The whole formula
A pip value is three numbers multiplied together, and then scaled by how many lots you are holding:
pip value = pip size × contract size × rate × lots
Pip size is the price movement that counts as one pip. Contract size is how many units of the thing one lot carries. Rate converts the quote currency into your account currency, and is simply 1 whenever they already match. Everything that makes pip values feel inconsistent across instruments is one of those three changing:
| Symbol | Pip size | Contract size | Rate | Per 1.00 lot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EURUSD | 0.0001 | 100,000 EUR | 1.00 | $10.00 |
| GBPUSD | 0.0001 | 100,000 GBP | 1.00 | $10.00 |
| USDJPY | 0.01 | 100,000 USD | 1 ÷ 150 | $6.67 |
| EURGBP | 0.0001 | 100,000 EUR | 1.27 | $12.70 |
| XAUUSD | no standard | 100 oz | 1.00 | $1 / $10 / $100 |
USD account. USDJPY assumes 150.00; EURGBP assumes GBPUSD at 1.27.
The gold row is the important one
Every row in that table has one answer except the last, and that is not a gap in the calculator — it is the actual state of the market. Ask five brokers what a pip is on XAUUSD and you will get three answers: 0.01, 0.10, or a full dollar. On a 100-ounce contract that is $1, $10, or $100 for the same move on the same position.
A calculator that prints a single confident number for gold has silently picked one of those on your behalf. If it picked differently from your broker, every figure downstream of it — your risk, your target, your expected profit — is out by a factor of ten or a hundred. So this one asks, defaults to nothing, and puts all three definitions on screen with what each is worth. The disagreement is the answer.
The same caution applies, less dramatically, to indices and crypto CFDs. There the split is usually between a whole point and a tenth of one, so the error is tenfold rather than hundredfold — still enough to matter.
Pips, points, and five-digit brokers
Most forex brokers now quote an extra decimal place. EURUSD shows as 1.08501 rather than 1.0850, and that final digit is a point, one tenth of a pip. Ten points make a pip. Platforms frequently report profit and stop distances in points, so a result can look ten times larger or smaller than expected purely because of which unit is on screen.
If you want the value of a point rather than a pip, divide the pip size by ten — enter 0.00001 instead of 0.0001 — and the calculator will size it accordingly.
Getting the exact numbers from MetaTrader 5
Everything this needs about your broker sits in one panel. In MT5, open Market Watch, right-click the symbol, and choose Specification. Read off:
- Contract size — units in 1.00 lot.
- Tick size and tick value — the broker's own price-to-money conversion, already expressed in your deposit currency.
Enter that last pair into the Exact override box and the calculator uses your broker's arithmetic directly rather than reconstructing it, which makes the contract size and the conversion rate irrelevant. On an instrument with no agreed pip it is the only way to be certain, and it is the route no generic web calculator offers you.
Pip value is half the job
Knowing what a pip is worth tells you what a move pays. It does not tell you how large the position should have been in the first place — for that you need your risk budget and your stop distance. Our lot size calculator does that half, using the same broker specification and the same underlying arithmetic, so the two agree by construction rather than by coincidence.
Common questions
How much is one pip worth?
On a standard lot of EURUSD with a USD account, exactly $10. A mini lot (0.10) is $1, and a micro lot (0.01) is $0.10. That clean number holds because one lot is 100,000 euros, a pip is 0.0001, and the quote currency is already your account currency — so 0.0001 × 100,000 × 1 = 10. Change any of those three and the answer changes with it.
Why is the pip value on USDJPY not $10?
Because the pip is worth 1,000 yen, not 1,000 dollars, and yen have to be converted. One lot is 100,000 USD and a JPY pip is 0.01, so a pip is 0.01 × 100,000 = ¥1,000. At 150.00 that is 1,000 ÷ 150 = $6.67. It also means the value drifts as the rate moves, which is not true of EURUSD on a USD account.
What is a pip on gold?
There is no agreed answer, and any calculator that gives you one without asking is guessing. Brokers variously treat 0.01, 0.10, or a full dollar as a pip on XAUUSD. On a 100-ounce contract those come out at $1, $10, and $100 per lot — a hundredfold spread on the same position. This calculator asks which one your broker uses and shows all three side by side, so the disagreement is visible instead of buried.
What is the difference between a pip and a point?
On a five-digit forex broker the last decimal place is a point, one tenth of a pip. EURUSD quoted at 1.08501 has moved one point from 1.08500, and ten points make one pip. Platforms often report profit in points, which is why a position can look ten times better or worse than expected until you check which unit you are reading.
Does the pip value change while the trade is open?
It depends on the pair. If the quote currency is your account currency — EURUSD on a USD account — it is fixed. If it is not, the value moves with the exchange rate: USDJPY on a USD account is worth slightly less per pip as the yen weakens. For a cross like EURGBP on a USD account it moves with GBPUSD, which has nothing to do with the pair you are trading.
Do I need a live exchange rate for this?
Usually not. If the quote currency is your account currency the rate is 1. If the base currency is your account currency, we derive it from the price you enter. Only a true cross has to ask, and the field is prefilled from daily reference rates that you can overwrite with your broker's own.
This calculator is an educational tool. It does not know your broker, your account, or your strategy, and it is not investment advice or a recommendation to place any trade. Pip values are only as accurate as the specification you enter — confirm against your own platform before you trade. See the full Risk Disclosure.