The foreign exchange market or forex, as it is popularly known, can be quite volatile. Here, any sort of price movement makes a world of difference to an investor’s profits. This is where the importance of a pip in forex trading comes into play.
A pip, which stands for “percentage in point” or “price interest point”, can be defined as a unit that measures the price movements of currencies in foreign exchange markets. A pip is the smallest price movement an exchange rate experiences.
What is Pip?
The value of a pip is usually dependent on the forex market convention and can be defined as the smallest unit price move produced by an exchange rate. Appearing in the fourth decimal place, i.e. 0.0001, a pip is essentially the one-hundredth part of 1%.
Though they might seem similar, traders and investors mustn't confuse pips in forex trading with bps or basic points in interest rate markets.
The concept of a pip forms a crucial building block of forex. When traders in the forex market decide to invest in a currency, they observe how the value of the currency is related to another currency. When the price for such pairs is quoted, it is done so in bids and is accurate to four decimal places and this is why the smallest unit change, i.e. one pip. Is important.
Additional Read: What are the Types of Foreign Exchange Markets
Calculating Pip Value
Many factors can influence the value of a pip. This includes the exchange rate of a currency pair, its value and its trade value. There are specific cases wherein the pip is fixed at 0.0001. This happens when a trader’s account is funded with U.S.D and the same happens to be the second of the pair like in a EUR/USD.
So in a case where the traded value is 10,000 Euros, the following formula applies.:
Value Traded × Quote Currency Pip = Pip Value
10,000 × 0.0001 = 1
In cases where the USD is the first in the pair like in a USD/CAD pair, the pip value needs to include the exchange rate. Here, the pip size is divided by the exchange rate and the result is multiplied by the trade value or the lot size. In an example where the exchange rate is 1.2829 and the trade value or lot size is 100,000 the formula is listed below:
Trade Value (Pip Size ÷ Exchange Rate) = Pip Value
100,000 (0.0001 ÷ 1.2829) = 7.7948
Pips and Profitability
When it comes to the forex market, the one thing that determines whether or not a trader makes a profit is dependent on how the exchange rate of a currency pair moves. For example, if a trader buys the EUR/USD pair would make a profit if and when the value of the euro increases in relation to the USD.
What Is the Difference Between Pip and Pippette?
As has already been defined, keeping the forex market in mind, a pip is the smallest price movement an exchange rate experiences and appears in the fourth decimal place, i.e. 0.0001 making it the one-hundredth part of 1%.
A pipette however is the 1/10 part of a pip representing a fraction of 1/100,000 and helps measure price movements in the forex market in the fifth decimal place.
How are Pips Used?
Since the pip is part of a currency pair’s exchange rate in the forex market, it tends to represent any changes that might occur in the value or quote of a position in the forex market.
Here's an example to better illustrate how pips are used. Suppose a trader buys a currency pair for 1.1357 and sells it for 1.1361. This means that the traders ended up making 4 pips. Then the value of each pip would be calculated and multiplied by the lot size.
What is Spread in a Forex?
A spread in the forex market can be defined as the difference between a currency pair’s bid price and ask price.
The cost of the forex spread can be calculated by multiplying the trade size or the volume with the spread.