Gold Futures (GC): Tick Value, Contract Size and Backtesting

GC is CME's standard COMEX gold futures contract. One contract represents 100 troy ounces. Its minimum price increment is $0.10 per ounce, worth $10 per contract; a full $1 price move is worth $100 before costs. Those numbers are the starting point for any GC backtest.

This guide covers the contract arithmetic, the distinction between GC and Micro Gold, and a repeatable historical practice exercise. The example rules are for research and do not represent a tested profitable strategy.

GC and MGC contract specifications

See CME's gold product overview and micro metals specifications for the exchange definitions. Check the exchange calendar for the relevant contract and date, including holiday hours.

A smaller contract changes exposure. It does not ensure identical liquidity, fills or available data, and a simulator offering GC does not necessarily offer MGC.

Turn a stop distance into a dollar amount

Suppose a hypothetical GC entry is 2,400.00 and the planned stop is 2,398.00. The two-dollar price distance is 20 ticks, or $200 per GC contract before commissions and slippage.

At the same price distance, one MGC contract would represent $20 of price risk. Two GC contracts would represent $400. Use the intended position size before interpreting the stop's effect on a practice account.

For comparison, the standard ES tick is $12.50, while GC's is $10. Comparing tick values alone does not compare total trade risk; stop distance and quantity still matter. The futures calculator and tick-value guide help check the arithmetic.

Choose a session rule you can reproduce

Gold trading activity changes across the day, and scheduled economic announcements can change the conditions around an entry. Use a fixed time convention and identify the actual event schedule for the historical date.

If you define a New York-time window, keep the timezone as New York throughout the test. A fixed UTC window is a different rule because daylight-saving changes affect the relationship between the clocks. The futures session guide gives broader context.

Avoid retrospectively labeling only the strongest moves as “the active session.” Choose the observation window first and keep quiet or unsuccessful days in the record.

A GC range-breakout practice exercise

Here is one fully specified long-side example using five-minute candles:

1. Fix the reference range using candles opening from 09:00 through 09:25 New York time.
2. Between 09:30 and 10:25, look for the first completed candle closing above the range high.
3. Enter at the next available candle's open.
4. Put the initial stop at the range low and the target at twice the entry-to-stop distance.
5. Skip the entry if its opening price leaves the stop on the wrong side.
6. Close any remaining position at the 11:00 candle's open; take at most one trade per day.

The window and target are chosen for an exercise, not presented as optimal GC settings. Test short-side rules separately if you want to investigate them.

Suppose the range runs from 2,397.00 to 2,400.00 and the assumed entry is 2,400.20. Initial price risk is $3.20, or $320 for one GC contract. A 2R target is 2,406.60. If that exceeds the practice risk budget, skip or change size according to a rule written before testing; do not move the stop just to make the arithmetic fit.

For a related setup on another contract, see the NQ opening-range-breakout exercise. Keep each instrument's results separate.

Handle uncertainty explicitly

If the same candle contains both stop and target, its high and low alone do not establish the sequence. Use available finer data, a predefined conservative assumption, or a reported range of outcomes. Mark the affected trade.

Record gaps, missing intervals and any uncertainty around a continuous-contract roll. Include costs that are not already reflected in the simulated fills. A chart touching a limit does not reproduce the order queue, and a fast market can execute a stop beyond its trigger.

The backtesting guide explains how to reserve untouched dates. A short run is useful for checking your process, but it does not establish future profitability.

Keep a gold-specific review record

Record the symbol, contract/feed convention, timezone, reference range, signal time, entry, stop, exit and net result in R. Keep an explanation for every skipped day.

At review, look at average net R, drawdown from the actual sequence, concentration in a few trades, and the share of uncertain fills. The journal template helps keep this manageable. A higher win rate is only useful alongside the size of wins, losses and costs.

Practice GC with the correct access expectations

TestMax currently lists GC as a Pro instrument. XAUUSD is separately listed as spot gold, with different specifications and no paid instrument restriction within the Free plan's recent history window. MGC is not currently listed. Do not treat a spot-gold session as a GC futures test.

The current GC metadata reports ten-second stored bars; choosing a finer-looking chart cannot establish a price sequence that the source data does not contain. Check available dates and supported timeframes when starting a session.

Explore GC backtesting on TestMax or create an account and inspect the available instruments. Use current pricing for Pro access, then run a small, consistently recorded session block before making the test more complex.