A pip is how forex traders count price movement. For most pairs it is the fourth decimal place: EUR/USD moving from 1.0850 to 1.0851 is one pip. For pairs quoted in yen it is the second decimal: USD/JPY moving from 150.20 to 150.21 is one pip.

Pip size

Pair type One pip Example
Most pairs 0.0001 1.0850 → 1.0880 is 30 pips
Yen pairs 0.01 150.20 → 150.65 is 45 pips

Most brokers quote one more decimal. That last digit is a pipette, a tenth of a pip: 1.08503 to 1.08513 is one pip, or ten pipettes. MetaTrader often calls a pipette a "point", which is why a 30-pip stop shows as 300 points.

Pip value

pip value = pip size × units traded   (in the quote currency)

One standard lot of EUR/USD is 100,000 units: 0.0001 × 100,000 = $10 per pip. On USD/JPY: 0.01 × 100,000 = ¥1,000 per pip, converted to dollars at the current rate.

Example

A 25-pip stop on 0.40 lots of EUR/USD risks 25 × $10 × 0.40 = $100. That is the arithmetic behind position size.

Pips or money in a journal?

Pips are useful for describing a setup ("a 15-pip stop"), but they cannot be compared across pairs or added up across accounts. Journal results in money, and in R-multiples for comparison.

In SetupBook

You enter prices, not pips. SetupBook computes the money from the price difference, the size and the symbol's contract value, so the pip arithmetic is done for you and the result is the same whether you count in pips or points.