About Elgon Trial

Who runs this desk

Elgon Trial is run by a small editorial team that writes and checks its own pages about gold (XAU/USD) trading. We keep the desk deliberately narrow: we cover one instrument, in one currency pair, for one audience, so that every page can be verified by hand rather than assembled from a template.

We do not name staff on these pages because the desk is small and the work, not the people, is what you are checking. If a page is wrong, the correction is the point of contact, not a personal profile.

The site is funded by reader support and clearly separated commercial links

Elgon Trial is funded primarily by voluntary contributions from readers, collected through a M-Pesa paybill number shown on the support page. Those contributions pay for hosting, data feeds and the editor’s time. They are not tied to any broker, and no contributor receives influence over content in return. The amount received is reported in a quarterly note that lists totals only, not individual donors.

Some outbound links to brokers are tagged as commercial, meaning the site may receive a payment if a reader opens an account. That payment is disclosed at the top of any page that contains such a link. The payment does not determine whether a broker is covered, what is said about it, or which facts are included. A broker that pays nothing can be covered, and a broker that pays can be criticised.

What funding does influence is the scope of the site: with more reader support, more instruments and more brokers can be verified to the same standard. What it does not influence is any number, any risk warning or any regulatory statement. The regulator caveat for Kenya — that FxPro is licensed by the FCA (UK), CySEC and FSCA, not by the CMA of Kenya — appears in full regardless of any commercial relationship.

Challenges are logged, answered in writing and can change the published page

Anyone can challenge a published statement by writing to the editor at the address in the footer, quoting the page and the sentence in question. Every challenge is logged with a date and a reference number, and the editor aims to reply within five working days. The reply states whether the challenge is upheld, rejected, or still under investigation, and gives the reason in each case.

If a challenge is upheld, the page is corrected and a note is added at the bottom showing what changed and when. The original wording is kept in the change log so the correction can be verified. If a challenge concerns a number, the editor will show the source and the calculation used, or remove the number if the source cannot be produced. Challenges about leverage caps or margin figures are treated as priority.

Challenges that are rejected are also recorded, with the reason. A reader who disagrees with the rejection can ask for the decision to be reviewed by a second person named in the methodology note. That review is limited to whether the published rule was followed, not to whether the rule itself is agreeable. The outcome of every review is added to the change log.

The desk’s owner is named on every page and decisions follow a written checklist

Elgon Trial is run by a single named editor who is identified in the site footer and on every article page. That person holds final responsibility for what is published, and every decision about a page — from the choice of topic to the exact wording of a risk warning — is logged against a written checklist that covers sourcing, calculation and review. No page goes live without that checklist being signed off.

Decisions about which instruments to cover and which brokers to examine are made by the same editor, using a fixed set of criteria that is published in the methodology note. Gold (XAU/USD) is the only instrument on the desk at present because it is the one the editor can verify against the stated contract size of 100 oz per lot and a pip of 0.01. Other instruments are added only when the same verification is possible.

The editor does not accept instructions from any broker, affiliate network or advertiser about what a page says. If a broker asks for a change, that request is recorded in the change log and declined unless it corrects a factual error. The checklist and the change log are kept for a minimum of two years and can be produced on request to anyone who challenges a published figure.

How the desk is paid, and what payment cannot buy

Affiliate links are the only revenue this desk has. If you open an account with a broker after following a link from our pages, that broker may pay us a referral fee. You pay nothing extra for it, and the fee does not change the price you are quoted.

Payment never buys a rating and never hides a weakness. A broker cannot pay to move up a ranking, cannot pay to have a drawback removed from a page, and cannot pay for a favourable sentence. If a weakness is real, it stays on the page whether or not that broker is one we link to.

Gold coverage is limited to what can be verified against the contract specification

Elgon Trial covers gold (XAU/USD) only, because it is the one instrument where the contract specification can be stated exactly: 1 standard lot equals 100 oz, and one pip equals 0.01. That precision matters for margin and cost calculations, and it is the reason no other instrument is discussed until the same level of verification is possible. The reference price of 4275.0 is given as a dated reference, not a live quote.

Leverage is described only as the cap that applies to the entity serving Kenya, and it is framed as a maximum, not a target. The page does not state any other leverage ratio. The worked example — a 0.10-lot gold position needing about $85.50 margin at that cap — is included so a reader can see how the cap translates into a real requirement, and the arithmetic is shown so it can be checked.

Funding is described only through M-Pesa, the method listed for Kenya. No other funding method is named. The regulator position is stated exactly: FxPro is licensed by the FCA (UK), CySEC and FSCA, not by the CMA of Kenya. That sentence is not softened or rephrased, because a reader in Kenya needs to know which authority does and does not supervise the entity they are dealing with.

A number is published only when its source, date and calculation can be shown

Every number that appears on Elgon Trial must have three things attached before it is published: the exact source document or calculation, the date the figure was valid, and the person who checked it. If any one of those is missing, the number is either removed or replaced with a description of what the figure depends on. This is why you will see phrases like ‘the margin depends on the leverage cap’ rather than a bare figure.

For gold, the contract size of 100 oz and the pip value of 0.01 are fixed facts and are stated as such. The reference price of 4275.0 is labelled as a reference, not a live quote, and is dated. The worked margin example — a 0.10-lot gold position needing about $85.50 at the applicable cap — is shown with the calculation spelled out so a reader can reproduce it with their own numbers.

Costs such as spreads, commissions, swaps and minimum deposits are never given as numbers unless the broker has published them in a document the desk can link to. Instead, the page explains what the cost consists of and what it depends on, such as the account type, the time of day, or the funding method. This rule is applied without exception, even when a broker supplies a figure verbally.

Risk warnings are written to be read before a position is opened, not after

Every page that mentions a trade carries a risk warning in plain language at the top, not buried at the bottom. The warning states that trading gold with leverage can lose more than the amount deposited, that margin calls can close positions without notice, and that past price behaviour does not indicate future results. It is written to be understood by someone who has not traded before.

The warning is specific to gold where possible. Because one lot is 100 oz and one pip is 0.01, a small price move translates into a large change in the value of a position, and the page says so without giving a forecast. The worked margin figure of about $85.50 for a 0.10-lot position is shown next to the warning so the relationship between leverage, margin and risk is visible in one place.

No page on Elgon Trial promises a return, describes a strategy as safe, or suggests that a cost is low without a published figure to support it. Where a cost is discussed, the page explains what it consists of and what it depends on. This is a deliberate editorial choice: a reader who understands the cost structure and the margin requirement is better placed to judge whether a trade is suitable for them.

What this desk is not

Elgon Trial is not a broker, not a bank and not a licensed investment adviser. We cannot open an account for you, hold your money, place a trade, or tell you what to buy or sell. Any account you open is with a broker, and any money you deposit goes to that broker, not to us.

For context on the broker we write about most, FxPro is licensed by the FCA (UK), CySEC and FSCA — not by the CMA of Kenya. That sentence is the whole of the regulatory position we can state, and it is why we tell readers in Kenya to check the entity and the terms themselves before funding anything.