Gold trade offers a painful experience (6)
I believe the answer is:
ordeal
'a painful experience' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'gold trade' is the wordplay.
'gold' becomes 'or' ('or' is the heraldic name for gold).
'trade' becomes 'deal' ('deal' can be a synonym of 'trade').
'or'+'deal'='ORDEAL'
'offers' is the link.
(Other definitions for ordeal that I've seen before include "A test of endurance or or difficult experience" , "severe test shows" , "Difficult or arduous experience" , "Horrific experience" , "Prolonged distressing experience" .)