How Brokers Are Checked
Every broker is tested first on whether a resident of the Philippines can actually open, fund and withdraw, and only then on cost and platform.
The first gate: can a Philippine resident use it
The first question for any broker is whether a resident of the Philippines can open an account, fund it through GCash or bank transfer, and withdraw without an obstacle that only appears at the end. A broker that fails this gate is not ranked at all, however good its platform looks on paper.
Funding and withdrawal are checked as a pair because a smooth deposit means little if the withdrawal route is closed or unclear. The desk records what the broker's own documents say about accepted rails and any conditions attached to them, and treats an unanswered withdrawal question as a weakness rather than a neutral point.
Where the numbers come from
Numbers come from the broker's own documents, and each figure is recorded with the date it was read. That includes the leverage cap that applies to the entity serving the Philippines, which is a cap rather than a setting to aim at, and the margin a position actually requires.
The worked figure used across the site is a 0.10-lot gold position needing about $85.50 margin at the applicable cap, and it is shown as an illustration of the arithmetic rather than a target. Where a cost is not published as a number, the page describes what the cost consists of and what it depends on instead of guessing.
The honest limits
The testing has limits and they are stated rather than hidden. The desk does not run a live funded account at every broker, does not measure execution quality tick by tick, and cannot see how a broker treats a reader's individual case. Anything that depends on the reader's own verification is marked as such.
Prices, leverage caps and funding rules change, and a figure read on one date may not hold on another. Readers should confirm current terms with the broker before acting, and the desk re-checks rather than assumes. The regulator caveat is repeated wherever it matters: FxPro is licensed by the FCA (UK) and CySEC - not by the SEC of the Philippines.
Where each class of figure on this site comes from
Price figures on this site come from a live XAU/USD feed and are not typed by hand. The reference price of 4275.0 is the anchor for every worked example, but the live price shown in the calculator updates from the feed so you can see how the arithmetic behaves at the current market. Broker facts, such as the platforms offered and the regulator caveat, come from the broker's own published documentation for the entity that serves the Philippines.
Contract specifications come from the instrument definition: gold is quoted as XAU/USD, one standard lot is 100 oz, and one pip is 0.01. Those three facts drive every position-size and pip-value calculation on the site, so they are stored once and referenced everywhere rather than repeated as loose text. The margin example of about $85.50 for a 0.10-lot position is derived from the applicable leverage cap for the entity serving the Philippines, not from a retail setting you can choose.
Funding and local-context facts come from what is documented for Philippine clients: GCash and bank transfer are the funding rails named, and the peso symbol is used where a local amount is relevant. The regulator caveat is fixed text: FxPro is licensed by the FCA (UK) and CySEC, not by the SEC of the Philippines. No spread, commission, swap or minimum deposit is stated as a number anywhere on the site because those figures were not supplied to us.
The formula each calculator uses, written out in words
The pip-value calculator multiplies three things: the number of lots, the pip size for gold, and the price of one pip in the quote currency. For XAU/USD, one pip is 0.01 and one standard lot is 100 oz, so the pip value per standard lot is 100 multiplied by 0.01, which is $1.00 per pip. A 0.10-lot position therefore moves $0.10 per pip before any conversion to pesos.
The margin calculator divides the notional value of the position by the leverage cap that applies to the entity serving the Philippines. Notional value is the number of lots multiplied by 100 oz and then by the XAU/USD price. At the cap, a 0.10-lot position at the reference price needs about $85.50 margin. The calculator shows that figure as an illustration of the cap, not as a target leverage you should aim for.
The position-size calculator works backwards from the risk you are willing to take. It takes your account balance, the percentage of that balance you are prepared to risk, and the distance in pips between your entry and your stop. It then divides the money at risk by the pip value of one lot to get the lot size. Every step is shown in words next to the result so you can check the arithmetic yourself.
What refreshes automatically and what a person checks by hand
The live XAU/USD price refreshes automatically from the market feed, and every calculator result that depends on price recalculates when the feed moves. That means the pip value in dollars and the notional value in the margin example will change during the session. The reference price of 4275.0 is kept as a fixed anchor for written examples so the text does not shift every few minutes.
Broker facts are reviewed by hand. The platforms listed (MT4, MT5, cTrader and the FxPro app), the entity that serves the Philippines, and the regulator caveat are checked against the broker's own documentation on a scheduled basis and whenever a reader flags a change. They are not scraped automatically, because a regulator licence and the entity behind it are too important to leave to a parser.
The contract specification for gold is also reviewed by hand. One standard lot equals 100 oz and one pip equals 0.01 are stable facts, but they are re-confirmed rather than assumed. Funding rails, GCash and bank transfer, are kept as a short list that a person maintains. Nothing about spreads, commissions, swaps or minimum deposits is refreshed automatically because those numbers are deliberately not published on this site.
The known limits of this method
The method cannot tell you what your broker will actually charge. Spreads, commissions, swaps and minimum deposits vary by account and by market conditions, and none of those figures were supplied to us, so the site describes what a cost consists of and what it depends on instead of quoting a number. A calculator result is an illustration, not a quote you can trade on.
The leverage figure is a cap, not a recommendation. The margin example of about $85.50 for a 0.10-lot gold position shows the arithmetic at the applicable cap for the entity serving the Philippines, but it does not mean that using the full cap is sensible. Higher leverage magnifies both gains and losses, and gold can move sharply, so the cap is a ceiling rather than a setting to aim at.
The live price on the site can lag your broker's quote, and the method cannot close that gap. It also cannot account for slippage, gaps, or the exact fill you will get. The regulator caveat is stated as given, and the site does not audit the broker. Treat every number here as a way to understand the mechanics, not as a promise about execution or cost.
How a broker fact is dated and re-checked
Each broker fact carries a date on which it was last confirmed against the broker's own published documentation for the entity serving the Philippines. That date is recorded next to the fact, so you can see how fresh it is. When the date is old, the fact is treated as unconfirmed until a person re-checks it, and the page is updated rather than left to drift.
Re-checking happens on a schedule and on demand. The schedule covers the platforms offered, the entity that serves the Philippines, and the regulator caveat that FxPro is licensed by the FCA (UK) and CySEC, not by the SEC of the Philippines. On demand means a reader can flag a suspected change, and the fact goes back into the queue for a person to verify against the source.
A fact is only re-dated after it has been matched to the broker's own words. If the documentation cannot be reached, the fact keeps its old date and is marked as not freshly confirmed rather than being silently refreshed. That way the date means something: it records a real check, not an automatic touch. No spread, commission, swap or minimum deposit is dated because none of those numbers is published here.
What happens when two sources disagree
When two sources disagree, the broker's own documentation for the entity serving the Philippines wins for broker facts, and the live feed wins for price. A third-party summary is treated as a pointer to check the primary source, not as the source itself. If the primary source cannot settle the question, the site says what the figure depends on instead of picking a number.
For price, a disagreement between the site feed and your broker's quote is expected and is not treated as an error. The site shows the feed it uses and explains that your broker's quote can differ because of its own liquidity and timing. The reference price of 4275.0 stays fixed for written examples so a feed disagreement does not rewrite the text.
For regulatory facts, the caveat is fixed text and is not averaged with anything else: FxPro is licensed by the FCA (UK) and CySEC, not by the SEC of the Philippines. If a source suggests otherwise, the caveat stands until the broker's own documentation changes. Where sources still disagree after that, the site flags the uncertainty in plain words rather than hiding it behind a confident number.
Why the live price can differ from your broker's quote
The live price on this site comes from one feed, while your broker's quote comes from its own liquidity and its own matching engine, so the two can differ by a small amount at any moment. Gold is quoted in XAU/USD with a pip of 0.01, and even a fraction of a pip matters when you are sizing a position. The site's reference price of 4275.0 is an anchor for examples, not a claim about your fill.
Timing is the other reason. The feed updates continuously, your platform updates on its own cycle, and your order is filled at whatever price is available when it reaches the broker. During fast markets or around news, the gap between the price you see and the price you get can widen. That is normal market behaviour, not a fault in the calculator.
The method does not try to reconcile the two prices into one number. It shows you the feed it uses and lets you compare it with your platform. For sizing, use your broker's quote and your own stop distance, because that is what your order will be measured against. The site's job is to show the arithmetic clearly, not to promise that its price equals your execution price.
What is deliberately not published here, and why
Spreads, commissions, swaps and minimum deposits are deliberately not published as numbers because those figures were not supplied to us and they vary by account, by market and by the entity serving you. Publishing a number we cannot stand behind would be worse than saying nothing. Instead, the site describes what a cost consists of and what it depends on, so you know which questions to ask your broker.
Leverage is published only as a cap, not as a menu of ratios, because the cap that applies to the entity serving the Philippines is the only leverage fact we hold. The margin example of about $85.50 for a 0.10-lot gold position illustrates that cap. It is not a suggestion to use it. Naming other ratios would invite readers to treat leverage as a setting to maximise, which is the opposite of the site's angle.
Funding methods are limited to the ones documented for Philippine clients: GCash and bank transfer. Other rails are not named because naming them would imply they are available when we have not confirmed that. The regulator caveat is stated exactly as given. Nothing about future promotions, bonuses or dates is published, because those are not facts we hold and guessing them would mislead.
How you can reproduce any number on this site
You can reproduce any calculator result with the three gold facts and the formula written in words. Take the number of lots, multiply by 100 oz per standard lot, then by the XAU/USD price to get notional value. Divide by the leverage cap for the entity serving the Philippines to get margin. For pip value, multiply lots by 100 oz and by the 0.01 pip size to get dollars per pip, then convert to pesos if you need a local figure.
For position sizing, start from your account balance and the percentage you are willing to risk. Multiply them to get the money at risk. Divide that by the distance in pips between entry and stop, then divide again by the pip value of one lot. The result is your lot size. Every step uses numbers you can see, so you can check the site's answer against your own arithmetic line by line.
The worked margin figure of about $85.50 for a 0.10-lot position is reproducible the same way: 0.10 lots times 100 oz times the reference price, divided by the applicable cap. If your result differs, check which price and which cap you used. The site keeps the reference price fixed at 4275.0 for written examples so the arithmetic in the text stays checkable even as the live feed moves.
Trade gold on FxPro
FxPro gives Philippine traders MT4, MT5, cTrader and the FxPro app for XAU/USD, with funding through GCash or bank transfer. FxPro is licensed by the FCA (UK) and CySEC — not by the SEC of the Philippines — so size every position as risk capital you can afford to lose.