Terms of Use

Educational material only

Ballarat Desk publishes educational material about gold (XAU/USD) trading. It is not personal advice, not a recommendation, and not an offer to buy or sell any financial product. The desk does not know your financial situation and does not suggest what you should do.

The desk is not a licensed financial adviser in Australia or anywhere else. If you need personal advice, consult a licensed professional who can consider your individual circumstances.

Risk warning

CFDs on gold are leveraged products and carry a high risk of loss. Most retail CFD accounts lose money. You can lose more than your initial deposit. Do not trade with money you cannot afford to lose.

Leverage can amplify losses as well as gains. A small price move against your position can wipe out your margin. Before you trade, understand how leverage works and consider whether you can afford the risk.

Figures are dated and must be verified

Every figure on Ballarat Desk was read from a broker's document on a specific date. That date is noted where possible. Brokers change their terms, so a figure may be out of date by the time you read it. Always verify the current spread, swap, commission, minimum deposit, and leverage on the broker's own website before you fund an account.

Ballarat Desk may earn money through affiliate links. If you click a link and open an account, your relationship is with the broker, not with Ballarat Desk. The desk is not responsible for any loss or dispute you have with a broker.

Information, Not Personal Advice

Ballarat Desk is an informational website about gold trading, not a licensed financial adviser. Every article, calculator, or table on this site is general educational material prepared without considering your personal objectives, financial situation, or needs. Before you act on anything you read here, you should assess whether it is appropriate for you in light of your own circumstances, and if necessary, consult an independent licensed adviser in Australia.

We publish figures, formulas, and worked examples such as a 0.10-lot gold position at 1:200 leverage requiring about A$85.50 margin, but these are illustrations of mechanics, not recommendations. No page on this site tells you that you should open, hold, or close any XAU/USD position. The decision to trade gold, the size of any position, and the use of leverage remain entirely your own responsibility.

Gold trading through a broker such as FxPro involves a high risk of loss, and educational information cannot remove that risk. Because Ballarat Desk is not an advisory service, we do not monitor market conditions, send alerts, or warn individual readers after publication. You must verify every price, margin requirement, and broker term directly on your trading platform before placing an order.

Our Affiliate Relationship with FxPro

Ballarat Desk has an affiliate relationship with FxPro, which means if you open an account with FxPro after following a link on this site, we may receive a commission from FxPro at no additional cost to you. This commission does not change the spread, commission, or swap you pay on your trades, and we do not know the amount of any individual commission in advance because it depends on the broker's internal arrangements and your trading activity.

We mention FxPro because it is the broker whose platforms, including MT4, MT5, cTrader, and the FxPro app, we use to illustrate gold trading mechanics. We do not claim FxPro is the best broker for every Australian reader, and we do not compare it with other brokers in this pack. FxPro UK Limited is licensed by the FCA and CySEC, but it does not hold an ASIC licence, so Australians deal with an offshore entity, and you should check this before funding.

The affiliate relationship does not influence the factual content of our articles. We do not state a spread, a minimum deposit, or a swap figure anywhere because we have not been given those numbers, and we will not invent them. If you prefer to trade with a different broker, the information on this site about gold contract specifications and leverage caps still applies, but you must confirm that broker's own terms.

Limits of Our Liability

Ballarat Desk is not liable for any loss, including trading losses, that you suffer as a result of using the information on this site. We take care to present accurate mechanics, such as 1 standard lot of gold being 100 ounces and 1 pip being 0.01, but we cannot guarantee that every figure is current at the time you read it, and we expressly disclaim liability for any trading decision you make based on our content.

We are not responsible for the actions or omissions of FxPro or any other broker. If you open an account with FxPro, your relationship is with FxPro UK Limited under its own terms and conditions, and any dispute about execution, funding via PayID or bank transfer, or account handling must be resolved with the broker, not with Ballarat Desk. We do not hold client funds and cannot intervene in broker decisions.

Nothing on this site creates a fiduciary duty or an advisory relationship. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we exclude all implied warranties and conditions. If a court holds that some liability cannot be excluded, our total liability is limited to the amount you paid, if any, to access the specific page that caused the issue, which in practice is zero for free content.

Governing Law for Australian Readers

These terms are governed by the laws of Victoria, Australia, and you submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Victoria. Because this site is operated for an Australian audience and all amounts are shown in Australian dollars, we use Australian legal principles, including the Australian Consumer Law, where they apply. However, the broker relationship with FxPro is governed by FxPro's own terms, which are subject to the laws of the jurisdiction where FxPro UK Limited is incorporated.

The fact that FxPro does not hold an ASIC licence means Australian consumer protections under the Corporations Act 2001 may not apply to your trading account. You should read FxPro's legal documents carefully and understand which regulator, the FCA or CySEC, handles complaints before you deposit funds. Ballarat Desk is not a party to that contract and cannot advise on which law applies to a specific broker dispute.

If any provision of these terms is found to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force. We do not claim that the information on this site complies with the laws of any country other than Australia, and readers outside Australia use the site at their own risk, noting that leverage caps and regulatory protections differ by jurisdiction.

How We Publish Changes to These Terms

Changes to these terms are published on this page, and the date of the most recent revision is shown at the top of the page. We do not send individual email or push notifications for term changes because we do not require registration to read the content. It is your responsibility to revisit this page periodically, especially before relying on any margin or leverage figure, to see whether the terms have changed.

When we update a factual statement, such as a reference price or a margin calculation, we change the text on the relevant article and note the revision date. We do not maintain an archive of old terms, but the current version always supersedes any previous version. A change to the terms does not affect any broker terms you have already agreed with FxPro; those can only be changed by FxPro according to its own procedures.

If a change is material, such as a change to the affiliate disclosure or the governing law, we will place a notice at the top of the affected page for 30 days after the change. This notice will state what changed and the effective date. Continued use of the site after that period means you accept the revised terms. If you do not agree, you should stop using the site.

Ballarat Desk Is an Independent Information Site, Not a Broker or Adviser

Ballarat Desk is an independent information website that explains gold trading costs and mechanics; it is not a broker, a dealing desk, or an execution venue. We do not hold client money, open accounts, or take the other side of any trade. The site publishes educational material about XAU/USD pricing, margin, and platform settings so Australian readers can check the numbers before placing an order with a licensed broker such as FxPro. Nothing on these pages is a solicitation to trade, and no page should be read as a substitute for the broker's own legal documents or pre-trade disclosures.

The site does not provide personal advice, and it does not know your financial situation, objectives, or risk tolerance. Every worked figure, including the 0.10-lot gold margin of about A$85.50 at 1:200 leverage, is a mechanical illustration based on a reference price of approximately 4275.0 and must be re-checked against your broker's live quote. A position size that is sensible for one trader may be reckless for another, so treat every number here as a starting point for your own calculation, not as a recommendation to trade gold or to use any particular leverage setting.

Ballarat Desk is also not a regulator, a complaints body, or a legal adviser. If you have a dispute about an execution, a margin call, or a withdrawal, you must raise it with the broker and, if necessary, with the regulator that actually licenses the entity you dealt with. For Australian residents, FxPro UK Limited is licensed by the FCA in the UK and CySEC in Cyprus, not by ASIC, so the protections and compensation schemes are those of the offshore regulator, not the Australian framework. Check this before funding an account.

Our Affiliate Relationship with FxPro Is a Paid Referral Arrangement

Ballarat Desk earns money when a reader clicks an affiliate link to FxPro and then opens or funds a trading account, and that relationship is the reason FxPro is the only broker named in these examples. The site is not an impartial price-comparison service covering all brokers in Australia; it is a publisher that has chosen one partner and receives compensation for successful referrals. This does not change the factual content about gold contract sizes, pips, or margin arithmetic, but you should know that the commercial incentive exists before you act on any link or broker mention.

The affiliate payment does not increase the spread, commission, or swap you pay to FxPro, and it does not reduce the margin requirement on a gold trade. Those costs are set by the broker and depend on your account type, platform, market conditions, and the entity that serves you; Ballarat Desk does not control them and cannot quote a current spread or commission. Any figure you see in our examples is a static illustration, not a live dealing price, and you must confirm the actual cost on the FxPro platform before placing an order.

Because the referral fee creates a conflict of interest, we repeat the disclosure on every page where FxPro appears and in these terms. You are free to use a different broker, and nothing on this site should be read as a claim that FxPro is the best or cheapest option for Australian gold traders. If you do open an account through our link, the broker may ask for documents and will apply its own onboarding rules, including the offshore-entity caveat for Australian residents. The affiliate relationship ends at the click; everything after that is between you and FxPro.

Our Liability Is Limited to What the Law Allows for a Free Information Site

Ballarat Desk is provided free of charge, and to the maximum extent permitted by law, we accept no liability for any loss you suffer from using the information on this site, including losses from trading gold or from acting on a margin example that is later out of date. Gold prices move constantly, a one-pip move in XAU/USD equals 0.01, and a 0.10-lot position controls 10 ounces, but the dollar value of that move depends on your account currency and the live quote, which we cannot know. You must verify every number before you trade.

We do not guarantee that the site will be available without interruption, that the figures will match your broker's platform at any given moment, or that the pages are free of errors. The reference price of approximately 4275.0 is a snapshot for illustration, not a forecast or a tradable level. If a typo or a stale number causes you to miscalculate a position size or margin, the responsibility for checking the order ticket rests with you, not with Ballarat Desk. This is the same standard a careful trader applies to any free educational resource.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits any right you have under Australian consumer law where that law applies to a free information service, and nothing excludes liability for fraud or for death or personal injury caused by negligence. But for ordinary trading losses, missed profits, or indirect damage, our liability is excluded to the fullest extent the governing law permits. If you are not comfortable with that, you should not rely on this site for trade-critical numbers; use the broker's official platform, statements, and legal documents instead.

The Law That Applies to These Terms Is the Law of Victoria, Australia

These terms are governed by the law of Victoria, Australia, and any dispute about them will be heard in the courts of that state, regardless of where you access the site from. That means Australian readers have a familiar legal framework for issues like misleading content or breach of contract, but it also means you cannot bring a claim against Ballarat Desk in a foreign court based on a local consumer law unless that law is expressly preserved. The choice of law does not affect the regulatory status of FxPro, which is governed by the FCA and CySEC for the entity that serves Australia, not by ASIC.

Because FxPro UK Limited is an offshore entity for Australian residents, the broker's own terms and the protections of the UK Financial Ombudsman or the Cyprus compensation scheme may apply to your trading account, not the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. That is a separate legal relationship between you and FxPro, and Ballarat Desk has no control over it. If a dispute arises about a trade, a margin call, or a withdrawal, you must follow the broker's complaints process first, then the relevant offshore regulator, not the Victorian courts.

If any part of these terms is found to be unenforceable, the rest continues to apply, and the unenforceable part will be read down to the minimum extent necessary to make it valid. This is a standard severability clause, and it means a court cannot strike out the whole terms page because one sentence is too broad. For example, if a limitation of liability is held to be unfair under Australian consumer law, that limitation will be reduced, but the sections on affiliate disclosure, information-only status, and the need to verify figures will remain in force.

Changes to These Terms Are Published on This Page with a Dated Revision Note

Ballarat Desk may update these terms at any time, and the current version will always be the one shown on this page with a revision date at the top. We do not send individual emails or push notifications for every change, so if you rely on the site for gold trading information, you should check this page periodically, especially before acting on a new article or a changed margin example. The most recent update date is the single source of truth, and any older cached version you have saved is automatically superseded.

When we change a material term, such as the affiliate disclosure, the limitation of liability, or the governing law, we will also add a short note in the page header saying what changed and when. That note is not a substitute for reading the full terms, but it lets you see at a glance whether the update affects you. For example, if we were to add a new funding method or a new regulator caveat to the FxPro section, the header would flag that change, and the body of the relevant section would be updated in the same revision.

Your continued use of the site after a change is published means you accept the new terms, so if you disagree with an update, your only remedy is to stop using the site and to close any browser tabs that rely on our figures. We do not offer a way to opt out of a term change while still using the content, because the terms apply to the whole site as a single information service. If a change is required by law or by a regulator, we will make it even if it reduces the amount of detail we can provide about gold trading.