How the forex pip calculator works

When you get to your forex pip calculator,

1. First, choose the currency pair you want to trade.
2. Then, set your trade size in units, eg. 1000 units, 10,000 units or 100,000 units
3. Choose your account currency;it can be in USD, EUR, CAD, or any other.
4. Use the current exchange rate for the currency pair.
5. Lastly, Click on calculate; the pip value will appear below.

Alternatively, you can use a formula instead of the forex pip calculator;

How to calculate pip value using a formula

Pip Value = (pip value in decimal places × trade size in units)/exchange rate.

Example:

One Pip: 0.0001
Account Currency: EUR
Currency Pair: EUR/USD
Exchange Rate: 1.08962 (EUR/USD)
Lot Size: 1 Lot (100,000 EUR)

Pip Value = (0.0001 x 100,000)/ 1.08962

Each Pip is worth €9.18

Despite learning how to use the forex pip calculator, its important what these common terms mean. Lets learn a few major ones

What is a pip?

Pips represent the smallest movement that a currency pair can make.

A pip is a short term for percentage in point or price interest point. It is used to measure the change in the value between two different currencies.

When price changes on the exchange, the change in price is referred to as a Pip/s or Pipette change.

What is a pipette?

A pipette is a fractional pip and is equivalent to 1/10 of a pip.

Currency pair pipette is written to 5 decimal places (0.00001).  Unlike for the Yen pairs which is put to 3 decimal places (0.001). 

For most currency pairs, a pip is put to 4 decimal places, one pip = 0.0001

However, it is different for the Yen currency pairs.  A pip is only two decimal places (0.01)

In case a Yen pair is quoted in 3 decimal points a pip increment is on the second decimal. the third decimal is a pipette.

For example AUD/JPY at 83.8(4)7. (4) represents a pip. The last digit represents a pipette (7)

Similarly, pairs quoted in 5 decimal points, a pip is on the fourth decimal.

In a EUR/USD at 1.230(4)4. (4) is a pip and the last digit is a pipette.

Example

If you take position on EUR/USD and it moves from 1.230(4)4 to 1.230(5)4. It has moved 1 pip, (5 – 4).

In AUD/JPY, a movement from 89.6(2)5 to 89.6(3)5 is 1 pip movement.

How do you determine pip value

To determine how much is a pip worth? You need;

• The currency of your account
• The pair you are trading
• And the position size of your trade in units.

The Value of Pips

The value of the pips for your trade can vary depending on your lot size and the difference in pips between the bid and ask is the spread.

Spread is a payment to brokers.  This is how brokers make money from forex when you open a position because most forex brokers do not collect an official commission.

In a ddition, when your trade is positive in pips, you are making a profit

However when it’s in negative, you’re making a loss.

What is a forex lot?

A lot refers to the bundle of units/ size of a trade you can place when trading in the Forex market. It is represented in a bundle of 1000 by Forex brokers.

Before taking any position, it is important to note that lot size directly affects the risk you take on a trade.

Lot size directly affects your accounts depending on how much a market move.

A 10 pip movement on a small trade will not have the same impact as much as the same 10 pip movement on a very large trade size.

Therefore, a tool like a pip calculator can help you determine the desired lot size basing on the size of your current accounts and the amount you would like to risk.

Let’s have a look at the different lot sizes.

Micro Lots

Micro lots are the smallest tradable lot offered by most brokers.

A micro lot is a lot of 1000 units of your account funding currency.

If your account is funded in US dollars, a micro lot is $1000 worth of the base currency you want to trade.

If the base currency of the pair you are trading is a dollar, 1 pip is equal to $0.1.

Micro lots are very good for beginners that need to be more at ease while trading.

 Mini Lots

A mini lot is worth 10,000 units of your account funding currency.

If your account is in dollars, a mini lot is worth $10,000.

This simply means trading a dollar-based pair e.g. USD/CAD, each pip in a trade is worth about $1.

Standard Lots

A standard lot is a 100,000 unit lot. That is a $100,000 for a dollar account.

The average pip size for standard lots is worth $10 per pip.

This means if a market moves 1pip, against you, you loss $10, for 10 pips you loss $100.

The opposite happens when the market is moving in your favor. You will make $100 dollars when the market moves 10 pips to your direction.

To trade this, you need to have a bigger account to adjust for the pip value otherwise your account will blow after a small movement in the market.

Therefore it is always important to choose a lot size that matches your account size.  That way you will be able to last long in the trading game.

Let’s have a quick summary on forex lot sizes and the respective pip value

 Why do you need to know the pip value for your trade?

You can use Pip value to determine gains, or losses when trading.

A pip measures the amount of change in the exchange rate for a currency pair, and is calculated using last decimal point.

Since most major currency pairs are priced to 4 decimal places, the smallest change is that of the last decimal point.

When in trade and it moves 100 pips in your favor, you will be able to determine your profits by multiplying with the value per pip.

For example;

If you are trading mini lots (10,000 units). 100pips, it is worth (100pips x $1) = $100.

For a standard account,  (100pips x $10) = $1000

And for a micro, (100pips x $0.1) = $10.

In case a trade goes against you, you can also calculate your losses.

That is;  pip value multiply by the number of pips the trade moves against you.

You can as well use pip value to determine your stop loss in monetary terms. This will help you to choose the appropriate risk to reward ratio for your trades.

How to calculate pip value?

Here are some examples on how to calculate pip value in monetary terms for your trades whether your account denomination is in USD dollars or not. Read more