mt4 now has spot trading for precious metals!!

http://www.globalfundwire.com/articles/detail.jsp?content_id=352357

Gain Capital Holdings' Forex.com UK division has added
spot metals to its MetaTrader 4 platform, enabling clients to trade
gold and silver on a margined basis.
The two metals products are in addition to the currency pairs currently available on Forex.com's MetaTrader platform.
Forex.com added metals to ForexTrader, its own proprietary platform, earlier this year.
'For many of our clients, the trading of spot gold and silver will
be a natural extension to their foreign exchange trading, as the
precious metals market is driven by several factors that currency
traders typically follow, including the strength of the U.S. dollar and
the price of oil,' says Matthew Wright, regional director EMEA.
'Aggressive policy reactions by central banks around the world to
the current global economic downturn have flavoured the outlook for
inflation into the medium-term and heightened interest in the prospects
of gold and silver prices which are traditional inflation hedges,' adds
Jane Foley, director of research for Forex.com. 'Consequently,
movements in the prices of these metals are again at the fore of market
awareness, making them an interesting trading prospect at the current
time.'

Actually both Gold and Silver are often considered as a currency by the Forex Brokers and most of them propose trading on the pairs (XAUUSD and XAGUSD) for as small positions as 1 ounce (Oanda). Definitely cheaper than physical.