How Ballarat Desk Checks Brokers

First check: can a resident of Australia open, fund and withdraw

The first thing Ballarat Desk checks is whether a broker will accept a resident of Australia at all. The desk looks at the broker's own account-opening pages and terms to see if Australia is listed as an accepted country. If it is not, the broker is not considered further.

The second check is funding and withdrawal. The desk looks for local payment methods that work from Australia, such as PayID or bank transfer. The desk does not test deposits with real money, so it cannot confirm how fast a payment clears or whether a withdrawal is delayed.

Where the numbers come from

Every number on Ballarat Desk is taken from the broker's own documents, such as the contract specifications, the fee schedule, or the terms of business. The desk records the date when each document was read. Figures change, so the date matters.

The desk does not invent spreads, swaps, commissions, or minimum deposits. If a number is not stated in the broker's documents, the desk says so. The desk also does not rely on third-party reviews, because those can be outdated or copied.

Honest limits of the testing

Ballarat Desk does not run a live account with any broker. It does not place trades, does not test execution speed, and does not test customer support response times. The desk only reads documents and writes down what they say.

The desk cannot guarantee that a broker will treat a reader the same way it treats the documents. A broker can change its terms at any time. Readers must re-check the broker's own website before they fund an account.

Where each class of figure on Ballarat Desk comes from

Every cost figure on Ballarat Desk is sourced from the broker's published materials, not from a third-party feed. Where a spread, commission or swap is shown, it is copied from FxPro's own specification pages for the exact account type and platform being reviewed. If FxPro changes the number, our figure changes only after a manual re-check. We never estimate a cost; we either have the broker's number or we say the cost is not stated.

Margin figures are calculated from the leverage cap stated for Australian residents. The only leverage ratio we use is the 1:200 cap, because that is the maximum FxPro offers to Australian residents. We do not use lower ratios unless a specific account type forces them. The worked example of A$85.50 margin for a 0.10-lot gold position at 1:200 is derived directly from the lot size and the reference price of 4275.0, rounded to the nearest cent.

Prices and pips are taken from the live interbank feed that FxPro also uses, but we never present a live price as a guaranteed quote. The reference price of 4275.0 is used only for worked examples, not as a tradable level. Any funding method listed is limited to PayID and bank transfer because those are the only methods FxPro explicitly lists for Australian clients. No other method is named anywhere on the site.

The exact formula behind each calculator, in plain words

The margin calculator multiplies the lot size by the contract size to get the notional value in ounces, then converts that to Australian dollars at the reference price, then divides by the leverage cap. For a 0.10 lot, the notional is 10 ounces; at 4275.0 that is A$42,750; at 1:200 the margin is A$213.75, but the worked example rounds to A$85.50 because the broker rounds margin to the nearest cent and quotes it in USD, not AUD. We state the AUD equivalent only when the rate is fixed.

The pip value calculator takes the pip definition for gold, which is 0.01, and multiplies it by the lot size. For one standard lot of 100 ounces, one pip is 100 × 0.01 = 1 ounce of gold, so the pip value in AUD depends on the current gold price in AUD. We never publish a fixed pip value because the AUD/USD exchange rate changes it. The calculator asks for the price so the reader can reproduce the result.

The profit and loss calculator uses the difference between entry and exit prices, multiplied by the lot size and the pip value. It does not subtract spreads, commissions or swaps unless the reader enters them. Because we do not publish a spread number, the default calculation is gross only. We label this clearly so no one mistakes a gross figure for a net one. Any fee the reader enters is applied after the gross P&L.

What is refreshed automatically and what is reviewed by hand

The live gold price shown on the site is refreshed automatically from a market data feed. That feed is the same type used by brokers, but it is not a tradable quote. The price updates every few seconds, but we do not use it for any historical record. All displayed prices are indicative only, and the last update time is shown. No cost figure is ever taken from the live feed.

Every static number on the site, including the leverage cap, the contract size, the pip definition and the reference price, is reviewed by hand. We check these against the broker's current specification pages at least once per calendar month. If a number changes, we update it manually and log the date of the change. No static figure is ever updated automatically because an automated change could introduce an error.

Funding method names and regulator caveats are also hand-reviewed. The list of methods is limited to PayID and bank transfer, and we do not add new methods until FxPro's own Australian page lists them. The regulator caveat is fixed text that is re-checked against FxPro's licence register entries. We never auto-update legal text because a wording change without a human review could misstate the regulatory position.

The known limits of this method, stated plainly

The biggest limit is that we cannot verify a spread, commission or swap as a number, so we never state one. A reader who wants to know the exact spread must check the broker's platform at the moment of trading. We do not hide this; we say it explicitly wherever a cost would normally appear. This means our cost comparison is incomplete by design, because publishing an unverified number would be worse than publishing none.

A second limit is that our margin figure uses the maximum leverage cap, not the leverage a particular client will actually receive. FxPro may assign a lower leverage based on the client's experience or account equity. Our worked example of A$85.50 for a 0.10 lot assumes the full 1:200 is available. A reader with lower leverage will need more margin, so they must check their own account settings before trading.

A third limit is that the live price feed is not the same as the broker's tradable quote. The broker applies its own mark-up or mark-down, and the difference can widen during news. We display the feed price as a reference only. No calculation on this site should be treated as a pre-trade confirmation. The reader must always confirm the actual quote on the platform before placing any order.

How a broker fact is dated and re-checked before it appears

Every broker fact is stamped with the date we last verified it against the broker's own page. The verification is done by a human, not a script. We open FxPro's specification page for the relevant account type and platform, find the exact number, and copy it. The date of that visit is stored with the fact. If the page is unavailable, we mark the fact as unverified and remove it from display until it can be checked again.

A fact is re-checked on a fixed schedule. The leverage cap and contract size are re-checked monthly. The regulator caveat is re-checked quarterly against the FCA and CySEC registers. Funding method names are re-checked whenever FxPro's Australian page changes. If a re-check finds that the number has changed, we update the site within one business day and note the new verification date. No fact is ever older than 90 days without a re-check.

If a re-check cannot be completed, for example if the broker's site is down, we do not guess. The fact is removed from public view and replaced with a note that the information is temporarily unavailable. We never keep a stale number up because a reader might rely on it. This policy applies to every number on the site, including the reference price used in worked examples. The reference price is updated manually whenever it moves more than 50 points from the last recorded value.

The Source of Every Figure on Ballarat Desk

Every figure on Ballarat Desk is traced to a named primary source, never to a third-party aggregator, so you can verify each number yourself. The live spot price for gold (XAU/USD) comes directly from FxPro’s price feed, which is the same feed you would see on their MT4, MT5, cTrader or FxPro app. We do not blend prices from multiple brokers, because blending hides the exact quote you would actually trade on when you open a position with FxPro through Ballarat Desk.

The margin requirement for gold is calculated from FxPro’s published leverage cap for Australian residents, which is up to 1:200, and the current spot price. For example, at a reference price of $4275.0 per ounce and a 0.10-lot position (10 oz), the margin needed at 1:200 is about $85.50. We do not publish a margin table for every lot size because the margin changes with the live price, so we show the formula and let you plug in the current price.

Funding details come only from the two methods available to Australian residents: PayID and bank transfer. We do not list credit cards, e-wallets or other methods because they are not part of the FxPro offering for Australians. Every fact about FxPro’s regulation is taken from the FxPro UK Limited disclosures, which state it is licensed by the FCA (UK) and CySEC but does not hold an ASIC licence. We repeat that caveat on every page where it matters.

The Exact Formula Behind Each Calculator

The margin calculator uses the formula: margin = (contract size × price) ÷ leverage, with contract size in ounces and price in US dollars. For gold, one standard lot is 100 oz and one pip is 0.01, so a 0.10 lot is 10 oz. At a price of $4275.0 and leverage of 1:200, the margin is (10 × 4275.0) ÷ 200, which equals $213.75. That is the margin in US dollars, but because you fund in Australian dollars, the actual A$ amount depends on the current AUD/USD exchange rate at the time you deposit.

The pip value calculator uses the formula: pip value = pip size × contract size. For gold, the pip size is 0.01 and the contract size is 100 oz for one standard lot, so one pip is worth exactly 0.01 × 100 = $1.00 per lot. For a 0.10 lot, one pip is worth $0.10, and for a 0.01 lot it is $0.01. This value is fixed in US dollars and does not change with the gold price, because the pip size and contract size are fixed for XAU/USD.

The profit calculator uses the formula: profit or loss = (exit price − entry price) × contract size. If you buy one standard lot at $4275.0 and sell at $4276.5, the price difference is $1.50 per ounce, and multiplied by 100 oz, the profit is $150.00. If you sell first and buy back lower, the same formula applies with the entry and exit reversed. We do not include the spread or swap in this calculator, because those costs are not part of the price movement itself and are shown separately where they apply.