Skip to content
Pipstone Learn

Pips and points

Lesson 0.3 Free

Pips and points

A pip is the standard unit for measuring a price move. Its size depends on the symbol, and the extra decimal on most quotes is a point, a tenth of a pip.

In this lesson you learn how to measure a price move in pips, why yen pairs and gold use a different pip size, and how not to confuse a pip with a point.

  1. 1 What a pip is

    A pip is the unit traders use to measure how far a price moved. Saying “EUR/USD rose 65 pips” is easier than saying “it rose 0.0065”.

    For most pairs a pip is the fourth decimal place: 0.0001.

    Example: EUR/USD moves from 1.0850 to 1.0915.

    1.0915 − 1.0850 = 0.0065, and 0.0065 ÷ 0.0001 = 65 pips.

    Quick check

    1. Question 1 · Calculation

      Example numbers: EUR/USD falls from 1.0870 to 1.0792. How many pips is that move?

  2. 2 Yen pairs are different

    Pairs quoted in Japanese yen, such as USD/JPY, have far bigger numbers, so the pip is the second decimal place: 0.01.

    A real example: on 10 March 2026 (USDJPY, daily chart, Pipstone price feed) the low was 157.272 and the high was 158.132.

    158.132 − 157.272 = 0.860, and 0.860 ÷ 0.01 = 86 pips.

    The rule: find where the pip sits for that symbol, take the difference between the two prices, and divide by the pip size.

    USDJPY D1 chart around 10 March 2026, with lines at that day's high (158.132) and low (157.272), 86 pips apart.
    USDJPY D1 chart around 10 March 2026, with lines at that day's high (158.132) and low (157.272), 86 pips apart.
    Open this in the terminal (opens in a new tab)

    Quick check

    1. Question 2 · Calculation

      On 10 March 2026 (USDJPY, D1, Pipstone price feed) USD/JPY opened at 157.657 and closed at 158.078. How many pips did it rise from open to close?

  3. 3 The extra decimal is a point

    Most platforms show one more decimal than the pip: five decimals on EUR/USD (1.16103), three on USD/JPY (158.078). That last digit is a point, also called a pipette. One point is a tenth of a pip.

    • EUR/USD: 1 pip = 0.0001, 1 point = 0.00001.
    • USD/JPY: 1 pip = 0.01, 1 point = 0.001.

    Watch out: some platforms count moves in points, not pips. A “15” in points is only 1.5 pips. Always check which unit a number is in.

    Quick check

    1. Question 3 · Multiple choice

      EUR/USD is quoted at 1.16103. Which digit is the point (a tenth of a pip)?

  4. 4 Gold uses its own convention

    Gold (XAUUSD) is priced in US dollars per ounce, and brokers do not all agree on what a pip is. In this course, one pip on gold is 0.10 (ten cents), and one point is 0.01. Check the contract details of your own account before relying on that.

    A real example: on 10 March 2026 (XAUUSD, daily chart, Pipstone price feed) gold traded between 5,117.065 and 5,238.365. That is a range of 121.30 dollars, or 121.30 ÷ 0.10 = 1,213 pips in one day. Gold can move a long way in pips, so what each pip is worth in money (lesson 0.4) matters a lot on it.

    XAUUSD D1 chart around 10 March 2026, with lines at that day's high (5,238.365) and low (5,117.065), a 1,213-pip range.
    XAUUSD D1 chart around 10 March 2026, with lines at that day's high (5,238.365) and low (5,117.065), a 1,213-pip range.
    Open this in the terminal (opens in a new tab)

  5. 5 In the terminal: read a quote and measure a move

    Open the practice terminal with an EURUSD chart. Read the current bid and say out loud which digit is the pip and which is the point.

    Then pick Measure on the chart’s drawing rail and drag from the low of one candle to the high of a later one. The tool shows the distance in pips, the price difference, the percentage and the number of bars. Work out the same distance yourself in pips with the rule above and check that both answers agree. If they differ by a factor of ten, one of them is counting in points.

    The picture measures one EURUSD H4 candle, 10 March 2026 at 16:00 UTC: low 1.16060, high 1.16670. 1.16670 − 1.16060 = 0.00610, which is 61.0 pips, or 610 points. The link opens the same chart with the same measurement, so you can check it and then draw your own.

    EURUSD H4 chart in the practice terminal, 10 March 2026: the Measure tool drawn from the 16:00 UTC candle's low (1.16060) to its high (1.16670), showing the distance in pips.
    EURUSD H4 chart in the practice terminal, 10 March 2026: the Measure tool drawn from the 16:00 UTC candle's low (1.16060) to its high (1.16670), showing the distance in pips.
    Open this in the terminal (opens in a new tab)

0 of 3 questions right. Answer them all to complete the lesson.