Gold & silver
Metals
BenchMark offers online trading on the most popular precious metals including gold, silver, platinum, palladium and copper. Spot metals are offered in MetaTrader platform as CFDs. Competitive spreads and no commission trading are offered on all spot metals.
Trading spot metals allows investors to take long or short positions on gold and silver as a great way to expand their portfolio. On the other hand trading spot gold is often used as a safe haven investment and used to hedge against inflation, making it a good option during times of economic uncertainty.
| Commissions/Fees | NO |
| Spread | from $0.25 in gold trading |
| Min. trading volume | from 1 oz. (1 lot) |
| Margin requirement | from 0.5% |
| Automatic execution | YES |
| Hedging without margin | YES |
| Long/Short positions | YES |
| Stop/Limit restrictions | No restrictions |
| Experts | YES, without restrictions |
| Real-time quotes | YES |
Margin groups
BenchMark applies different margins and stop-out conditions according to the client's categorization as retail or professional and the amount of the equity on the client's trading account. You can change your margin group by sending a request trough the clients area. The conditions for each individual group are described in the table below:
| Margin group | Client's equity | Leverage | Stop-out level |
| Retail | Not applicable | from 1:20 | 50% |
| Professionals group 1 | <10 000 €/$ | from 1:200 | 30% |
| Professionals group 2 | 10 000 - 50 000 €/$ | from 1:100 | 30% |
| Professionals group 3 | 50 000 - 200 000 €/$ | from 1:50 | 30% |
| Professionals group 4 | >200 000 €/$ | from 1:25 | 50% |
- Switching from one margin group to another is not automatic. When switching to a higher group (increased client's equity), the client is notified of the change via a platform message or by a phone call. If client has more than one account, the margin group is applied on the basis of the sum of client's equity in all client's accounts in MetaTrader 4 and 5 platforms.
- BenchMark is not responsible for the stop-out of positions due to a transition to a higher group. It is client's duty to maintain a sufficient level of free margin to withstand the transition to a higher group.
- If client's equity becomes lower and this allows client's account to be moved to a lower group, the client must notify BenchMark that he/she is eligible to move to a lower group.
Metals trading conditions
This table shows the required margins, spreads and minimum volumes for each precious metal. Column Margin changes with the selected group. The values listed in the Average spread column are indicative and may vary depending on market conditions.
| Instrument | Minimum volume | Spread | Margin Group 1 |
Margin Group 2 |
Margin Group 3 |
Margin Group 4 |
Margin Retail |
| XAU_USD (Gold) | 1 ounce (1 lot) | $0.31 | 0.5% | 1% | 2% | 4% | 5% |
| XAU_EUR (Gold in EUR) | 1 ounce (1 lot) | €0.88 | 0.5% | 1% | 2% | 4% | 5% |
| XAG_USD (Silver) | 50 ounce (50 lots) | $0.03 | 0.5% | 1% | 2% | 4% | 10% |
| XAG_EUR (Silver in EUR)* | 50 ounce (50 lots) | $0.05 | 0.5% | 1% | 2% | 4% | 10% |
| XPT_USD (Platinum) | 1 ounce (1 lot) | $5.40 | 2.5% | 5% | 10% | 20% | 10% |
| XPD_USD (Palladium) | 1 ounce (1 lot) | $18.00 | 2.5% | 5% | 10% | 20% | 10% |
| Copper | 500 pounds (5 lots) | $0.005 | 1% | 2% | 4% | 8% | 10% |
Trading hours
Spot metals are available for live trading from 22:00 GMT on Sunday until 21:00 GMT on Friday. Every day the trade session has an interruption between 21:00 to 22:00 GMT.
Swap
The value date of spot positions in metals (two business days after the execution date), which are held open at the end of every business day (at 17:00 New York time), will be rolled over to a new Value Date which is the first business day following the previous value date. As part of the rollover operation, positions are subject to a positive or negative swap adjustment on a basis of the Tom/Next interest rates of the USD, that includes the interest differential, the liquidity of the forward market, the demand/supply of the market and a markup for the broker.
Value date rollover example:
You have a long position in XAUUSD as of 17:00 New York time. The value date of the position will move forward by one business day. You will not earn interest on your long position in XAU and you will pay interest on your short position in USD. Since there is no interest paid or received on both short and long positions in XAU (there is no relevant interest rate), the amount of the swap received or owed depends on the interbank Tom/Next interest rates of the USD.
Verification of the daily applied swap rates
The applied daily swap rates for both long and short position in precious metals can be checked on this link.
Note: Swap rates, which will be applied for the next day, are updated in the calculator after 16:00 GMT.
The rates are calculated at the beginning of the next business day (17:00 New York time). When opening and closing a position within the same business day, the position will not be swaped.
*Available only in MetaTrader 5
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