XAUUSD looks just like EURUSD. Same platform, same lot box, same buttons. But gold is not a currency. It is a commodity priced in dollars, and the same lot size carries a very different risk. Traders who copy their forex lot onto gold often lose about twice what they planned on the very first trade.
Same Lot, Different Contract
- Forex: 1 lot = 100,000 units. On EURUSD, 1 pip is about $10 per lot.
- Gold: 1 lot is usually 100 ounces. A $1 move in gold is $100 per lot.
At a gold price of $4,000, one lot is a position of about $400,000. One EURUSD lot at 1.0850 is about $108,500.
A Worked Example
Take a $5,000 account risking 1% per trade, which is $50:
- EURUSD with a 30-pip stop: about 0.16 lots.
- Gold with a $6 stop: about 0.08 lots.
Copy the 0.16 forex lot onto gold with that $6 stop and the loss is about $96, almost double the plan. On a volatile day with a $15 stop, it becomes about $240.
The rule: never copy a lot size from one market to another. Size every trade from its own stop distance and the value of one move in that market.
Four More Differences
- Volatility: gold usually moves more and reacts strongly to US data such as NFP and CPI. Stops need more room, so lots must be smaller.
- Costs: a gold spread of $0.20–0.40 is $20–40 per lot, and long positions usually pay swap.
- Leverage: EU and UK retail clients get up to 1:20 on gold, compared with 1:30 on major pairs.
- Timing: gold is most active in the London and New York overlap (about 12:00–16:00 UTC) and quieter in Asia.
What This Means for Gold Robots
A gold Expert Advisor has to be built for gold, not adapted from forex. Razor Gold sizes each trade from your Risk Per Trade % and its own stop loss, so the lot already reflects the gold contract. Aurion uses multi-level baskets, so its manual starts at 0.01 lot per $1,000–1,500 to leave room for gold's larger moves.
Whatever you trade, check the contract size in Market Watch › Specification, and backtest on gold data before going live.
Trading gold and other leveraged instruments involves a high risk of loss. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
