What XAU/USD represents
XAU/USD expresses the gold price in US dollars per troy ounce. For a CFD, the number of ounces represented by one lot depends on the broker’s contract. That is why “one lot of gold” is not enough to define risk: you need the contract quantity, stop distance and account currency.
The FTMO CFD Global profile included in the Lot Calculator uses 100 ounces per lot, based on public specifications verified on 26 September 2026. This size identifies that profile and must not be automatically assigned to every broker.
One price point is not the last decimal place
In this guide, one point means a price move of 1.00, such as from 2,500 to 2,501 USD per ounce. With 100 ounces per lot, that move is worth 100 USD per lot. A move of 0.01 is instead worth 1 USD per lot.
Platforms may call their smallest decimal increment a point. To avoid ambiguity in the calculator, use entry and stop prices or the distance in whole price points. The number of visible decimal places does not determine a tick’s monetary value on its own.
Example: 100 USD risk and a 5-dollar stop
Consider a 10,000 USD account with 1% risk: the budget is 100 USD. With a hypothetical entry at 2,500 and a stop at 2,495, the distance is 5 USD per ounce. One 100-ounce lot risks 500 USD; 100 ÷ 500 gives 0.20 lots before costs. The same distance produces the same position size for a short trade.
Adding 7 USD in opening and closing commissions per lot brings the risk per lot to 507 USD. With a volume step of 0.01, the result drops to 0.19 lots, for an estimated loss of 96.33 USD. Rounding to 0.20 would exceed the budget by 1.40 USD.
From the calculation to a gold backtest
Choose XAUUSD in the asset list and check the entry for the series you use, its coverage and resolution. Keep contract size and costs consistent between the calculation and the test. If the account is in EUR, the USD loss must be converted; the calculator shows the rate used.
Leverage concerns the margin needed to open a position. It does not change the value of a price move for the same quantity. Variable spreads, slippage and gaps can change the actual loss compared with the estimate at the stop.
