Best Gold Trading Platforms in the US

Charles Schwab (formerly TD-Ameritrade), gives you the thinkorswim platform for futures, options, stocks, bonds, and ETFs trading. For gold specifically, you can trade CME futures with over 400 technical indicators and use thinkScript coding language for custom indicators. The platform helps make complex technical analysis straightforward across all asset classes.

With Schwab, you pay $0 commission on stocks and ETFs including gold funds like GLD and IAU. Futures will cost $2.25 per contract including exchange and NFA fees. The combination of futures, ETFs, screening tools, and comprehensive market access covers strategies beyond just gold.

thinkorswim handles everything you need

The thinkorswim platform combines charting, analysis, and execution in one interface. You get customizable workspaces letting you arrange charts, order entry, and watchlists however you prefer. The mobile app mirrors desktop functionality so you can manage trades from anywhere.

Technical studies include Fibonacci retracements, pivot points, moving averages, and custom indicators you can code yourself using thinkScript. The platform saves your analysis when you close positions, which helps track what worked and what didn’t.

The education center provides live events covering futures fundamentals, options strategies, and risk management. Archived webinars let you learn at your own pace.

Futures, options, and comprehensive market access

CME futures trade nearly 24 hours across commodities, indices, currencies, and bonds. Gold futures give you access during Asian, European, and US sessions with liquidity peaking during New York hours. Weekly options expire every Friday on futures including gold, oil, and equity indices.

Futures commissions run $2.25 per side including exchange and regulatory fees. This covers platform access, research tools, and real-time data. Volume discounts apply once you’re trading actively. The Probability Lab tool analyzes options strategies showing risk/reward scenarios before you commit capital.
The platform displays real-time margin requirements updating as prices move across all products you trade. You adjust position sizes on the fly, seeing exactly how much buying power different trade sizes require. The Stock Hacker tool scans futures, stocks, and options simultaneously based on your custom criteria.

Education and paper trading features

The education center provides live events covering futures fundamentals, options strategies, and risk management. Archived webinars let you learn at your own pace. Their support team understands commodities markets and can walk you through platform features when you get stuck.

The paperMoney® feature gives you $100,000 virtual funds to practice trading without risking real money. This simulator mirrors live market conditions, including realistic fills, margin requirements, and order execution. You can test gold futures strategies, practice with weekly options, and learn platform features risk-free before committing capital.

Interactive Brokers gives you the most complete trading platform available to US traders, covering stocks, bonds, options, futures, forex, and 150+ global markets from one account. For gold specifically, you get US Spot Gold (USGOLD), CME futures in three contract sizes, commission-free gold ETFs, and options on futures.

The IBKR Trader Workstation platform handles complex strategies across asset classes simultaneously – you can trade gold futures while managing equity positions and forex trades on the same screen. Gold futures commissions start at $0.85 per contract for both standard and Micro sizes. US Spot Gold costs 1.5 basis points with a $2.00 minimum per trade, plus daily storage fees.

The newer IBKR Desktop simplifies the interface while keeping professional features intact. You need $0 minimum to open an account, though you’ll need sufficient capital to meet margin requirements based on what you’re trading. Their fee structure stays transparent with everything listed on their website.

Trade gold futures in three contract sizes

CME Gold futures give you the most liquid gold market with nearly 24-hour trading. The standard contract controls 100 troy ounces, E-mini covers 50 ounces, and Micro Gold gives you 10-ounce exposure. I found the Micro contracts great for testing strategies without committing large capital.

Interactive Brokers charges $0.85 per contract for all three sizes: standard 100-oz, E-mini 50-oz, and Micro 10-oz. Your broker requires initial margin to open positions – currently around $1,650 for Micro Gold based on CME minimums, with larger contracts requiring proportionally more. These amounts adjust when volatility increases, so always verify current requirements before trading.

The platform shows you depth of market data, letting you see where large orders sit. Gold futures roll quarterly, and the platform handles rollovers smoothly if you’re holding positions into expiry.

Commission-free gold ETFs and fractional shares

US stocks and ETFs trade at $0 commission, including gold ETFs like GLD, IAU, and GLDM. Fractional shares let you invest exact dollar amounts rather than buying whole shares. Gold mining stocks also trade commission-free, with screening tools covering US and international companies by production costs, reserves, and financials.

The platform provides access to 150+ global markets including European stocks, Asian equities, international bonds, and commodities. You trade Canadian mining stocks, Australian resources companies, and South African producers alongside US equities. Options on gold futures offer weekly and monthly expirations for hedging or directional strategies.

Two platform choices depending on your style

The broker offers some of the best spot gold forex trading platforms. Trader Workstation delivers institutional-grade tools with extensive customization. The learning curve is steep but once mastered, you execute complex strategies across multiple asset classes efficiently. TWS supports algorithmic trading and custom indicators.

IBKR Desktop simplifies the interface while keeping professional features intact. It integrates with TradingView for charting and works smoothly on desktop and mobile. WebTrader runs in any browser without downloads for quick access to essential functions.

Plus500 US offers gold futures at $0.89 per side for standard 100-oz contracts and $0.49 for Micro 10-oz contracts – among the lowest you’ll find. Exchange and NFA fees are included in these rates, so what you see is what you pay with no surprise charges.

You also get access to 60+ futures contracts including equity indices (S&P 500, Nasdaq, Dow), energy (crude oil, natural gas), agricultural commodities (corn, wheat, soybeans), crypto futures (Bitcoin, Ethereum), and Treasury bonds. The $100 minimum deposit and zero platform fees make it accessible for traders at different capital levels.

The proprietary WebTrader platform focuses on simplicity – you place trades, set stop losses, and monitor positions without navigating complex menus. Over 100 technical indicators are built in for analysis. The mobile app works particularly well for managing futures positions on the go, with the same clean interface optimized for smaller screens.

StoneX Futures operates as a CME clearing member giving you direct access to COMEX gold futures including standard 100-oz contracts, E-mini 50-oz, Micro 10-oz, and 1-oz precision contracts. StoneX Group owns Forex.com, so you can access spot FX trading through their affiliate while using StoneX for futures execution.

Commissions vary by service level – their Futures Standard account offers competitive rates for self-directed traders while Futures Premium includes dedicated broker support. You trade through their proprietary platform, TradingView integration, or MetaTrader 5 depending on your preference. The tight spreads during liquid sessions make StoneX competitive with other low spread forex brokers in the US market.

Beyond gold, you get access to equity index futures, energy contracts, agricultural commodities, and Treasury futures. The high-touch broker support sets them apart if you want human guidance rather than pure self-service execution.

Fidelity charges $0 commission on US stocks, ETFs, options, and mutual funds with no account minimum. Gold ETFs like GLD, IAU, GLDM, and SGOL have bid-ask spreads of 0.006-0.014% (typically 1-3 cents per share). You also get access to bonds, retirement accounts, fractional shares across all ETFs, and wealth management services.

The platform displays fund data side-by-side including expense ratios, tracking error, holdings, and performance across timeframes. Fractional shares work on any ETF – invest $50 monthly whether shares trade at $20 or $200. The screener filters by dozens of criteria including expense ratio, liquidity, sector allocation, and asset class.

For gold specifically, you can compare expense ratios (GLD at 0.40%, IAU at 0.25%, GLDM at 0.10%) and track commission-free mining stocks with screening tools covering production costs and reserves. Customer service consistently ranks top-tier.

ETRADE’s Power ETRADE platform charges $1.50 per futures contract and $0 commission on stocks, ETFs, and options. You get access to futures, equities, bonds, mutual funds, and retirement accounts from one platform. Gold futures commissions sit below Schwab’s $2.25 but above Plus500’s $0.89.

The Live Action Scanner provides predefined screeners to spot unusual activity, volatility, and technical patterns across stocks including mining companies. You filter by production costs, reserves, profit margins, and lots of other criteria. The Technical Pattern Recognition tool automatically identifies breakouts, head and shoulders, triangles, and other setups directly on gold and mining stock charts.

Virtual trading provides $100,000 paper money for testing futures strategies. The simulator mirrors live trading with realistic fills and margin requirements. Customer support operates 24/7 via phone, chat, and email, which is useful.

TradeStation excels if you want to automate gold trading strategies. Their EasyLanguage coding makes building trading systems straightforward, even without extensive programming knowledge. You can backtest strategies on historical gold data, seeing how they would have performed during different market conditions.

The platform includes RadarScreen for monitoring multiple gold products simultaneously. You can track spot prices, futures across different expiries, gold ETFs, and mining stocks all in one view. Real-time alerts notify you when any instrument hits your specified conditions.

Strategy testing shows you profit factors, win rates, maximum drawdown, and other performance metrics before deploying systems with real money. The platform connects to third-party algo trading services if you want to use pre-built strategies rather than coding your own.

Robinhood just launched gold futures in January 2025 with fees that beat most brokers. You pay $0.75 per contract, or $0.50 if you sign up for their Gold membership at $5 monthly. There are no confusing fee structures or hidden charges piling up either.

The mobile app is refreshingly simple compared to some clunky desktop platforms. You can trade standard gold futures or Micro Gold contracts covering just 10 ounces instead of 100. Their interface gets you in and out quickly without clicking through multiple menus.

Robinhood works across mobile, web, and their new Legend desktop platform. They’ve added crypto futures, index futures, and energy contracts beyond gold if you want variety.

NinjaTrader works best if you want to automate gold strategies or backtest ideas before risking capital. Their platform gives you professional automation tools that let you code custom indicators and run algorithmic strategies on gold futures.

Commissions start at $0.35 per Micro Gold contract on the free plan, dropping to just $0.09 if you buy the lifetime license for $1,499.

The Strategy Tester lets you replay historical gold data to see how your approach would have performed during different market conditions. You get extremely low margins too, just $50 for Micro Gold and $1,000 for standard contracts. This flexibility helps when you want to scale positions without tying up excessive capital.

The platform runs on desktop, web, and mobile with free simulated trading so you can practice gold strategies risk-free before going live.