Privacy Policy

Calculators run in your browser

Any calculator on Ballarat Desk runs entirely in your web browser. The numbers you type into a calculator are not sent to a server, not stored by Ballarat Desk, and not shared with any third party. When you close the page, the numbers are gone.

The desk does not see what you enter into a calculator. The calculation happens on your device. This is true for margin calculators, pip value calculators, or any other tool on the site.

Traffic counts and local storage

Ballarat Desk may count aggregate traffic, such as the number of visits to a page. The desk does not track individual readers, does not build profiles, and does not use cookies for advertising. The traffic count is anonymous.

The site may use local storage in your browser to remember your own preferences, such as a preferred instrument or a dark mode setting. That data stays on your device and is not sent to the desk. You can clear it at any time by clearing your browser data.

Broker cookies

If you click an affiliate link to a broker, the broker may set its own cookies under its own privacy policy. Ballarat Desk does not control those cookies and does not see the data they collect. Read the broker's privacy policy before you sign up.

Ballarat Desk's privacy policy applies only to this site. When you leave Ballarat Desk, you are subject to the policies of the site you land on.

What Ballarat Desk Stores and What It Never Touches

Ballarat Desk stores no personal identifiers from your visit unless you contact us directly. The calculators, pages and tools are served statically, so there is no user database, no account system and no cookie that holds a name, email or address. The only data that persists on your device is a small local-storage flag for your cookie choice, and that never leaves your browser. Any email you send us is kept only as long as needed to reply, then deleted.

The site does not store the numbers you type into any gold calculator. When you enter a position size, leverage or price, that input exists only in your current page session and is wiped when you close the tab. There is no server-side form that captures those values, no hidden field that sends them away, and no backup that could reconstruct them. This is by design: the calculators are meant to run entirely on your machine, so the figures stay yours.

Ballarat Desk does not hold payment details, because no payment is taken on this site. There is no checkout, no wallet and no stored card token. If you click through to a broker and open an account, that relationship is between you and the broker, and any data you give them is governed by their own privacy policy. We never see your PayID, bank account number or trading balance, and we never ask for them.

Cookies on This Site and the Exact Job Each One Does

This site sets only one cookie of its own: a consent flag that remembers whether you accepted or declined non-essential cookies. It holds no identifier, no tracking string and no personal data. The cookie expires after 365 days, or sooner if you clear your browser storage. Without it, the cookie banner would appear on every page load, so its only purpose is to stop that repetition.

A second category is the broker-linked cookie. If you click an affiliate link to FxPro, that broker may drop a cookie on your device so it can attribute the referral. Ballarat Desk does not read that cookie, cannot see its contents and does not combine it with anything else. The cookie belongs to the broker's domain, not ours, and it is governed by FxPro's own cookie policy.

There are no third-party advertising cookies placed by this site. We do not run display ads, retargeting pixels or social-media trackers. Any cookie you see from a broker or a payment provider after you leave this site is set by that third party, not by Ballarat Desk. If you want to block them, your browser's privacy settings can do that without affecting the calculators.

Affiliate Tracking Stated in Plain Words

Ballarat Desk earns a commission when a reader clicks a broker link and then opens or funds a trading account. The link contains a simple affiliate ID that tells the broker the click came from this site. No personal information is passed in that link, and the broker does not know who you are until you choose to sign up. The commission is paid by the broker, not by you.

The affiliate tracking is done with a cookie that the broker sets on your device after you click. That cookie usually lasts for 30 days, though the exact window is set by the broker. If you open an account within that window, the broker credits the referral. If you clear your cookies or use a different device, the link will not be tracked, and Ballarat Desk earns nothing.

We do not track your trading activity after you leave this site. The broker may show us aggregate numbers, like how many people clicked or how many opened accounts, but never names, balances or trades. The affiliate relationship does not change the price you pay, the spreads you see or the service you receive from the broker.

Third Parties That May Touch Your Data After You Leave

The only third party that receives data directly from this site is your internet service provider, which sees the pages you request. Ballarat Desk itself does not send any data to a third party, because there is no data to send. The calculators run locally, the pages are static, and the only external request your browser makes is to load the broker's site when you click a link.

Once you click a broker link, you are on FxPro's domain, and their privacy policy takes over. FxPro UK Limited, the entity that serves Australian residents, is licensed by the FCA and CySEC but does not hold an ASIC licence. That means your data will be handled under UK and European rules, not Australian law. You should read their policy before you open an account.

If you fund a broker account with PayID or bank transfer, your bank and the broker's payment processor will process that transaction. Ballarat Desk is not part of that chain and sees none of it. No payment data ever passes through this site, and no third-party analytics script runs here, so there is no other company collecting your browsing behaviour.

Your Rights Over Any Data and How to Exercise Them

Because Ballarat Desk stores no personal data, most privacy rights are automatically satisfied. You have the right to access, correct or delete any data we hold about you, and the answer will always be that there is none. If you have emailed us, you can ask for a copy of that conversation or request its deletion, and we will comply within 30 days.

To make a request, email the address listed on the contact page. State what you want, and we will confirm what we have, if anything. There is no fee and no need to prove your identity beyond what is reasonable to stop someone else from reading your emails. If you are unhappy with the response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

For data held by the broker, you must contact FxPro directly. Under UK GDPR and European rules, you have rights of access, rectification, erasure and portability. Australian residents are not covered by the Privacy Act for that offshore entity, so the broker's own process applies. We cannot act on your behalf, and we cannot see what they hold.

How Long Anything Is Kept and What Triggers Deletion

The only thing this site keeps is the cookie-consent flag, and it automatically expires after 365 days. If you clear your browser data, it disappears immediately. There is no server-side log that keeps your IP address, no database that stores your calculator inputs, and no backup that could restore them. Nothing is kept longer than the cookie's lifetime.

Emails you send us are kept until the conversation is resolved, then deleted within 30 days. If you ask us to delete them sooner, we do it immediately. There is no automated retention schedule beyond that, because there is no ongoing relationship. Any legal requirement to keep records would apply only if you became a client, which does not happen on this site.

Data held by the broker is subject to their own retention policy. Brokers must keep certain records for anti-money-laundering and tax purposes, often for five to seven years after your account closes. That is outside Ballarat Desk's control and is not affected by anything you do on this site. To delete broker data, you must close your account and request erasure directly from FxPro.

What the Gold Calculators Do with the Numbers You Type

The calculators do nothing with your numbers except compute the result you asked for. They run entirely in your browser using JavaScript, so the position size, leverage and gold price you enter never leave your device. There is no network call, no form submission and no hidden storage. When you close the page, the numbers are gone.

The only exception is if you use a calculator that updates a URL parameter, like a shared link. In that case, the numbers appear in the address bar, but they are not sent to any server unless you copy and share that link yourself. Ballarat Desk does not receive or log those URLs, and no third party can see them from our side.

The calculators do not pre-fill your inputs with personal data and do not remember them between visits. A 0.10-lot gold position at 1:200 leverage needs about A$85.50 margin, but that figure is derived from the current reference price of 4275.0 and is not stored anywhere. Every calculation is stateless, so there is no trail to follow.

What Leaves Your Browser When You Click a Broker Link

When you click a broker link, your browser sends the usual request to FxPro's server: your IP address, the page you came from, and the affiliate ID embedded in the link. That is the only information passed at that moment. The affiliate ID tells the broker the click came from Ballarat Desk, but it does not identify you personally.

The broker then sets its own cookies, which may include a tracking cookie for the referral. Those cookies are readable only by FxPro and its partners, not by Ballarat Desk. They record that you clicked a link from this site and nothing else. If you do not open an account, the cookie expires according to the broker's schedule, typically within 30 days.

No spreadsheet, no calculator input and no personal data from this site is transmitted with that click. The broker does not know what you calculated, what leverage you tried or what position size you considered. The only thing that leaves your browser is the fact that you clicked a link from Ballarat Desk, and that is the entire basis of the affiliate system.

Analytics and What Is Deliberately Not Measured

Ballarat Desk does not run any analytics script, heatmap or session recorder. There is no Google Analytics, no Matomo and no server-side log analysis that builds a profile of you. The site is deliberately blind to individual behaviour. We do not know which pages you visited, how long you stayed or what you typed into the calculators.

What is not measured is just as important as what is. We do not record mouse movements, scroll depth, clicks on non-broker links, or the exact numbers you enter. We do not create a fingerprint of your browser or device. There is no A/B testing that tracks your choices. The only click that matters commercially is the broker link, and even that is seen only by the broker.

If we ever need to know how many people visited a page, we would use a privacy-respecting, aggregate counter that counts a hit without storing an IP address. That is not currently in use. The absence of analytics means there is no data to sell, no data to leak and no data to hand over in response to a legal request.

Children and This Site

Ballarat Desk is not intended for anyone under 18. The content discusses leveraged gold trading, which is a high-risk financial activity and not suitable for minors. We do not knowingly collect any information from children, and because the site stores no personal data, there is nothing to collect. If a child uses the calculators, no trace is left.

The broker links on this site lead to platforms that require you to be at least 18 years old to open an account. FxPro's terms prohibit minors, and they perform identity checks to enforce that. Ballarat Desk does not verify age because it does not need to: there is no account, no community and no interactive feature that could involve a child.

If you believe a child has emailed us, contact us and we will delete that correspondence immediately. There is no special procedure needed because we hold no other data. The calculators are safe for anyone to use as an educational tool, but the surrounding content is written for adults making their own financial decisions.

How a Change to This Policy Is Announced

If this privacy policy changes, the new version is posted on this page with the date of the update shown at the top. There is no email list, no push notification and no pop-up, because the site does not collect contact details. The only way to know about a change is to visit this page again, which is why the date is always visible.

A change is announced by the simple act of replacing the text. We do not use a banner or a modal to draw attention to it, because that would require a cookie to remember whether you have seen it. The cookie-consent flag is the only thing stored, and it is never used to notify you. If you want to stay informed, check this page periodically.

Material changes, such as adding a new third party or changing how calculators work, will be reflected in the section headings themselves, not just in fine print. The structure of this policy is designed so that each topic is easy to find and compare. You can always read the current version before using the site or clicking a broker link.