Exness · Broker overview

What an Exness account actually is for a South African trader

Exness ZA (PTY) Ltd holds FSCA FSP 51024, and that is the entity a South African client should be looking at when money is on the line. The group runs separate licensed companies in other jurisdictions — Exness (SC) Ltd under FSA Seychelles SD025, Exness (Cy) Ltd under CySEC 178/12, Exness (UK) Ltd under FCA 730729, among others — so the name on the contract matters more than the brand on the homepage. The firm was founded in 2008 in Limassol, Cyprus, and now offers 250+ instruments across forex, commodities, stocks, indices and crypto.

For anyone tracking the gold price in South Africa, the practical question is whether the metal is reachable on workable terms. It is: XAU/USD sits on the Standard account with a spread of 26 pips, no commission, and swap of -53.49/0 pips. That spread line is the one to read carefully, because it is quoted in the instrument's own pip convention rather than in rand.

We go further into neighbouring questions in Exness · Account types and Exness · Funding the account.

Five account types, and the cost line that separates them

The choice between account types is mostly a choice about how you pay.

Standard Cent also exists alongside these four. The logic is straightforward: on Standard and Pro the cost is baked into the spread, on Zero and Raw Spread it is split out as a commission. A trader watching the gold price chart tick by tick usually gravitates to the raw-pricing accounts, because the cost per round turn becomes visible instead of hidden in the quote. A trader who checks the gold price today once and holds a position for weeks may not care.

Margin rules that catch people out

Margin call triggers at 60% on Standard and at 30% on Pro, Zero and Raw Spread. Stop out sits at 0% across the board, and hedged margin is 0%. Negative balance protection is available.

The gap between the two margin call levels is the part worth sitting with. On Standard you get a warning earlier in the drawdown; on the other accounts the warning arrives later, closer to the edge. Stop out at 0% means positions are closed when free margin is exhausted, not before. Hedged margin at 0% means a fully hedged position does not consume margin — useful if you run both sides of the gold price in different directions, and a trap if you mistake a hedge for a risk-free position.

Lot limits are 0.01 minimum, 200 lots maximum between 07:00 and 20:59 GMT+0 and 60 lots between 21:00 and 06:59 GMT+0, with unlimited open positions. The overnight ceiling is lower for a reason.

Where gold volatility actually lands

Exness publishes tick history for all instruments, and the gold data in it is worth reading before sizing anything. The sharpest minute of the day falls at 12:00 UTC, at 60.91 USD — 6,091 USD per lot. The calmest is 20:00 UTC at 3.29 USD.

That is a spread of behaviour across a single trading day, and it is the number that should drive when you trade and how much. A stop placed with the quiet hour in mind will not survive the busy one. Anyone following the live gold price will recognise the pattern — the metal does not move evenly, and the broker's own tick data confirms it.

Leverage, swaps and the rand question

Leverage is customisable on majors and on XAU/USD. It is fixed lower on some instruments: USD/ZAR at 1:200, indices at 1:200–1:400, USOIL at 1:2000, USD/MXN at 1:50. Customisable leverage is not a recommendation to use the maximum — it is a setting you choose, and the choice is yours to get wrong.

Swap on XAU/USD is -53.49/0 pips, which is a cost that does not appear anywhere on the spread line and quietly accumulates on any position held past the daily rollover. For a rand-based account, the USD/ZAR pair itself trades with a spread of 116.8 pips, no commission, swap -18.7/0 pips and leverage capped at 1:200 — relevant if you think about the gold price in rand terms rather than dollars.

Funding runs through segregated accounts in tier-1 banks, with PCI DSS certification and 3D Secure in place. Withdrawals carry no broker fee, and third-party fees are covered by Exness. Islamic accounts are available on all account types. There are no bonuses and no contests; a loyalty program exists.

Reader questions

Does the FSP number on the South African site cover the whole Exness group?

No. Exness ZA (PTY) Ltd holds FSCA FSP 51024. The other entities — Exness (SC) Ltd, Exness (Cy) Ltd, Exness (UK) Ltd and the rest — are licensed by their own regulators, and the entity named on your client agreement is the one you have recourse against.

Why is the maximum lot size lower overnight?

Between 21:00 and 06:59 GMT+0 the cap is 60 lots, against 200 lots from 07:00 to 20:59 GMT+0. Liquidity thins outside the main session, and the limit reflects that.

Is the commission on Zero charged per side or per round turn?

Per side. Zero charges from 0.05 USD per lot per side, and Raw Spread up to 3.50 USD per lot per side, so a completed trade pays twice.

Can I hold a gold position through the daily rollover without extra cost?

No. XAU/USD carries a swap of -53.49/0 pips, charged on positions held past rollover. It does not show on the spread and it compounds over time.

Does a hedged gold position use margin?

Hedged margin is 0%, so a fully hedged position does not consume margin. That does not remove the exposure — the two legs still carry swap costs and the position still has to be closed.