Pips vs Points: The Difference That Makes Your Stop 10× Too Big
You set a 20 pip stop, the platform says 200, and the lot size calculator gives a number that looks far too small. Nothing is broken: you're looking at points, not pips.
Pip
A pip is the standard unit of movement for a forex pair:
- 0.0001 on most pairs (EUR/USD 1.0850 → 1.0851 is one pip)
- 0.01 on yen pairs (USD/JPY 150.25 → 150.26 is one pip)
Point (pipette)
Most brokers quote one extra decimal: EUR/USD shows 1.08505, USD/JPY 150.253. That last digit is a point, also called a pipette or fractional pip.
10 points = 1 pip.
MetaTrader measures stops, spreads and trailing stops in points. When MT5 shows a stop of 200, that's 20 pips. Type 200 into a calculator that expects pips and the lot size comes out ten times too small. Do the reverse, entering pips where points are expected, and it comes out ten times too big.
Indices, gold and crypto
Outside forex the words drift:
- Indices: a point is usually 1.0 in price. US30 at 42,000 → 42,001 is one point. What it's worth per lot depends on your broker (often $1, sometimes $10 or $0.10).
- Gold: brokers disagree on whether a pip is $0.10 or $0.01. See how to size gold trades.
- Crypto: nobody agrees at all. Use prices.
For anything that isn't forex, use the entry and stop prices instead of a pip count. That removes the ambiguity entirely.
Tick
A tick is the smallest move the broker allows. On a 5-digit EUR/USD quote a tick is one point. It matters for futures more than for spot forex and CFDs.
Quick check before you trade
- Is your platform showing 5 decimals (3 on yen pairs)? Then its "points" are tenths of a pip.
- Divide the platform's point count by 10 to get pips.
- For gold, indices and crypto, use prices.
The position size calculator takes pips for forex and entry/stop prices for everything else, so the units can't get mixed up. Start with EUR/USD or US30.