Gold is the same metal whether you trade it as a CME futures contract or a broker’s XAUUSD CFD — but the instrument wrapped around it is not the same, and the differences show up in your tick value, your financing costs, and who’s on the other side of your trade.
If you’re moving from XAUUSD to real gold futures, or deciding between them, here’s the honest breakdown.
Three ways to trade gold
- GC — full-size Gold futures. The CME benchmark: 100 troy ounces per contract.
- MGC — Micro Gold futures. One-tenth the size at 10 troy ounces, built for finer sizing and smaller accounts.
- XAUUSD — the gold CFD. A synthetic, over-the-counter contract quoted by a broker off the underlying gold market.
All three track gold. Only two of them are centrally cleared on a regulated exchange.
Contract specs at a glance
| Instrument | Contract size | Tick size | Tick value | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GC (Gold) | 100 troy oz | 0.10 | $10.00 | CME (cleared) |
| MGC (Micro Gold) | 10 troy oz | 0.10 | $1.00 | CME (cleared) |
| XAUUSD (CFD) | Broker-defined | Broker-defined | Broker-defined | OTC / dealer |
These are standard CME specifications for GC and MGC — always confirm the current specs on the exchange, as contract details can change. XAUUSD has no single standard: each provider defines its own contract size, pip value, and spread, which is exactly the point of the comparison.
Reading the futures tick value
For GC, a 0.10 move (one tick) is worth $10, so a full dollar move in gold is $100 per contract. For MGC, that same 0.10 tick is worth $1, and a dollar move is $10. The micro exists so you can size in tenths of the full contract — invaluable when a full GC would blow through your risk on a single trade.
To translate a stop distance into contracts without guessing, run it through the futures contract calculator. Sizing gold by feel is how funded accounts die on a single spike.
Where XAUUSD genuinely wins
Let’s be fair: the CFD has real advantages, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest.
- Fractional sizing. Many brokers let you trade tiny lot fractions — finer than even MGC.
- Accessibility. Lower barrier to entry, simple platforms, and availability in places where a futures account is harder to open.
- One continuous chart. No contract rollover to manage.
For a smaller or newer account, those are legitimate reasons XAUUSD exists and gets used.
Where GC/MGC pull ahead structurally
The futures advantages aren’t about a single broker being better — they’re about the marketplace:
- Centrally cleared on the CME. A regulated clearing house is the counterparty, not your broker.
- One transparent price. Every GC trader sees the same cleared price and the same central order book (DOM). XAUUSD is dealer-set, so your quote is specific to your provider.
- Standardized specs. GC is GC everywhere; there’s no per-broker redefinition of tick value or contract size.
- The broker isn’t your counterparty. With an OTC CFD the provider frequently is the other side of your trade — a potential conflict of interest. On the exchange that conflict is structurally removed.
Gold is also a physically-delivered contract, which introduces one thing XAUUSD never makes you think about: First Notice Day. Hold GC or MGC too close to expiry and you risk delivery obligations, so funded traders must roll or exit before then. The CFD’s perpetual nature sidesteps that — at the cost of nightly financing charges you don’t pay on a same-session futures trade.
Which should a funded trader use?
If your program clears real futures, MGC is often the sweet spot: exchange-cleared transparency with sizing granular enough to respect a tight prop-firm drawdown. Scale into GC as your account and risk budget grow. If you’re on a CFD-based program, XAUUSD is what you have — just trade it knowing the price is synthetic and the roll/financing mechanics work differently.
Whatever you pick, keep the risk math identical. Gold moves fast, and a funded account’s daily and trailing limits don’t care whether you were “right” about the direction. Model your limits with the prop-firm drawdown calculator — and confirm the exact rule numbers with your firm, since they vary and change — before you ever load size.
Let the numbers, not the metal, tell you
Gold feels like it has a personality — it spikes on headlines, it whipsaws through news. That’s precisely why memory lies to you about it. You’ll remember the one clean runner and forget the three that stopped you out at the wick.
Shibiki auto-journals every gold fill, GC, MGC, or XAUUSD alike, and reads your results as live edge-health per strategy. Over enough samples you’ll see plainly whether your gold setup actually pays, and at what R. The metal is the same across all three instruments — but only your tracked numbers tell you which wrapper, and which setup, is actually working for your system.
Related: Futures contract calculator · Prop-firm drawdown calculator