XAUUSD (gold) trading journal for MT5

Gold trades are fast, and small differences in size and timing decide the result. Here is what to record, and how to automate the journal.

Why gold trades are worth journaling separately

XAUUSD moves fast and wide compared with most forex pairs, and small differences in lot size, spread and entry timing change the result a lot. That makes a careful record more valuable, and also more tedious to keep by hand.

What to record for XAUUSD trades

Lot size. On most MT5 brokers 1.0 lot of gold is 100 ounces, so a $1 move is about $100 per lot. Record the lot size every time.
Entry, exit, stop loss and take profit in price, so you can see the real stop distance.
Open and close time. Gold behaves differently around the London open, the New York open and news releases.
Spread and slippage on entries during volatile moments, noted in your own words.
Whether you followed your plan. Gold tempts traders to move stops and revenge-trade.

Sizing a gold trade

A common rule is to risk a fixed percentage of the account per trade. With a stop distance in dollars, lots = risk amount / (stop distance x 100). The free position size calculator does this for XAUUSD and forex pairs.

Automating the journal

AI Trading Journal reads your closed XAUUSD trades from MetaTrader 5 and saves each in your own journal on your PC about every 5 minutes (with an optional copy in Notion), with volume, entry and exit price, stop loss, take profit, open and close time and profit or loss, plus a Notes field that is never overwritten. Because open time is recorded, you can group your gold trades by session in Notion and see which hours help or hurt you.

What to look for in review

Win rate and average win against average loss on gold alone
Your results by session and by day
Your largest losses, and whether you honoured the stop

See win rate, profit factor and expectancy explained for how to read them together, and the forex trading journal guide for the general version.

This page is for record keeping and review. It is not trading or investment advice.

Lot size for gold: a computed table

With 100 ounces per lot, a $1 move is $100 per lot. This table shows the lot size that risks 1% of a hypothetical account for different stop distances in dollars, rounded down to 0.01. Check your broker's contract size first, because it is not always 100 ounces.

Stop distance	$1,000 account	$5,000 account	$10,000 account	$25,000 account
$3	0.03	0.16	0.33	0.83
$5	0.02	0.10	0.20	0.50
$8	0.01	0.06	0.12	0.31
$12	0.00	0.04	0.08	0.20
$20	0.00	0.02	0.05	0.12

On a $1,000 account a $5 stop at 1% risk works out to 0.02 lots, which is the size that actually risks about $10. A $12 stop needs 0.008 lots, which most brokers will not allow, so the trade is simply too large for that risk setting. Seeing this in advance is more useful than discovering it after a loss.

Sample journal rows for gold (hypothetical)

Date	Direction	Lots	Entry	Stop	Exit	Result	Note
Mon	Buy	0.10	2,395.00	2,389.00	2,407.50	+$125.00	Followed plan; held for target
Tue	Sell	0.10	2,418.00	2,424.00	2,424.00	-$60.00	Stopped out at the plan stop
Wed	Buy	0.20	2,401.00	2,395.00	2,396.50	-$90.00	Moved the stop. Not in the plan

The third row is the kind of entry a journal exists to catch: the stop was changed, the size was doubled and the result was a larger loss than the plan allowed. Entry, stop and exit prices alone make that visible; the note makes it a lesson.

Gold-specific things to track

Spread at the time of entry. Gold spreads can widen sharply around news or at the daily rollover. Note it when it surprises you.
Swap. Holding gold overnight may add or subtract swap, which your broker sets. It shows in the MT5 history, so check whether swap is eating a swing trade.
Session. Group trades by London and New York hours using open time. Your own results by session are more useful than anyone else's rule of thumb.
Distance to the stop in dollars. A stop that looks sensible in forex terms can be too tight for gold's typical movement, and you will see it as a pile of small stop-outs.
News exposure. Mark whether a scheduled release was due within the hour of entry. After a month, compare the results of the marked and unmarked trades.

Common mistakes when journaling gold

Sizing as if gold were a forex pair and copying pip-based lot sizes. Work from the dollar stop.
Not recording the contract size when moving between brokers, which makes dollar-per-lot comparisons wrong.
Treating a run of stops on a tight stop as bad luck. A journal that records the stop distance shows whether the stop was simply too close.
Letting a big winner or loser distort the review. Always look at the median trade and the full list, not only the best and worst.

For the maths behind lot size, use the position size calculator and the profit and loss calculator. If you trade several markets, the forex trading journal guide and indices trading journal cover the others, and a free gold trading journal template is available if you want to start with a spreadsheet.

Gold sizing questions come up in every review. See what a pip is worth in gold and a lot size table by account size and stop distance.

Check the margin a gold trade ties up with the XAUUSD margin calculator.

Next steps for a gold routine: find the stop distance for a dollar risk with the XAUUSD stop loss calculator, and compare your results by hour with gold trading sessions in your journal.

When does gold actually open, pause and close? Gold trading hours answers that, in summer and winter times.

Gold traders can also use the XAUUSD pip value calculator to turn pips into dollars, and read XAUUSD leverage explained to see how margin changes with leverage.

Trading indices as well as gold? See US30 and NAS100 trading journal, and add costs per trade with the trading cost calculator.

Frequently asked questions

How do I journal gold trades from MT5?

Record lot size, entry, exit, stop, target and times for each XAUUSD trade, or use a tool that reads your MT5 history and logs each closed trade for you.

How big is one lot of gold?

On most MT5 brokers one standard lot of XAUUSD is 100 ounces, so a $1 move equals about $100 per lot. Check your broker's contract size.

Does the app work for XAUUSD?

Yes. It records every closed trade from your MT5 account regardless of symbol.

Related guides

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