Traders use pips, points and pipettes to describe price movement, and the words often get mixed up. The mix-up matters most when you set a stop loss or read a broker's stop level in MetaTrader. A wrong unit can put your stop much closer or much further from the price than you intended.
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The calculator above shows the size of a pip for the symbol you choose and what that pip is worth for your lot size, in the quote currency and in your account currency. Every pip value on this page should come from it, with your own inputs.
The short answer for beginners
- Pip: the standard unit traders use to describe a move in a currency pair. "The spread is a pip" or "the stop is so many pips away" uses this unit. See What is a pip.
- Pipette: a fraction of a pip. It is the extra, smallest digit that many quotes show after the pip digit. It is sometimes called a fractional pip.
- Point: MetaTrader's word for the smallest price step of a symbol, that is, the last digit of the quote. On most forex pairs that show the extra digit, a point and a pipette are the same thing.
So a pip and a point are usually not the same. On a quote with the extra digit, a pip contains several points. Treating them as equal is a common cause of stops placed far too tight.
How to see the difference on a quote
Look at any currency pair in the Market Watch window. The bid and ask prices end in a small digit that changes all the time. That last digit is the point, or pipette. The digit just before it is the pip digit for most pairs.
The pip position comes from market convention for each pair, not from the terminal. Yen-quoted pairs have a larger price and use a different decimal place for the pip than most other pairs. This is why a fixed rule like "count back so many digits" does not work everywhere. Check the size per symbol in the calculator.
Precise definitions for experienced traders
Point in MetaTrader
In MT4 and MT5, a point is the symbol's minimum price change. It is shown in the symbol specification alongside the number of digits after the decimal point. In MQL code this value is Point or _Point, and the digit count is Digits or _Digits.
The terminal measures these values in points:
- stop level: the minimum distance from the current price for pending orders, stop loss and take profit
- freeze level: the distance within which orders cannot be modified
- deviation: the price deviation you accept for market execution
- spread shown in the specification and in the Market Watch spread column
- the trailing stop distance in the terminal
Pip
A pip is a convention, not a terminal setting. MetaTrader has no built-in "pip" property. EAs and indicators that work in pips must convert from points, usually by checking the digit count of the symbol.
Pipette
A pipette is the fractional-pip digit. On pairs quoted with the extra digit, a pipette equals a point. On a quote without the extra digit, the point equals a pip and there are no pipettes.
Metals, indices and crypto CFDs
For instruments such as XAUUSD, US100 or crypto CFDs, there is no single agreed pip definition. Brokers, platforms and traders may each use a different one. The point is always unambiguous, because it comes from the symbol specification. For these instruments, think in points or in price, and confirm the pip size in the calculator before you compare spreads or stops. See XAUUSD spread and Stock indices.
Converting points to pips
Use this formula:
pips = points × point size ÷ pip size
- Open the symbol specification in MetaTrader and note the point size. It equals the smallest price step.
- Get the pip size for the same symbol from the pip calculator above.
- Multiply the distance in points by the point size. This gives the distance in price.
- Divide that price distance by the pip size.
To go the other way, from pips to points, multiply the pips by the pip size and divide by the point size.
The same steps work for a broker's stop level, a spread shown in points, or a deviation setting. If the result looks too small, you have probably read points as pips.
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Why the unit changes your risk
The money at risk on a trade depends on the stop distance, the lot size and the pip value. If you set a stop in points while thinking in pips, the real distance can be much smaller than you planned. The trade can then close on normal price noise or slippage. In the opposite case, the stop can be much wider, so the loss is larger than you expected.
Leveraged forex and CFD trading can lose money fast. Before you trade, work out the distance in pips and the value per pip for your lot size. See Stop loss, Lot sizes, Profit and loss and Risk management. More tools are on Calculators.
Frequent questions
What is the difference between a pip and a point?
A pip is a trading convention for a price move. A point is MetaTrader's smallest price step for a symbol. On quotes with the extra digit, a pip contains several points.
What is a pipette?
A pipette is a fractional pip, shown as the last small digit of a quote. On most forex pairs in MetaTrader, a pipette is the same as a point.
Are points in forex the same on every symbol?
No. The point size depends on how many digits the symbol is quoted with. Check it in the symbol specification.
Does MetaTrader show distances in pips?
No. The terminal uses points for the stop level, freeze level, deviation and spread. You convert them to pips yourself with the formula above.
How do I find the pip value for my trade?
Enter the symbol and lot size in the pip calculator on this page. It shows the value in the quote currency and in your account currency.