How we check a broker before ranking it

The first check: can you actually use it

The first thing checked is whether a resident of South Africa can open an account, fund it and withdraw from it. That means the entity serving South Africa, the accepted local funding routes such as local cards, bank transfers in ZAR and e-wallets, and the withdrawal path back out. A broker that fails this is not ranked, however good the rest of its material looks.

Only after that do we look at the trading side: the platforms offered (MT4, MT5, cTrader, FxPro Edge), the instrument specification for gold (XAU/USD), with 1 lot equal to 100 oz and one pip equal to 0.01, and the leverage cap that applies. Leverage is treated as a cap, not a target: at 1:200 for retail, a 0.10-lot gold position needs about $85.50 margin, and up to 1:500 is available only to eligible or professional clients depending on instrument.

What is refreshed automatically and what is reviewed by hand

The live gold price and any figure derived directly from it are refreshed automatically. That includes the reference price shown on the site and the margin and pip examples that use that price. The refresh happens on a schedule tied to the market data feed, so the numbers you see are recent but not instantaneous. They are labelled as a reference price, not a broker quote, because the feed and your broker's quote can differ. No calculated figure is cached beyond the refresh cycle.

Broker facts, leverage caps, funding methods, and the regulator caveat are reviewed by hand. These items change less frequently but require verification against the broker's published terms and the regulator's registers. Each fact carries a date of last review, and the review is triggered when the broker announces a change or when a scheduled check falls due. The entity detail for South Africa, FxPro Markets Direct Costa Rica Latam SRL, is part of that manual review because the serving entity determines which protections apply.

Editorial explanations, such as the formula descriptions and the risk warnings, are reviewed by hand on a slower cycle. They are not tied to a live feed because they describe method, not market data. The review checks that the wording still matches the formulas actually used and that no unsupported claim has crept in. If a formula changes, the explanation is updated in the same review so the two never drift apart.

Why the gold price on this site can differ from your broker's quote

The price shown here is a reference point, not a tradeable quote, so a gap between it and your broker's screen is normal rather than a fault. Our reference figure of about 4275.0 for XAU/USD exists to anchor worked examples, such as the roughly $85.50 margin needed on a 0.10-lot position, and it is not streamed from any single venue. A broker quote reflects the specific liquidity it routes your order to, so the two figures are answering slightly different questions.

A broker's quote carries the cost of doing business with that broker, which is why it sits away from a raw reference price. The difference consists of the markup the broker applies and the spread it charges at that moment, and both depend on the instrument, the account type and conditions in the market. We do not publish a spread figure because none was supplied to us, and we will not describe one as cheap or expensive without a number to stand behind.

Timing and instrument definition widen the gap further. Gold trades across sessions, and a quote captured minutes ago can be stale by the time you compare it, while different brokers may quote XAU/USD with slightly different contract conventions. Treat the reference price as context for understanding position size and margin in rand terms, and treat your platform's live bid and ask as the only figures that matter when you actually place an order.

What this site deliberately does not publish, and the reasoning behind each omission

We do not publish live spreads, commissions, swap rates or minimum deposits as fixed numbers, because none were provided to us and inventing them would mislead you. These costs vary by account type, instrument and market conditions, and they change without notice. Rather than print a figure that ages badly, we describe what a cost consists of and what it depends on, so you can check the current value on your own platform and in the broker's own documentation before committing money.

We also do not publish bonus offers, promotional terms or time-limited deals. Promotions are frequently revised, and a page that lists them becomes a source of outdated expectations. For a South African reader funding an account by local card, bank transfer in ZAR or e-wallet, the relevant terms sit with the broker at the moment of deposit, not in a third-party summary. Leaving them out keeps this page honest about what it can actually verify.

Finally, we do not publish performance claims, return figures or anything resembling a track record. No method on this site predicts gold's direction, and presenting historical results as though they implied future outcomes would breach the sober framing this material is written in. The calculators and explanations exist to help you size a position and understand margin, not to suggest an edge. Anything that reads like a promise of profit has been kept off the page on purpose.

The formula each calculator uses, in words

The margin calculator multiplies the trade size in lots by the contract size of 100 oz, then by the reference price, and then divides by the leverage ratio. For a 0.10-lot gold position at a reference price of 4275.0 and leverage of 1:200, the formula gives 0.10 × 100 × 4275.0 ÷ 200, which equals about $85.50. The result is in US dollars because gold is quoted in USD, and it represents the margin required to open the position, not the total cost of the trade.

The pip value calculator multiplies the number of lots by the contract size of 100 oz and then by the pip size of 0.01. For one standard lot, that is 1 × 100 × 0.01, which equals $1.00 per pip. For a 0.10-lot position, the pip value is $0.10. This figure is in USD and does not account for conversion to South African rand; if your account is denominated in rand, the broker applies its own conversion rate at the time of the trade.

The position size calculator works backwards from the risk you are willing to take. It divides your risk amount in rand by the stop distance in pips and then by the pip value per lot. For example, if you risk R1,000 with a 50-pip stop and a pip value of $0.10 per 0.10 lot, the formula first converts the risk to USD using the prevailing exchange rate, then divides by 50 and by 0.10 to suggest a lot size. The calculator shows the arithmetic, but the exchange rate and the stop distance are inputs you supply.

How to reproduce any figure on this site with your own inputs

Every number here can be rebuilt from the stated inputs, so start by writing down the three values each calculation needs: the position size in lots, the reference price and the leverage cap that applies to your account. For gold, one standard lot is 100 oz and one pip is 0.01, which fixes the contract size. With a 0.10-lot position at a reference price near 4275.0 and leverage of 1:200, the margin comes to about $85.50, and you can reach the same result by working the same inputs through your own arithmetic.

To check a margin figure yourself, multiply the lot size by 100 oz to get the ounces controlled, multiply that by the reference price to get the notional value, then divide by the leverage ratio. Convert the dollar result to rand at the rate you actually face if you want a local figure, since the exchange rate is a variable we cannot fix for you. Remember that the 1:200 retail cap and the 1:500 available to eligible or professional clients are ceilings, not settings to aim at, and using less leverage changes the margin required.

For anything cost-related, reproduce the figure from your own platform rather than from this page. Open the instrument, read the current bid and ask, and note the difference and any commission line your account type carries; those are the inputs that determine what a trade actually costs you. Confirm which entity your account is opened with as well, because FxPro is licensed by the FCA (UK) and CySEC, and an FxPro entity holds an FSCA licence in South Africa, so the terms attached to your account depend on that detail.

The limits of the testing

The testing has limits and we name them. The desk does not trade client money, does not run a live account for every broker at every moment, and cannot see the price a reader will actually get on a given day. Execution, slippage and withdrawal speed in practice can differ from what the documents describe.

A check also ages. A leverage cap, a funding method or an entity can change after the date we read it, and the page may not yet reflect that. That is why every page carries the date it was checked and why a reader should confirm the current terms with the broker before funding an account.

Where the numbers come from

Numbers come from the broker's own documents, not from memory or from other comparison sites. Each figure is recorded with the date it was read, so a reader can see how fresh it is. Where a broker publishes a specification sheet, a funding page or a client agreement, that document is the source, and the reference gold price used in worked examples is stated alongside the arithmetic.

Where we do not have a number, we do not invent one. Costs are described by what they consist of, such as the spread between bid and ask, commission where it applies, and swap or financing on positions held overnight, and by what they depend on, such as the account type and market conditions. We do not attach a figure to a cost we were not given.

How a broker fact is dated and re-checked

Every broker fact on the site carries a last-reviewed date. That date is the day the fact was checked against the broker's published terms or the regulator's register. For example, the statement that FxPro is licensed by the FCA and CySEC, and that an FxPro entity holds an FSCA licence in South Africa, is dated when the licence registers were last consulted. The date is shown so you can judge how fresh the fact is and whether it predates a change you have heard about.

Re-checking is triggered by two events: a scheduled review and a signal of change. The scheduled review happens at set intervals, and the signal can be a broker announcement, a regulator notice, or a reader report. When either occurs, the fact is checked against the primary source, not against another secondary site. If the primary source cannot be reached, the fact is marked as unconfirmed rather than left with an old date that implies it is current.

The entity detail for South Africa is re-checked with particular care because the serving entity determines which compensation scheme and regulator apply. The site states that the entity serving South Africa is FxPro Markets Direct Costa Rica Latam SRL, but the caveat tells you to check which entity your own account is opened with. That caveat is itself a dated fact: it is reviewed whenever the broker changes its entity structure or the FSCA updates its licence records.

What happens when two sources disagree

When two sources disagree, the primary source wins. For a broker fact, the primary source is the broker's own legal documentation or the regulator's public register. For a price, the primary source is the market data feed, not a broker's quote. If the broker's website says one thing and its legal terms say another, the legal terms are treated as primary because they govern the account. The disagreement is noted internally, and the fact is either updated to the primary source or withheld until the conflict is resolved.

If the conflict cannot be resolved, the site does not publish the disputed figure. For example, if one source suggests a leverage cap that differs from the South African framework stated here, the site keeps the framework figure and does not add the conflicting number. The rule is that an unsupported or conflicting number is worse than no number, because it can mislead a reader who is making a margin calculation. The absence is deliberate and is explained in the limits section.

Source disagreements are logged with the date and the nature of the conflict. That log is reviewed when the fact is next re-checked, so a temporary disagreement does not become a permanent error. If the disagreement reveals that the site's wording was ambiguous, the wording is changed to match the primary source exactly. The aim is not to have the last word but to have a traceable reason for every figure that appears.

Where each class of figure on this site comes from

The two most common figure classes on this site are the live gold price and the leverage cap. The live price is pulled from a market data feed for XAU/USD and is shown as a reference, not a tradeable quote. The leverage cap comes from the South African regulatory framework and is stated as up to 1:200 for retail clients and up to 1:500 for eligible or professional clients, depending on the instrument. Every leverage figure you see on the site is a cap, not a target, and the source is the broker's published terms for South African clients.

Margin and pip values are calculated figures, not quoted numbers. They are derived from the reference price, the contract size of 100 oz per standard lot, and the pip size of 0.01. For example, the worked margin figure of about $85.50 for a 0.10-lot gold position at 1:200 is produced by a fixed formula that you can replicate. These calculated figures are labelled as examples and are refreshed whenever the reference price or the leverage cap changes. They are never presented as a broker's actual margin requirement for your account.

Broker facts such as platform availability, funding methods, and the regulator caveat are taken from the broker's own disclosures and from the licence information published by the FCA, CySEC, and the FSCA. The entity that serves South Africa is FxPro Markets Direct Costa Rica Latam SRL, but the caveat reminds you to check which entity your own account is opened with. These facts are dated and reviewed by hand because they change less often than prices but carry more consequence if wrong.

The known limits of the method

The calculated figures are examples, not predictions. The margin figure of about $85.50 for a 0.10-lot gold position at 1:200 depends on the reference price of 4275.0 and on the leverage ratio you actually have. If your account is with a different entity or your leverage is set lower, the real margin will differ. The method cannot tell you what your broker will require at the moment you trade, because brokers apply their own margin rules and can change them.

The pip value calculation assumes a USD-denominated account. If your account is in South African rand, the rand value of a pip moves with the exchange rate, and the method does not forecast that rate. It also assumes the pip size of 0.01 for gold, which is the convention used here, but you should confirm the pip size with your broker. The method does not account for spreads, commissions, or swaps because those are broker-specific costs that are not published as fixed numbers on this site.

The leverage cap is a ceiling, not a recommendation. The method states the maximum available in South Africa, up to 1:200 for retail and up to 1:500 for eligible or professional clients, but it does not assess whether that cap is suitable for you. Higher leverage magnifies both gains and losses, and the method cannot model your risk tolerance or your account equity. The limits section exists to make clear that every number here is a tool for understanding, not a guarantee of outcome.