What is XAUUSD?

What it means

XAU is the ISO code for gold, following the convention that precious metals take an X prefix. The pair is quoted like a currency pair — a rising number means gold strengthening against the dollar — and it trades nearly around the clock on the same schedule as FX.

Why it matters

What retail traders access is almost always a contract for difference on spot gold rather than the metal or a futures contract. The price tracks the underlying closely but the instrument is a bilateral agreement with your broker, which is why specifications differ between brokers on the same symbol.

What this changes in practice

Broker symbol names vary and this matters for automation. Exness uses XAUUSDm for its cent and standard accounts, others use XAUUSD.raw, XAUUSD.pro or a plain XAUUSD, and an EA hard-coded to one name silently fails on another. See symbol suffix and our XAUUSD EA page.