Pip value calculator for forex, gold and indices

How to use it

1. Pick the instrument: a forex pair, gold, silver, an index, oil, bitcoin, ether or a CME future. 2. Choose your account currency. 3. Enter your size in lots, or in contracts for futures. 4. Check the contract size. Forex is 100,000 units a lot. Gold is 100 ounces, silver 5,000 ounces and oil 100 barrels by default. Indices are 1 unit of the quote currency a point. These are typical values, so check your platform's contract specs and change them if they differ. 5. If the tool asks for a price or an exchange rate, check it. For a pair like USD/JPY in a USD account, it needs today's price. For any other currency mix, it shows the rate it uses, filled in from the European Central Bank's daily reference rate with its date, and you can type today's rate.

What the result means

The tool shows a pip value for forex, a point value for metals, indices, oil and crypto, and a tick value for futures. For forex it also shows the value on a mini lot (10,000 units) and a micro lot (1,000 units).

A pip is 0.0001 on most pairs and 0.01 on yen pairs. On gold a point is 0.01 and on silver 0.001. On indices, oil and crypto the tool uses the price step the instrument is quoted in. Futures use the exchange's own tick size and point value from CME Group.

The value is first worked out in the quote currency, the currency the price is in. If that is not your account currency, it is converted at the rate shown. That is why the pip value of a yen pair or a cross moves through the day while EUR/USD in a USD account stays at $10 a lot.

Worked example: gold

You hold 2 lots of gold (XAUUSD) in a USD account. The contract size is 100 ounces a lot.

1. One point on gold is 0.01. 2. Value of a point on one lot: 0.01 times 100 ounces is $1.00. 3. Value of a point on 2 lots: $1.00 times 2 is $2.00. 4. A $1.00 move in the gold price is 100 points, so it is worth $100 a lot, or $200 on 2 lots.

The same steps work for an index priced in another currency. On the Germany 40 at 1 euro a point, 2 lots move €2 a point. With a rate of 1.17 dollars to the euro, that is $2.34 a point in a USD account.

Common mistakes

• Calling every step a pip. On gold, some traders call 0.10 a pip and others call 0.01 a point. Check which one your stop uses before you compare values.
• Counting fractional pips as pips. Platforms that quote five decimals on forex show points. Ten points make one pip.
• Assuming $10 a pip on every pair. That only holds for pairs that end in USD, in a USD account. Yen pairs and crosses change with the rate.
• Using an old rate. A conversion rate from last month can be off. Type today's rate if the market has moved.
• Trusting the default contract size. Index, metal and crypto lots differ between platforms, and the pip value moves with them.
• Forgetting costs. Spread is paid in pips, so the pip value also tells you what each trade costs to open.

What to check at your firm

• Account currency. Many challenges run in USD, but some offer other currencies, and pip values change with it.
• Contract specifications. Check the contract size for every metal, index, oil and crypto instrument you trade.
• Price digits. Know whether your platform quotes the fifth decimal on forex and the second on gold.

Pip value is the step between a stop in pips and a stop in money. The lot size calculator uses the same math to size a trade from your risk, the trade planner adds the daily limit, and the futures tick value calculator works in ticks and contracts for futures. For the size itself, see lot size.

Results depend on the inputs you enter, and firms' rules differ, so check your own firm's rules before you trade.

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