One pip on EUR/USD is worth $10 on a standard lot, $1 on 0.10 lots and $0.10 on 0.01 lots, for an account in US dollars. That figure does not change when the price does. It is the position size in euros times 0.0001, and it comes out in dollars because the dollar is the second currency in the pair.
What a pip is on EUR/USD
A pip on EUR/USD is 0.0001, the fourth decimal of the price. MetaTrader usually quotes the pair to five decimals and calls the fifth one a point: a tenth of a pip, sometimes called a pipette. At an example price of 1.08500, a move to 1.08510 is one pip, and a move to 1.08800 is 0.00300 ÷ 0.0001 = 30 pips.
The formula: units times pip size
Pip value = units × pip size, and the answer is in the quote currency, the second currency in the pair. A standard lot is 100,000 units of the base currency, so one lot of EUR/USD is 100,000 euros and one pip is worth 100,000 × 0.0001 = $10. A mini lot, 0.10, is 10,000 euros and $1 a pip; a micro lot, 0.01, is 1,000 euros and $0.10 a pip.
| Lot size | Euros | One pip | A 20-pip move | A 30-pip move |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.00 | 100,000 | $10 | $200 | $300 |
| 0.50 | 50,000 | $5 | $100 | $150 |
| 0.10 | 10,000 | $1 | $20 | $30 |
| 0.05 | 5,000 | $0.50 | $10 | $15 |
| 0.01 | 1,000 | $0.10 | $2 | $3 |
Any other move is the same multiplication: pips × $10 × lots. A 30-pip move on 0.05 lots is 30 × $10 × 0.05 = $15, as in the 0.05 row. The table assumes a contract of 100,000 units, which you can confirm in MT5: right-click EUR/USD in Market Watch, choose Specification and read the contract size.
The same $10 on every pair quoted in dollars
The dollar is also the second currency in GBP/USD, AUD/USD and NZD/USD, so each pays 100,000 × 0.0001 = $10 a pip per lot, at any price. Gold gives the same answer when a pip is counted as $0.10 of price: a 100-ounce lot × $0.10 = $10, and the gold pip value guide covers the other ways gold pips are counted. So for a dollar account, a 30-pip stop at 0.10 lots costs $30 on all four pairs and on gold; what changes from one signal to the next is the stop distance in pips.
When the dollar comes first: USD/JPY, USD/CAD, USD/CHF
On these pairs the pip value comes out in the second currency, so what it is worth in dollars depends on the price. USD/CAD and USD/CHF use the same 0.0001 pip, so one lot pays 10 Canadian dollars or 10 Swiss francs a pip; on USD/JPY the pip is 0.01, the second decimal, so one lot pays 100,000 × 0.01 = 1,000 yen. Divide by the rate to get dollars.
| Pair, at an example rate | One pip on 1 lot, in the quote currency | In dollars |
|---|---|---|
| USD/JPY at 150.00 | 1,000 yen | 1,000 ÷ 150.00 = $6.67 |
| USD/CAD at 1.3600 | 10 Canadian dollars | 10 ÷ 1.3600 = $7.35 |
| USD/CHF at 0.8000 | 10 Swiss francs | 10 ÷ 0.8000 = $12.50 |
The dollar figures are rounded to the cent and move with the rate. The gap is not small: a 30-pip stop on 0.10 lots is 3,000 yen on USD/JPY, $20 at the example rate, and $37.50 on USD/CHF at the example 0.8000, against $30 on EUR/USD.
If your account is in pounds or euros
Every figure so far is in dollars. For an account in another currency, divide the dollar pip value by that currency's rate against the dollar: at an example GBP/USD rate of 1.3000, one lot of EUR/USD is $10 ÷ 1.3000 = £7.69 a pip, and at an example EUR/USD rate of 1.1000 a euro account gets $10 ÷ 1.1000 = €9.09.
The conversion uses the rate at the time, so the pip value in pounds or euros drifts a little from day to day. When you size a trade, convert the pip value first, then do the sizing in your own currency.
What the pip value is for: the money at risk
On a signal, the pip value matters most at the stop. Stop in pips × pip value per lot × lots is the money you lose if the trade fails: a 25-pip stop on 0.20 lots of EUR/USD is 25 × $10 × 0.20 = $50.
Run the same sum the other way to choose the size. Decide the money first, then divide: to risk $30 on a 20-pip stop, lots = $30 ÷ (20 × $10) = 0.15, and at 0.15 lots each pip is worth $1.50. Picking the lots first and finding out the risk afterwards gets the order backwards. The position sizing guide sets out the full formula, with forex and gold examples.
Spread and commission are separate
The pip value tells you what a move is worth; it is not a cost. The spread is a cost, and it is measured in the same pips: a spread of 1 pip, used here as an example, costs $10 on 1 lot and $1 on 0.10 lots the moment the trade opens. To see your broker's live spread in MT5, right-click in Market Watch, choose Columns and tick Spread; the figure is in points, and 10 points on EUR/USD is 1 pip.
Commission, on accounts that charge it, comes on top, and so does swap on a trade held overnight. The guide to calculating profit takes one trade from entry to exit with each of those costs taken off.
The short version
- A pip on EUR/USD is 0.0001, the fourth decimal; the fifth decimal is a point, a tenth of a pip.
- One lot is $10 a pip, 0.10 lots $1 and 0.01 lots $0.10, at any EUR/USD price, for a dollar account.
- GBP/USD, AUD/USD, NZD/USD, and gold at $0.10 a pip, pay the same $10 a lot.
- On USD/JPY, USD/CAD and USD/CHF, work out the pip in the second currency, then divide by the rate.
- For a pound or euro account, divide the dollar pip value by GBP/USD or EUR/USD.
- Money at risk is stop pips × pip value × lots. Choose the lots from the risk.
How Forexero's calculators count pips
Our calculators use exactly these conventions: 0.0001 on 100,000 units for every pair not quoted in yen, 0.01 on yen pairs, $0.10 on a 100-ounce lot for gold, and conversion into your account currency through ECB reference rates. The pip value calculator shows what one pip is worth at your lot size, in your account currency, on any of those markets.
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