By Karen Kaminski
Pips and 'pips values' represent one of the most misunderstood concepts in Forex trading. Newbies, especially, often have trouble grasping the idea behind pips -- but, a solid understanding of pips is crucial to successful Forex investing.
If you have had trouble with pips, then today may be your lucky day. I'm going to attempt to clarify things once and for all with a brief pips tutorial.
Hopefully you are already familiar with the concept of 'basis points'. One basis point is equal to one one-hundredth of one percent, and represents the smallest increment of change measured for any financial instrument.
Take interest rates as an example. If the interest rate on your credit card rises from 10.12 percent to 10.13 percent, then it has risen by 1 basis point.
Pips are the Forex markets version of basis points. Let's say that the exchange rate for the EUR/USD pair move from 1.4465 to 1.4468. This movement represents a shift of 3 Pips, and may be good or bad depending on which currency you are holding.
Here's the catch, though. Notice that the shift took place on the 4th decimal, which is the ten-thousandths place, or 1/10,000 of a percentage point? You have a shift of one ten-thousandth instead of one one-hundredth.
The reason for this is that most currencies (with the exception of the Yen) are quoted out to four decimal places. This means you get to take advantage of even the most minute shifts as you trade on high volume.
In order to calculate Pips for the common, four decimal currency pairs, you must divide the value of 1 Pip by the exchange rate:
1 Pip = 1/10000th / exchange rate
Now, what happens when you are dealing with the Japanese Yen? In this currency pair, we find an exception to the rule because the Yen is quote out only to the hundreds place, or 1/100.
For the USD/JPY pair (or vice versus), your formula would be:
1 Pip = 1/100th / exchange rate
Now that you know how to calculate Pips for any currency pair, you must look at what an actual Pip is worth to you in real dollar terms. This value is known as "pips value'. In order to do this, we must bring 'lot size' into the equation.
If you purchase a standard lot of 100,000 pairs of EUR/USD at 1.4465. , your formula will be as follows:
Pip Value = (0.0001 / 1.4465) x 100,000 = 6.91
So, a pip at this exchange rate is worth 6.91 Euro. Do not look for exact numbers here. What you need to pay attention to is the fact that '6.91' represents the average gain or loss per change in pips.
In other words, a fluctuation of 2 pip from 1.4465 to 1.4467 isn't going to raise your profit or loss by a full Euro or more. Try doing the calculation for a 2 pip rise, and you'll see that your pips value goes up only to 6.192.
I recommend getting comfortable with these basic calculations first, and then moving on to the calculations of actual profit and loss, which will require you to factor in bid price and ask price.
Also, remember that your online broker usually calculates pip and pips values for you, and you do not have to know how to do the math. It's just good business to be able to do it yourself.
Karen Kaminski is an information publisher and marketer with a passion for creating unique quality content that people can benefit from. Learn anything you need to know about Forex by visiting her site.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Karen_Kaminski
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Pip in Forex Trading – The Final Hit
By Altaf Sahibzada
In general terminology the abbreviation “pip” may refer to many things like Protective Industrial Products, Picture-in-Picture, Personal Identity Provider, Partners in Protection, Preferred Internet Provider, Performance Index Paper etc.
In currency trading “pip” stands for “percentage in point”. This is the smallest increment of change in forex trade. It is the smallest number in quotation of a currency.
In foreign exchange market, rates are quoted to the fourth decimal point. For example, if the price of a burger in the market is $1.22, in forex market the same burger will be quoted as 1.2200. Under this example, the 4th decimal point will constitute one pip and normally equals 1/100th of 1%.
The above is the general rule. Exception to this is the quotation in USD/JPY which is only up to 2 decimal points. This is because Japanese Yen has not been revalued since Second World War. Thus in case of Yen, the quotation is only up to 1/100th of yen as against 1/1000th with other major currencies.
All other currencies in relation to Yen will be quoted up to 2 decimal points. The usual pairs will be AUDJPY, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURJPY, GBPJPY etc.
Other factors that go in the understanding of a pip are trading size, extent of leverage and rate of a currency pair. In case of USD, with a leverage of 1:100 and trading volume of one lot, one pip will have a value of $10.
The above will be the minimum incremental value by which USD will fluctuate. Thus, if there is a one pip change, that means one has gained or lost $10.
One pip value for one lot in USD will be equivalent to $10 in case of all currency pairs not involving JPY. Where JPY is the other currency in a pair, one point value will be equivalent to $1000 / USDJPY rate.
Closely associated with pips is the “spread”. This is the difference between bid price at which a forex broker is willing to buy the first currency of a pair and the offer or sell price at which he is willing to sell the first currency of a pair. The difference between bid and ask prices is the spread.
If EUR/USD is quoted as 1.4205/1.4207, the spread will be equivalent to EUR 0.0002 or 2 pips. The size of a spread depends upon the popularity of a currency pair. The more popular a pair, smaller the spread and vice versa.
Pip spread may be better for major players which trade in large quantities as compared to retail or individual traders. Spot prices on EUR/USD are usually no more than 3 pips wide (0.0003). With increased competition, pip spreads have shrunk on major pairs to as little as 1 to 2 pips.
Please Follow This Link For more information, Free Forex Guide and Free Sign Up
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Altaf_Sahibzada
In general terminology the abbreviation “pip” may refer to many things like Protective Industrial Products, Picture-in-Picture, Personal Identity Provider, Partners in Protection, Preferred Internet Provider, Performance Index Paper etc.
In currency trading “pip” stands for “percentage in point”. This is the smallest increment of change in forex trade. It is the smallest number in quotation of a currency.
In foreign exchange market, rates are quoted to the fourth decimal point. For example, if the price of a burger in the market is $1.22, in forex market the same burger will be quoted as 1.2200. Under this example, the 4th decimal point will constitute one pip and normally equals 1/100th of 1%.
The above is the general rule. Exception to this is the quotation in USD/JPY which is only up to 2 decimal points. This is because Japanese Yen has not been revalued since Second World War. Thus in case of Yen, the quotation is only up to 1/100th of yen as against 1/1000th with other major currencies.
All other currencies in relation to Yen will be quoted up to 2 decimal points. The usual pairs will be AUDJPY, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURJPY, GBPJPY etc.
Other factors that go in the understanding of a pip are trading size, extent of leverage and rate of a currency pair. In case of USD, with a leverage of 1:100 and trading volume of one lot, one pip will have a value of $10.
The above will be the minimum incremental value by which USD will fluctuate. Thus, if there is a one pip change, that means one has gained or lost $10.
One pip value for one lot in USD will be equivalent to $10 in case of all currency pairs not involving JPY. Where JPY is the other currency in a pair, one point value will be equivalent to $1000 / USDJPY rate.
Closely associated with pips is the “spread”. This is the difference between bid price at which a forex broker is willing to buy the first currency of a pair and the offer or sell price at which he is willing to sell the first currency of a pair. The difference between bid and ask prices is the spread.
If EUR/USD is quoted as 1.4205/1.4207, the spread will be equivalent to EUR 0.0002 or 2 pips. The size of a spread depends upon the popularity of a currency pair. The more popular a pair, smaller the spread and vice versa.
Pip spread may be better for major players which trade in large quantities as compared to retail or individual traders. Spot prices on EUR/USD are usually no more than 3 pips wide (0.0003). With increased competition, pip spreads have shrunk on major pairs to as little as 1 to 2 pips.
Please Follow This Link For more information, Free Forex Guide and Free Sign Up
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Altaf_Sahibzada
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