Live gold price (XAU/USD)

What the spot number is and how it is set

The spot price is the price for immediate delivery of one troy ounce of gold, quoted in US dollars and driven by the global over-the-counter and futures markets. It is not set by any one exchange; it reflects the balance of buying and selling across London, New York and Asia. The number you see on this page is a snapshot of that market, not a promise of the price you will get when you click.

Because gold trades nearly around the clock, the spot number changes continuously during the week. The reference price shown here, near 4275.0, is a working example for the calculators, not a live quote you should trade against. Always confirm the current price on your platform before sizing a position.

Why the broker's price differs: the spread

The price your broker shows is the spot price plus or minus a spread, which is the difference between the price you can buy at and the price you can sell at. That spread is how the broker is compensated, and it is not fixed: it widens when liquidity thins, around major news, and at the daily rollover. The headline spot number on this page does not include it.

For a Kenyan trader this matters because the spread is a real cost on every round trip. On a 0.10-lot gold position, one pip is a small amount, but the spread can be several pips, and that cost is paid the moment you open. Check the live spread on your platform, not the spot price, when you calculate what a trade will cost.

How to read the change and refresh

The change figure shows how far the price has moved from a reference point, usually the prior close or the start of the session, and the refresh tells you how recently the number was updated. A large change on a slow refresh is stale information. Read them together: a fresh, small change is more useful for a decision than a stale, large one.

Treat the change as context, not as a signal. Gold can move sharply in minutes around US data releases, and a price that looks calm on a slow refresh can gap. The refresh interval is your warning about how current the number is, so confirm on your platform before you act.

How this price feeds the calculators here

The live price is the input that makes the other calculators concrete. Position size uses the current price to convert a stop distance in pips into a lot size; pip value uses it to express one pip in money; margin uses it to work out what a position ties up at the leverage cap; and profit and loss uses it as the reference for entry and exit.

The reference price near 4275.0 is what the worked examples use, so you can follow the arithmetic. When you run the calculators for a real trade, replace it with the price on your platform. That way the lot size, margin and pip value you get match the trade you are actually about to place.

Where this XAU/USD reference quote comes from and what its update delay means for you

The number on this page is a spot reference for XAU/USD, drawn from aggregated interbank and venue feeds and refreshed on a short cycle, not a broker quote. It reflects the last price the feed recorded before the page rendered, so the figure can be a few seconds behind the live market. That delay matters most around news releases and the daily roll, when gold moves quickly and the reference can visibly lag the tradeable price shown on MT4, MT5, cTrader or the FxPro app.

Latency here means the gap between the moment the reference feed last updated and the moment your browser displays it. A few seconds is normal and harmless for reading the market, but it is not a promise you can trade at that figure. If you see 4275.0 on this page and your platform shows a slightly different bid or ask, the platform is what your order fills against. Treat this number as information, not an executable price.

The practical consequence is that you should never size a position from this page alone. A 0.10-lot gold position at the applicable leverage cap needs about $85.50 margin, and that calculation depends on the price your broker quotes, not the reference. Use this figure to orient yourself, then confirm the live bid and ask inside your platform before you click buy or sell. The reference tells you where gold is broadly trading; the platform tells you what you can actually deal at.

Why the broker quote you see in FxPro differs from this reference price

A broker quote differs from a reference price because it is built for execution, not for display. FxPro prices XAU/USD from its own liquidity providers and applies its own markup and risk adjustments, so the bid and ask you see include the cost of doing business with that broker. The reference on this page is a broad market reading; the broker quote is the specific price at which the entity serving Kenya will accept your order, and the two are not meant to be identical.

The difference also depends on the platform and account type. MT4, MT5, cTrader and the FxPro app can show slightly different quotes because they connect through different price streams, and the entity serving this country may apply different liquidity arrangements than entities serving other regions. Two screens in the same room can therefore show different numbers for the same instrument at the same moment, and neither is wrong — each is the quote that particular venue will honour.

What you should take from this is that the reference price is a benchmark, not a guarantee. When you place an order, it fills against the broker's bid or ask, which includes the spread and any slippage at that moment. The gap between the reference and the broker quote is not a fee you are being charged twice; it is the normal distance between a public reading and a tradeable price. Always check the live quote in your platform before acting.

Bid, ask and the gap between them on the gold quote

Bid is the price at which the broker will buy gold from you, and ask is the price at which it will sell gold to you. The gap between them is the spread, and it is the immediate cost of opening a trade. On XAU/USD, one pip is 0.01, so a spread of a few cents is measured in pips. You buy at the ask and sell at the bid, which means a new position starts slightly behind the market until price moves in your favour.

The size of that gap is not fixed. It depends on liquidity, volatility and the time of day, and it can widen sharply around major economic releases or when the market is thin. FxPro sets its own bid and ask from its liquidity, so the spread you see is specific to the entity serving Kenya and the platform you use. This page does not publish a spread figure because the live gap is the only one that matters for your order.

For a 0.10-lot gold position, one pip of movement is worth $1 because 0.10 lots is 10 ounces and one pip is 0.01, so 10 ounces times 0.01 equals $0.10 per pip per 0.01 lot, scaled to $1 for 0.10 lots. That arithmetic shows why the bid-ask gap matters: you must clear the spread before the trade is in profit. Check the live bid and ask in your platform rather than assuming a fixed gap.

What a stale gold quote looks like on this page and the steps to take when you spot one

A stale quote looks like a price that has stopped moving while the market around it is active. On this page, that can appear as a timestamp that has not advanced, a figure that stays frozen through a period when gold is clearly moving, or a refresh indicator that has not cycled. Because this is a reference feed, a brief pause can happen, but a frozen number during active hours is a signal to distrust the display until it updates.

When you suspect staleness, the first step is to compare this page against the live quote in MT4, MT5, cTrader or the FxPro app. If the platform is moving and this page is not, the platform is the reliable source for execution. The second step is to refresh the page or wait for the next update cycle, and the third is to avoid placing any order based on a number you cannot confirm as current.

Staleness is dangerous because it invites you to act on a price that no longer exists. Gold can move several dollars in seconds around news, and a quote that is even a minute old can mislead your entry, stop or target. The safe habit is to treat this reference as a quick orientation and the broker platform as the authority for any trade. If the two disagree, the platform wins every time.

How often this reference refreshes and how a stale figure shows up in practice

This reference refreshes on a short automatic cycle, typically every few seconds while the page is open, and it also updates when you reload. That cadence is designed for reading, not for tick-by-tick trading. It means the number you see is recent but not instantaneous, and during fast markets the gap between the reference and the broker's live quote can widen before the next refresh lands on your screen.

A stale figure shows up in practice as a price that no longer matches the platform, a change value that has not recalculated, or a timestamp that has stopped advancing. It can also appear as an unchanged quote across a period when you know gold is active, such as the London or New York open. These are cues to refresh and to cross-check against your trading platform before you rely on the number.

The refresh rate is not a promise of real-time execution. Even a fresh reference is a snapshot, and your order will fill against the broker's bid or ask at the moment it reaches the server. Use the refresh to keep your orientation current, but confirm the live quote in FxPro before you size or place a trade. A 0.10-lot position needing about $85.50 margin should be calculated from the platform price, not from a reference that may have just ticked.

Spot reference versus the broker tradeable quote and which one your gold order fills against

The spot reference is a public benchmark for XAU/USD, while the broker tradeable quote is the price at which FxPro will actually deal with you. Your order fills against the broker quote, never against this reference. That is the single most important distinction on this page: the reference tells you where the market is, and the broker quote tells you what you can buy or sell at, including the spread and any slippage at execution.

The two can differ by a few cents even in calm conditions because they come from different sources and serve different purposes. The reference aggregates market data; the broker quote is built from the liquidity the entity serving Kenya has access to, with its own markup and risk controls. Neither is a mistake, and neither is secretly overcharging you — they are simply different instruments of information, one for reading and one for trading.

Because your fill is against the broker quote, any calculation you make should use that quote. The margin example of about $85.50 for 0.10 lots at the applicable leverage cap is based on the price your broker requires, not the reference. If you plan a trade, open the platform, read the live bid and ask, and treat this page as context. That habit keeps your expectations aligned with what actually happens at execution.