Gold Spread Comparison UK: 10 Brokers Tested (2026)

Which broker has the lowest gold spread?

Last updated: 31st July 2026

As of 31st July 2026, the tightest gold (XAU/USD) spread across the 10 UK brokers we checked was 0.12pts, at Pepperstone.

Month Checked Tightest broker(s) Gold Spread
July 2026 Pepperstone 0.12pts
June 2026 Pepperstone 0.15pts
May 2026 CMC Markets 0.20pts

Between 61-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Capital at risk.

Gold spreads from different brokers

Gold has been super active recently, and so of course it’s been a great market to trade.

But as always with these things, activity means every broker under the sun trying to claim ‘razor sharp’ spreads on Gold (sometimes called XAUUSD, which is gold vs dollar) or spreads “from”…yeah, yeah, heard it before pal 🙄

Weirdly, a lot of the so-called broker comparison sites out there just give you headline figures, the promo bs. Pulled straight from the marketing desk.

That’s no use to you or me. I want to know the real gold spread.

So, I used a very scientific method worthy of some science award…

I put ten CFD and spread betting brokers’ live gold prices on my screen and took a screenshot.

The brokers I selected, for no other reason than that they are probably some of the most popular, regulated and have been around a while.

Battling it out for the best gold spread, we’ve got:

  1. CMC Markets
  2. IG
  3. Pepperstone
  4. City Index
  5. Capital.com
  6. FXCM
  7. Plus 500
  8. Oanda
  9. Forex.com
  10. FxPro

Just one point in time, specifically 5.23 pm (BST) on Monday 27th July 2026. All brokers at the same time. No data, no fast markets, no unusual volatility, just a typical Friday afternoon.

Gold spreads checked here
FXCM Gold Spread
Capital Gold Spread

So FXCM’s 30pt is actually the same as Capital.com’s 0.3pts, despite looking bigger. Exactly the kind of nonsense I’m sorting out here….

I find that quite annoying as it makes shopping around for the best value broker on gold hard to do, but it is what it is… I’ve allowed for it, and just so you know, converted all into 0.xx format for easy comparison.

Another tricky thing here with gold spreads is that a lot of brokers have variable spreads… so what do I do to keep it fair here? 

As I said earlier, I just took a screenshot at a point in time. If that broker was suddenly at its widest at that time, not much I can do about it.

Let’s face it, in the real world, if we see a trading opportunity and want to get in immediately, that’s exactly like taking a screenshot, right, you either get lucky with a tight spread or you don’t…

To try and make it fair, I did watch the spreads for a few minutes and noted down the extremes, noting down who was fixed over my observation period and who was not.

Lowest gold spreads, ranked from best to worst

  1. Pepperstone 0.12pts
  2. CMC Markets 0.2pts
  3. Capital.com, IG and FXCM 0.3pts
  4. FxPro 0.32pts
  5. Forex.com 0.62pts
  6. Oanda 0.69pts
  7. Plus500 0.71pts
  8. City Index 0.9pts

During observation, at times I saw

Pepperstone going even lower to 0.1pts spread on gold

  • Oanda ranging from 0.44pts – 0.77pts
  • City Index decreasing to 0.8pts
  • Forex.com ranging from 0.62pts – 0.69pts

Pepperstone easily takes the top spot this month for lowest spread on gold. With a 0.12pts spread that I even saw go down to 0.11pts at one point.

So there you have it… Do your own research, of course. This was only taken at a single point in time. Spreads are variable; things change.

But you can see how extreme the differences are. 0.12pts – 0.9pts… that’s a massive saving over a month/year if you trade gold! (Use the spread saver tool to see the full impact for your trading) 

If you trade indices, it might be worth checking out my other comparison tests:
FTSE, Dax, Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500.

Commodities: I also checked oil spreads.
Forex: I’ve done GBP/USD, USD/JPY, and EUR/USD.

Or see them all in one place in my spread checker.

And if you’re new to trading gold, I’ve got a full guide to spread betting gold here.

Rarely is one broker the best for everything, so always do your own research and keep checking for any changes.