Gold — the volatility king
Gold rewards traders who respect two things: time and size. It builds liquidity in Asia, sweeps it in London, and delivers in New York — and one standard lot turns every $1 of movement into $100. Here is the session map, the contract math and the SMC playbook.
When gold actually moves
Gold trades nearly 24/5, but the tradeable moves cluster into two windows. Everything else is mostly range-building — which is useful, because those ranges become the liquidity that fuels the session moves.
| Window | UTC | IST | What usually happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asian session | 00:00–07:00 | 05:30–12:30 | Quiet accumulation. The Asian high/low forms — a liquidity pool London loves to sweep. |
| London session | 07:00–16:00 | 12:30–21:30 | First real expansion. Watch the London killzone (07:00–11:00 UTC / 12:30–16:30 IST) for the sweep of Asian liquidity and the day's first displacement. |
| New York session | 12:00–21:00 | 17:30–02:30 | Heaviest volume of the day. The NY killzone (12:00–16:00 UTC / 17:30–21:30 IST) often reverses or extends London's move. Spread widens sharply at the NY open. |
| London–NY overlap | 12:00–16:00 | 17:30–21:30 | Both centres active at once — the highest-energy hours on the gold chart. |
Know what a dollar move costs you
Most blown gold accounts die from size, not direction. Learn the per-lot math before your first trade.
| Spec (XAUUSD CFD / spot) | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Standard lot | 100 oz | 1.00 lot = 100 troy ounces of gold. |
| $1.00 move · 1.00 lot | $100 | A $10 swing = $1,000 per standard lot. |
| $1.00 move · 0.10 lot | $10 | The common intraday sizing unit. |
| $1.00 move · 0.01 lot | $1 | Micro lot — where new gold traders should start. |
| Spread | Variable | Widens sharply at the NY open and around news. Verify typical spread with your broker. |
| Margin / leverage | Broker-specific | Verify with your broker — leverage rules differ by regulator. |
Worked example — 1% risk
Account $10,000, risking 1% = $100 per trade. Stop-loss $5.00 away.
size = $100 ÷ ($5 × $100/lot) = 0.20 lots
Do this once per trade, every trade. The free position size calculator has an XAUUSD preset that does it for you.
Trading gold on MCX? (India)
MCX GOLD is quoted in ₹ per 10 grams with a 1 kg lot — a ₹1 move in the quote is about ₹100 per lot. Verify current contract specs on MCX circulars before trading.
MCX gold tracks the same COMEX/spot flows as XAUUSD (plus USD/INR), so the London and NY killzones above hit the MCX evening session directly. Full MCX specs, timings and the mini GOLDM contract are on the Indian markets page.
How we trade gold
Gold is the cleanest liquidity market there is — the same Asian-range → sweep → displacement story plays out week after week. Map it with structure, not hope.
The core sequence: range → sweep → deliver
The Asian session builds a tight range. London frequently sweeps one side of it — running the stops resting there — then displaces the other way. New York either continues that move or sweeps London's extreme and reverses. Your job isn't to predict which; it's to recognise the sweep when it prints and trade the structure that follows.
Liquidity sweeps
Asian highs/lows, PDH/PDL and equal highs/lows are gold's fuel. SMC SNIPER Part 1 marks sweeps in same-bar and reclaim modes, with auto markers on daily and weekly levels.
SMC Sniper →Graded order blocks
The candle that launches a London or NY displacement leaves an order block behind. Volumetric ★–★★★ grading tells you which zones are worth waiting for on the retrace.
SMC Sniper →Premium / discount
Inside the day's dealing range, buy discount and sell premium — never chase mid-range. The equilibrium line keeps you honest when gold is stretching.
Learn the concept →Session-gated signals
Sniper Cloud Opus is built only for gold: value-cloud pullbacks, an anti-chop gate and a 0–100 conviction score that fires only inside the London and NY killzones.
Gold Suite →Gold Suite (Sniper CO conviction engine) + SMC SNIPER
Let SMC SNIPER map the structure — sweeps, order blocks, premium/discount — and let the Gold Suite's Sniper Cloud Opus act as the XAUUSD-tuned trigger: session-gated entries with a locked 1:2 risk plan and conviction scoring. Structure gives you the story; the conviction engine times the shot.
Tools for gold traders
Put the gold playbook on your chart
SMC SNIPER and the Gold Suite mark the sweeps, zones and killzones described above — automatically, on every XAUUSD chart you open.