Meru Options
Options

Options

Premium, expiry and the clock: how an option differs from a CFD on gold, and which route is actually open.

what one round turn costsSpreadpaid the instant you enterCommissionon raw-spread accounts onlySwapevery night the position is heldThe bars show which cost usually dominates over a holding period — not an amount. What you actually paydepends on your account type and the hour you trade.
An option costs a premium and carries a clock; a CFD costs spread and swap. Different bills, different trades.

An option and a CFD are not the same trade

An option is the right to buy or sell at a set price before a set date. You pay a premium for it, the most you can lose is that premium, and the clock is part of the position. A CFD is linear exposure with no expiry, margin instead of a premium, and a swap charged every night.

So they answer different questions about gold. A defined, time-boxed risk is the option's job; staying in a move as long as it lasts is the CFD's.

What the premium is actually priced on

Two things move a premium besides the price itself: how much time is left, and how much movement the market expects. That is why a buyer can be right about direction and still finish the week down — the clock took more than the move gave.

Anyone selling you a strategy that ignores those two inputs is selling you the half of options that looks simple.

What is on the route we can actually check

The broker we link to publishes CFDs, not an options book — our fact bank records its instrument list, and options are not in it. If an options contract is specifically what you want, this is not the route to it, and we would rather say so on this page than find out for you later.

If what you want is leveraged exposure to gold with a stop you set yourself, that is a CFD, and the arithmetic is on our side of the site: margin, position size and profit.

Ready when your numbers are

Size the gold trade before you take it

FxPro gives Kenyan traders MT4, MT5, cTrader and the FxPro app for XAU/USD, funded through M-Pesa. Run the calculators first, then trade a position you can actually carry.

Trade gold with FxPro →
FAQ

Common questions

How is trading gold options different from trading gold CFDs?

An option gives you a right, with a premium paid up front and an expiry date; a CFD is an open-ended contract with margin and a financing charge. With options your maximum loss on a bought position is the premium, while a CFD can lose more than you expect if the market gaps against you.

What does the premium on a gold option actually pay for?

The premium pays for the right the contract gives you, and it breaks into intrinsic value and time value. Time value shrinks as expiry approaches, so a correct direction can still lose money if the move is too slow. That decay is the main difference from a CFD, where you pay financing instead.

Can I trade gold options through FxPro from Kenya?

We cannot confirm that. FxPro publishes support for MT4, MT5, cTrader and the FxPro app for trading, and the regulator sentence is that FxPro is licensed by the FCA (UK), CySEC and FSCA — not by the CMA of Kenya. Whether options on gold are offered to the entity serving Kenya must be checked directly with the broker.

Which route is open to a Kenyan trader, options or CFDs?

It depends on what the entity serving Kenya actually offers and what you need. CFDs on XAU/USD are the route this desk covers in detail, with margin, pip value and position sizing you can calculate. Options need a venue, an expiry and a premium you can price, so confirm availability before planning around them.

How do I compare the risk of an option with a CFD position on gold?

Compare the most you can lose. A bought option caps loss at the premium plus any costs; a CFD has no such cap, so size it from your stop and use the position size and margin calculators. Expiry also forces a decision on an option that a CFD does not, which changes how much time you have to be right.