Contact Ballarat Desk

The editorial mailbox

Ballarat Desk has one editorial mailbox: editor@ballaratdesk.com. That is the only address for readers. The desk does not publish a phone number, a street address, or a contact form.

The mailbox is read by the editorial team. The desk does not promise a response time. Some emails may not receive a reply if they are outside the desk's scope.

What the desk will help with

The desk will read emails about factual errors on the site, broken links, or unclear wording. If a reader believes a number on the site is wrong, the desk will check the source document and correct it if needed.

The desk will also read emails about the methodology or about a broker's published terms. However, the desk does not give personal opinions on which broker to choose.

What the desk will not help with

Ballarat Desk will not help with account problems at a broker, such as login issues, withdrawal delays, or margin calls. The desk is not the broker and has no access to client accounts. Contact the broker directly for those issues.

The desk will not help with fund recovery, chargebacks, or disputes with a broker. The desk does not give personal advice, does not recommend a trade, and does not review individual trading strategies. No guest posts, no sponsored reviews, and no paid placement at any price.

What to include in your message for a fast, useful reply

For any question about gold trading costs or mechanics, send the exact instrument code (XAU/USD), the trade size in lots, and the account currency in your first sentence. A message that says just “what is the spread on gold?” forces a generic reply, because the spread depends on the platform, the time of day, and whether you are asking about a live or demo account. Stating those three items up front lets the desk check the correct price feed and answer in one round instead of several.

For a platform or account query, include the platform you use (MT4, MT5, cTrader, or the FxPro app) and, if relevant, the account number. This matters because the desk cannot see your account and will not ask for passwords or sensitive details over email. If you are asking about a margin calculation, give the leverage you intend to use, up to the 1:200 cap, and your intended lot size. For example, a 0.10-lot gold position at 1:200 needs about $85.50 margin, but the desk will confirm the current figure.

For a correction request, include the URL of the page, the exact sentence or figure you believe is wrong, and the source you are relying on. The desk does not act on vague claims such as “your gold pip value is wrong” without knowing which page and which number. If you are reporting an outdated fact, say what the fact should be and link to a primary source, such as an ASIC register entry or an FxPro legal document. This allows the correction to be verified and logged without a back-and-forth chase.

Boundaries: what the desk can and cannot answer

The desk can answer factual questions about gold trading mechanics, such as how a lot size converts to ounces, how the 0.01 pip movement translates into Australian dollars, and how leverage affects the margin on XAU/USD. It can explain the regulator caveat for Australian residents: FxPro is licensed by the FCA (UK) and CySEC, but it does not hold an ASIC licence, so Australian residents deal with an offshore entity. It can also describe funding methods available in Australia, which are PayID and bank transfer, and how they typically work.

The desk cannot give personal trading advice, and this is a hard line. It will not tell you whether to buy or sell gold, what lot size to use, where to set a stop-loss, or whether 1:200 leverage is appropriate for your situation. Those are decisions only you can make, and the desk does not know your income, risk tolerance, or trading history. Any message that asks “should I go long on gold tonight?” will receive a reply explaining why the question cannot be answered, not a recommendation.

The desk also cannot execute trades, reset passwords, or intervene with a broker on your behalf. It is an editorial desk, not a customer support line for FxPro. If your account is locked or a withdrawal is delayed, you must contact FxPro directly. The desk can point you to the correct support channel but cannot act as an intermediary. Finally, the desk does not provide legal or tax advice, including whether you need to report gold trading gains to the ATO.

How long a reply takes and what affects the wait

The standard response time is one to two business days for most queries, measured from the moment your message arrives in the editorial inbox. A short factual question, such as “what is the pip value of 1 lot of XAU/USD at 4275.0?”, is usually answered within one business day because the desk can verify the calculation quickly. A complex question about margin, leverage, and the Australian regulatory status of FxPro may take the full two days, as it requires checking primary sources rather than repeating a memorised figure.

The wait depends on the queue and the type of query, not on the sender. The desk answers messages in the order they are received, but correction requests are triaged separately because they affect published accuracy. If you send a follow-up before the two business days have passed, it does not move you up the queue and may actually slow the reply, because the desk then has two threads to reconcile. The desk does not offer live chat or phone support, so email is the only channel.

If your message arrives on a weekend or an Australian public holiday, the clock starts on the next business day. The desk is based in Australia and follows Australian business hours, though the inbox is monitored for urgent correction notices. You will not get a reply at 3 a.m. AEST, and you should not expect one. If you have not heard back after three business days, check your spam folder first, then resend with the original subject line and a note that it is a second attempt.

How a correction request is handled from receipt to fix

A correction request is logged immediately with a unique reference number, and the desk acknowledges receipt within one business day. That acknowledgement does not mean the correction has been made; it means the request is in the queue for review. The desk then checks the claim against the source you provided and, if necessary, against primary sources such as the FxPro legal documents or ASIC register. If the claimed error is in a calculation involving the reference price 4275.0, the desk re-runs the arithmetic before changing anything.

If the correction is verified, the page is updated within two business days of the acknowledgement, and you receive a second email confirming the change and the new wording. The desk does not publish a list of corrections on the contact page, but each corrected page carries a 'last updated' date that changes when a fix is made. If the correction is not verified, the desk replies with the evidence it relied on and leaves the page unchanged. The desk will not alter a number simply because a reader believes it is wrong.

The desk treats correction requests as high priority because accuracy about gold trading numbers is the point of the site. A wrong pip value or a misstated leverage cap can lead a reader to misjudge margin on a 0.10-lot position, which at 1:200 needs about $85.50. That is why the desk asks for a source and why vague reports are not acted on. There is no fee for a correction request, and you do not need to be a subscriber or provide personal details beyond a reply-to email address.

Contacting the desk about gold trading numbers: a quick checklist

Before you hit send, confirm your message contains the instrument code XAU/USD, the lot size you are asking about, and the currency you want the answer in, which will be Australian dollars unless you say otherwise. If your question involves leverage, state the ratio you are considering, up to the 1:200 cap, and the desk will explain the margin effect without recommending a setting. If you are asking about funding, name the method you plan to use: PayID or bank transfer.

Check that you are not asking for personal trading advice, because the desk will not answer it. A question framed as “what is the margin on 0.10 lots of XAU/USD at 1:200?” is answerable and will get a precise reply, such as about $85.50 based on a reference price of 4275.0. A question framed as “should I trade 0.10 lots of gold at 1:200?” will get a refusal and a pointer to the risk warning. The difference is the word 'should', and it matters.

Finally, include a working email address and a clear subject line. The desk replies to the address you send from, and a subject like “gold margin question” is faster to sort than “hello”. Do not include attachments unless you are sending a screenshot of an error on the site, and never include passwords, account numbers, or payment details. The desk does not need them and cannot secure them. With those items in place, your message is ready to send.

What to send for each kind of question

For a question about a gold price figure, send the exact price you saw, the time and date you saw it, and the platform you were using, because the desk needs to compare your number against the same data source. If the question is about a margin calculation, include the position size in lots, the leverage you chose, and the price you used, since margin for XAU/USD is derived from those three inputs.

For a question about how a cost is charged on a gold trade, state the instrument as XAU/USD, the lot size, and whether you are asking about the spread, a commission, or a swap, because each cost is calculated differently and the desk cannot guess which one you mean. If you are asking about a local funding method, name whether you used PayID or a bank transfer, and include the date and the amount in Australian dollars, so the desk can trace the deposit without asking you to repeat details.

For a correction request, include the exact sentence or heading you believe is wrong, the URL of the page, and the correct figure or statement you think should replace it, with the source if you have one. The desk does not accept vague reports such as 'the leverage is wrong' without a precise location, because a correction must be checked against the original data before any change is made, and a precise report lets the desk verify the claim quickly.

What we can and cannot answer about gold trading

The desk can answer factual questions about gold trading numbers, such as how the margin for a 0.10-lot XAU/USD position at 1:200 leverage is calculated from the reference price of 4275.0, and it can confirm that one standard lot is 100 ounces and one pip is 0.01. It can also clarify what a cost consists of, such as whether a spread is applied to a gold trade, but it will not state a specific spread figure because that number changes with market conditions and the broker's pricing engine.

The desk cannot give personal trading advice, including whether you should open, hold, or close a gold position, because that would be a regulated financial service and the desk is an editorial team, not a licensed adviser. It cannot tell you how much leverage to use on your account, even though the maximum available in Australia is 1:200, because the right leverage depends on your own risk tolerance and account size, and using the maximum is not a recommendation.

The desk cannot answer questions about your specific account with FxPro, such as why a deposit has not arrived or why a trade was rejected, because the desk has no access to any broker's internal systems. For account-specific problems, contact the broker directly. The desk also cannot advise on whether FxPro is suitable for you, but it can state the fact that FxPro is licensed by the FCA and CySEC, and that it does not hold an ASIC licence, so Australian residents deal with an offshore entity.