Commodities behave differently from everything else on this site. Prices are driven by physical supply - a refinery outage, a drought, a shipping route closing - rather than by earnings or interest rates, so they often move when nothing else does.
Gold is the one most retail traders meet first, usually quoted as XAU/USD and treated by brokers as something close to a currency pair. Oil and gas are quoted against futures contracts, which introduces a wrinkle most beginners are never told about.
What it costs
Spreads are wider than on major currencies and vary far more by broker, so this is a market where comparing genuinely pays. Energy products also roll: the contract underlying your position expires, and the broker moves you to the next one, applying an adjustment that can look like an unexplained gain or loss.
What to watch for
- Contract rollover on oil and gas produces a cash adjustment that surprises people every single month.
- Gold leverage is often capped lower than major forex - typically 1:20 for retail - despite being quoted like a currency pair.
- Commodity spreads widen sharply outside the underlying market's own hours.
What separates a good broker here
- A published rollover policy you can find without emailing support
- Spreads quoted for gold specifically, not just "from 0.0 pips" on forex
- Which underlying contract an energy product tracks
- Trading hours per product, since they are not all the same
