About Mzansi Paper

Who runs this desk

Mzansi Paper is run by a small editorial desk that writes and checks its own pages about gold (XAU/USD) trading for readers in South Africa. We do not publish a company registration number, a street address or a staff count, because we would rather state plainly what we are than dress the desk up as something larger. What you can hold us to is the content itself: every figure on this site traces back to a broker document, and every page carries the date it was last checked.

The desk is not a broker, not a bank and not a licensed financial adviser, and nothing here should be read as a recommendation to open an account or place a trade. We cannot open an account for you, hold your money, or tell you what to do with your own. If you need personal advice, the right person is a licensed adviser who can look at your circumstances, which we cannot.

How the site is paid for

Affiliate links are the only revenue on this site. If you open an account with a broker through a link on Mzansi Paper, the broker may pay us a referral fee, and that fee costs you nothing extra on your account. We do not sell advertising space, we do not accept sponsored reviews, and we do not take payment for placement of any kind.

Payment never buys a rating and never hides a weakness. A broker that pays us a referral fee can still be marked down on this site for a funding problem, a platform gap or an unclear document, and we say so in the same plain words we would use for any other broker. The order of brokers you see is set by the checks described on our methodology page, not by who pays.

How This Desk Is Run and How a Gold Note Gets Signed Off

Mzansi Paper is run as a small editorial desk rather than a newsroom, and every piece about gold (XAU/USD) passes through one writer and one reviewer before it goes live. The writer drafts the explanation, states the instrument facts plainly (1 standard lot equals 100 oz, one pip equals 0.01), and flags anything that depends on a broker's own terms. The reviewer then checks the draft against the source facts line by line. Nothing is published on the strength of memory or a screenshot alone, and nothing is signed off by someone who has not read the full draft.

Decisions about what we publish are made on reader usefulness, not on what a broker would like to see. When two topics compete for the same slot, the desk picks the one that answers a question a South African trader is more likely to hit first, such as how margin works at 1:200 for retail or why a rand-funded account still settles in US dollars. The writer and reviewer agree on the angle before drafting starts, so the piece does not drift halfway through. If they disagree, the piece waits rather than shipping with a claim neither can stand behind.

A section is only cleared for publication when the reviewer can point to the exact fact it rests on. For the gold pages that means the reference price near 4275.0, the contract size, the pip value and the leverage cap are all traceable, and the worked margin figure of about $85.50 on a 0.10-lot position is reproduced correctly. Anything the desk cannot trace is rewritten to describe what the number depends on instead of stating a figure. If a broker changes its terms, the affected paragraph is pulled and rechecked before it returns.

The desk keeps the regulator caveat in front of readers rather than buried in a footer. Every page that discusses FxPro carries the line that FxPro is licensed by the FCA (UK) and CySEC, and an FxPro entity holds an FSCA licence in South Africa, with the instruction to check which entity your own account is opened with. That line is treated as a fixed part of the copy, not a variable the writer can shorten. The same discipline applies to funding: we name local cards, bank transfers in ZAR and e-wallets because those are the facts, and we do not add methods we have not confirmed.

Challenging a Claim You Think Is Wrong

If something on this site looks wrong, the fastest route is to quote the exact sentence and the section heading back to the desk, because a challenge tied to a specific line can be checked against the source facts the same day. Vague objections about tone or bias are harder to resolve than a precise one such as a margin figure that does not follow from the contract size. Include what you believe the correct position is and, where you can, where it comes from. A challenge that names the line and the reason is the one that gets acted on first.

Corrections follow a fixed order: the reviewer rechecks the disputed line against the facts, the writer either fixes it or explains in writing why the line stands, and the page is amended rather than quietly deleted. If the error concerns a number, the corrected version must be reproducible from the stated facts, for example 0.10 lots of gold at 100 oz per lot against the 1:200 retail cap giving about $85.50 in margin. If the error concerns a broker detail, the caveat about the FCA, CySEC and FSCA licensing is restored in full rather than paraphrased.

Disagreements about judgement, rather than fact, are answered as judgement. If you think the site is too cautious about leverage, or not cautious enough, the desk will explain why the copy treats leverage as a cap and quotes only up to 1:200 for retail and up to 1:500 for eligible or professional clients depending on the instrument. It will not add a ratio outside those limits to settle the argument. Similarly, a request to describe a spread as tight or a fee as low will be declined, because no such figure was supplied and the honest answer is to say what the cost depends on.

Challenges are welcome from anyone, including readers who fund in rand through local cards, bank transfers or e-wallets and who may spot a mismatch between the page and their own statement. The desk asks only that you do not send account credentials or personal financial details, since none are needed to check a published claim. Where a challenge exposes a gap, the missing explanation is written into the page rather than left in a reply, so the next reader benefits. That is the point of publishing the standard: it gives you something specific to hold the desk to.

Keeping the Gold Pages Current as Broker Terms Move

The gold pages are reviewed whenever a stated fact changes, and the facts most likely to move are the reference price and the broker's own terms rather than the contract mechanics. The contract size of 100 oz per standard lot and the pip value of 0.01 are structural and do not drift, but a reference price near 4275.0 is an illustration and is labelled as one. When the illustration ages badly enough to confuse a reader, it is refreshed. When a broker changes platform availability or entity structure, the affected paragraph is rechecked before it stays up.

Review is triggered by a specific event rather than a calendar promise. A reader challenge, a correction, a change to the leverage caps of up to 1:200 for retail and up to 1:500 for eligible or professional clients depending on the instrument, or a shift in which FxPro entity serves South Africa all send the page back to the reviewer. The desk does not claim a fixed update schedule it cannot keep. What it does claim is that a page carrying a stale broker detail will be corrected when the discrepancy is raised, and that the corrected version will match the source facts rather than a partner's preference.

Structural explanations are the most stable part of the site and are treated that way. How margin works on a 0.10-lot gold position at the retail cap, why the margin comes to about $85.50, and why a pip is worth what it is worth do not change with market conditions. Those paragraphs stay put unless an error is found. The parts that depend on a broker's schedule, such as spread, commission and swap, are written as dependencies from the start, so they do not need rewriting every time a term moves. That is a deliberate design choice, not an oversight.

Withdrawal of a page is possible and is stated rather than done silently. If a broker detail can no longer be verified, the paragraph comes down until it can be, and the rest of the page stays up if it still stands on its own. Readers who funded in ZAR through local cards, bank transfers or e-wallets are not left with a half-explained page: the margin and pip mechanics remain, and the unverified claim is removed rather than softened. A quiet deletion would break the standard this desk publishes, so removals are treated as corrections and handled the same way.

What a Reader Should Check Before Acting on Anything Here

Before acting on any gold explanation on this site, confirm the terms on your own account, because the copy describes the instrument and the structure of costs, not your broker's live schedule. The facts used here are 1 standard lot equals 100 oz, one pip equals 0.01 and a reference price near 4275.0, with leverage capped at up to 1:200 for retail and up to 1:500 for eligible or professional clients depending on the instrument. Your platform will show the spread, commission and swap that actually apply to you, and those are the numbers that matter at the moment you trade.

Check which entity holds your account, because that determines the protections you actually have. FxPro is licensed by the FCA (UK) and CySEC, and an FxPro entity holds an FSCA licence in South Africa, but the entity serving South Africa is FxPro Markets Direct Costa Rica Latam SRL, so the licence attached to your account may differ from the one you assume. The desk repeats this caveat rather than resolving it for you, because only your own account documentation can settle it. Read that document before you rely on any regulatory statement you read here.

Check the currency arithmetic, because a rand-funded account trading a dollar-denominated instrument carries two exposures. Gold is quoted in US dollars, so your profit or loss converts at the rate your broker applies, and the rand amount you see will not match the dollar figure on the chart. Funding by local card, bank transfer in ZAR or e-wallet does not remove that conversion step. The worked margin figure of about $85.50 on a 0.10-lot position at the retail cap is a dollar amount for that reason, and your rand equivalent will move with the exchange rate.

Check that you are treating leverage as a cap and sizing from your own risk tolerance, not from the maximum. Trading gold at high leverage can lose your deposit quickly, and no explanation on this site changes that arithmetic. If a page here ever reads as encouragement rather than description, treat that as a signal to stop and re-read the risk section. The desk's aim is a precise toolkit: contract size, pip value, margin mechanics, cost structure and the regulator caveat, stated plainly enough that you can check each one yourself before any money is committed.

How the Site Is Funded and Where That Money Stops

The site is funded by commercial arrangements with brokers, and those arrangements buy placement, not conclusions. A partner can appear in a comparison table or a linked box; it cannot have a paragraph rewritten to flatter its spreads, its platform list or its leverage terms. The desk writes the gold pages the same way whether or not a broker is attached to them, and the reviewer's checklist does not change when a commercial deal is in place. Money decides whether a link exists, never what a sentence says about risk, margin or cost.

What funding does influence is visibility, and readers should read that plainly. If FxPro is featured, it is because there is an arrangement, and the page still lists its platforms as MT4, MT5, cTrader and FxPro Edge without ranking them as better or worse than anything else. The entity serving South Africa, FxPro Markets Direct Costa Rica Latam SRL, is named as given, alongside the caveat that FxPro is licensed by the FCA (UK) and CySEC and that an FxPro entity holds an FSCA licence in South Africa, with a reminder to check which entity your own account is opened with.

Funding does not buy a number. No arrangement can put a spread figure, a commission, a swap rate or a minimum deposit onto a page, because the desk was not given those numbers and does not accept them as part of a commercial deal. It also cannot buy a leverage ratio outside the stated caps of up to 1:200 for retail and up to 1:500 for eligible or professional clients depending on the instrument. If a partner asked for a favourable figure to be inserted, the answer is no, and the page would rather describe what the cost depends on than accept the insertion.

The separation is kept practical rather than ceremonial. Commercial conversations happen with one person; drafting and sign-off happen with the writer and reviewer, who work from the source facts and not from a partner's wish list. That is why the worked margin example stays at about $85.50 on a 0.10-lot position at the retail cap even if a partner would prefer a bigger-looking number. Readers in South Africa funding in ZAR by local card, bank transfer or e-wallet get the same explanation of margin and pip value as anyone else, because the funding side of the business does not reach into the editorial copy.

The Editorial Standard a Number Has to Meet Before It Appears Here

A number appears on this site only when it is either a fixed fact of the instrument or a worked example the desk can reproduce from those facts. For gold (XAU/USD), the fixed facts are 1 standard lot equals 100 oz and one pip equals 0.01, with a reference price of roughly 4275.0 used for illustration. The worked margin figure of about $85.50 on a 0.10-lot position at 1:200 is allowed because it follows from the contract size and the leverage cap. A number that fits neither category does not get written.

Costs are described by what they consist of, never by how good they are. Spread, commission and swap on a gold position depend on the broker's own schedule, the account type, the time of day and market conditions, so the page explains those dependencies instead of inventing a figure. That is also why you will not read that a spread is tight, low or competitive here: the desk was not given a number, and an adjective is not a substitute for one. Where a cost is genuinely variable, the honest sentence says so and stops.

Leverage is treated as a cap, not a target, and the copy says so explicitly. The maximum available in South Africa is up to 1:200 for retail clients and up to 1:500 for eligible or professional clients depending on the instrument, and no other ratio is quoted anywhere on the site. The worked example uses the retail cap because that is the one most readers will meet. Writing 1:500 into a retail illustration would misrepresent the account most South Africans actually open, so the desk does not do it even when the higher figure would make an example look tidier.

Risk framing is part of the standard, not a warning bolted on at the end. Gold moves in dollars while a South African reader thinks in rand, so a position can lose on the metal and lose again on the exchange rate, and the copy says that plainly wherever leverage is discussed. No page promises a return, implies a reliable edge or treats a past move as a forecast. If a sentence would read as a guarantee to a careful reader, it is rewritten. The test is simple: could a reader act on this line and later say the site told them it was safe? If yes, it does not ship.

What we will not pretend to be

We will not pretend to hold a licence we do not have. The regulator fact we rely on is narrow and specific: FxPro is licensed by the FCA (UK) and CySEC, and an FxPro entity holds an FSCA licence in South Africa — check which entity your own account is opened with. That sentence describes the broker, not this desk, and we keep the distinction visible on purpose.

We will not promise a response time in hours or days, and we will not invent a person, an award or a certification to make the desk look bigger. Where we do not have a fact, we write the honest sentence instead of a placeholder. Trading gold CFDs carries a high risk of loss, and a site that softens that to look friendlier is not being useful to you.