Metals CFD Trading: How to Trade Gold, Silver, Platinum and Palladium

Metals CFD trading lets a trader speculate on the price of gold, silver, platinum or palladium without buying or storing the physical metal. The contract derives its value from the underlying spot price, and the trader can take a long position if they expect the metal to rise or a short position if they expect it to fall. Each of the four metals has its own market drivers, contract specifications and price behaviour, and the differences between them matter for how positions are sized, when they are entered, and what risks are involved.

This guide covers what metals CFDs are, why traders trade precious metals, and the contract specifications for gold (XAUUSD), silver (XAGUSD), platinum (XPTUSD) and palladium (XPDUSD). It closes with the shared considerations that apply across all four.

What Are Metals CFDs?

A metal CFD is a contract for difference based on the price of a metal in the spot market. The trader does not own any physical metal at any point. Instead, the contract tracks the price of the metal in US dollars, and the trader's profit or loss is the difference between the entry price and the exit price multiplied by the contract size.

CFDs allow both directions to be traded. A long position profits if the metal price rises; a short position profits if it falls. Selling short does not require borrowing the underlying asset, since no actual metal changes hands.

All four precious metals at TIOmarkets are quoted in US dollars per troy ounce. The troy ounce is the standard unit in precious metals markets, equal to approximately 31.1035 grams, and is different from the avoirdupois ounce used for most other purposes.

Why Traders Trade Metals

Precious metals attract trading interest for several reasons that differ by metal.

Gold is the most established safe-haven asset in the metals complex. Its price responds to changes in real interest rates, the strength of the US dollar, inflation expectations, central bank reserves activity and geopolitical risk. Gold is widely held by central banks as part of foreign exchange reserves, and demand from jewelry and electronics manufacturing adds to investment demand.

Silver shares some of gold's safe-haven characteristics but has a larger industrial component. Silver is used in electronics, solar photovoltaic cells, batteries, medical applications and electrical contacts, alongside its monetary and jewelry uses. Silver historically moves with gold but tends to be more volatile, both on the upside and the downside. Some traders watch the gold-silver ratio, which is the gold price divided by the silver price, as a relative-value indicator.

Platinum is primarily an industrial metal. The single largest demand source is autocatalysts, especially in diesel vehicles, with additional demand from jewelry, industrial catalysts and chemical applications. Platinum supply is heavily concentrated, with South Africa producing a significant share of global output, which means supply disruptions can have an outsized effect on the price.

Palladium is even more industrial than platinum, with autocatalysts in gasoline engines accounting for most demand. Supply is concentrated in Russia and South Africa. The palladium market is smaller in dollar terms than the other three metals listed here, which contributes to higher volatility. Major shifts in vehicle technology, emissions regulation or supply availability can produce sharp price moves.

Gold (XAUUSD)

Gold trades under the ticker XAUUSD at TIOmarkets, quoted in US dollars per troy ounce. The standard lot is 100 ounces, the mini lot is 10 ounces and the minimum tradeable lot is 0.01, equivalent to 1 ounce.

Trading hours run from Monday 01:00 through Thursday 24:00 and on Friday 01:00 to 23:30 (MetaTrader server time), with Saturday and Sunday closed. The gold instrument page shows leverage available as up to unlimited. At TIOmarkets, unlimited leverage applies on the Standard account, on symbols carrying the 'un' suffix in MT5, with dynamic margin scaling based on account equity. Whether the gold symbol specifically carries the 'un' suffix should be verified in the platform before relying on the feature. Standard margin rules apply otherwise.

Spreads are variable and are typically higher than minimum figures shown. Overnight swap rates apply to positions held past the daily rollover and should be checked inside the platform.

Silver (XAGUSD)

Silver trades under the ticker XAGUSD at TIOmarkets, quoted in US dollars per troy ounce. The standard lot is 5,000 ounces, much larger than the other three metals, with a minimum tradeable lot of 0.01, equivalent to 50 ounces.

The larger standard lot is a long-standing convention in silver markets and reflects silver's lower per-ounce price relative to gold or the platinum group metals. A one-cent move in the silver price equates to USD 50 per standard lot, so position sizing in lots needs to account for that scale.

Trading hours run from Monday 01:00 through Thursday 24:00 and on Friday 01:00 to 23:30 (MetaTrader server time), with Saturday and Sunday closed. The silver instrument page shows leverage available as up to unlimited, subject to the same caveat as gold: unlimited leverage requires the Standard account and a symbol with the 'un' suffix in MT5. The specific margin requirement on silver should be confirmed inside the platform or via the contract specifications page before opening positions.

Spreads are variable and are typically higher than minimum figures shown. Overnight swap rates should be checked inside the platform.

Platinum (XPTUSD)

Platinum trades under the ticker XPTUSD at TIOmarkets, quoted in US dollars per troy ounce. The standard lot is 100 ounces, the same as gold, with a minimum tradeable lot of 0.01, equivalent to 1 ounce.

The platinum instrument page shows a 5% margin requirement, equivalent to leverage up to 1:20. Margin is calculated as 5% of the position's notional value at the time the trade is opened, where notional is the platinum price per ounce multiplied by the contract size. Margin requirements are subject to change depending on market conditions and applicable regulatory requirements.

Trading hours run from Monday 01:00 through Thursday 24:00 and on Friday 01:00 to 23:30 (MetaTrader server time), with Saturday and Sunday closed. Spreads are variable and are typically higher than minimum figures shown. Overnight swap rates apply to positions held past the daily rollover and should be checked inside the platform.

Palladium (XPDUSD)

Palladium trades under the ticker XPDUSD at TIOmarkets, quoted in US dollars per troy ounce. The standard lot is 100 ounces, with a minimum tradeable lot of 0.01, equivalent to 1 ounce.

The palladium instrument page shows a 5% margin requirement, equivalent to leverage up to 1:20. Margin is calculated as 5% of the position's notional value at the time the trade is opened. Margin requirements are subject to change depending on market conditions and applicable regulatory requirements.

Trading hours run from Monday 01:00 through Thursday 24:00 and on Friday 01:00 to 23:30 (MetaTrader server time), with Saturday and Sunday closed. Spreads are variable and are typically higher than minimum figures shown. Overnight swap rates apply to positions held past the daily rollover and should be checked inside the platform.

Palladium's combination of a relatively small market and concentrated supply tends to produce sharper price moves than the other metals listed here. Position sizing for palladium should account for this elevated volatility.

Key Considerations When Trading Metals

Several considerations apply across all four metals.

Position sizing should be based on a defined risk per trade and the volatility of the specific metal, not just the lot conventions. Silver in particular has a much larger standard lot than the other three, so the same number of lots produces very different exposure depending on the metal. Use the Margin Calculator to check the margin requirement for a given lot size on each metal, and the Lot Size Calculator to translate a defined risk budget into an appropriate position size.

Overnight financing applies to positions held past the daily rollover. For metals at TIOmarkets, financing is generally calculated on a different basis from forex triple swap and should be checked inside the platform. Holding metals positions across days or weeks can accumulate meaningful financing costs that need to be factored into the expected profit and loss of the trade.

Orders are executed at the best available market price, which may result in positive or negative slippage. Demo accounts often execute instantly and may not fully replicate live slippage conditions, which is worth keeping in mind when developing metals strategies on a demo before going live.

News and macroeconomic events have an outsized effect on metals prices. Central bank rate decisions, inflation prints, US dollar movements, geopolitical developments and emissions or industrial policy news can all produce sharp moves. Positions held through scheduled news releases carry additional execution risk.

Trading Metals at TIOmarkets

All four precious metals are available across both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, and across all account types. The full list of commodities is available on the commodities page. The Standard account is created automatically on registration, with a minimum deposit of $20 or currency equivalent. The Raw and VIP Black accounts are opened separately through the client area. All accounts support hedging. A swap-free Islamic account is available; contact TIOmarkets for eligibility and instrument requirements. Copy trading is available on both MT4 and MT5, allowing followers to copy strategy providers in real time.

Spreads are variable and are typically higher than minimum figures shown. Leverage on each instrument is subject to change depending on market conditions and applicable regulatory requirements.