What is a Pip?

[phreddy 10]

I thought that I knew but...

 

I understood that it was the fourth decimal place for £/$ and Euro/$, that the price was expressed as say 1.5435 and if it went to 1.5436 then the price went up one pip.

 

My account with Alpari quotes 1.54352, 5 points after the decimal.

 

Today I bought £/$ at 1.53480 with a TP of 1.53689 where I was stopped out. I made $135.99. I make the difference 209. My trading size is 1.00.

 

The help page offers no explanation, can somebody please explain?

 

0

[Hlm 10]

What do you mean by "help page".

 

Have you ever been to the following site?

 

http://www.babypips.com/school/the_skinny_on_forex.html

 

209 / 1.53689 = $135.99 (since $ isn't the base currency)

[phreddy 10]

What do you mean by "help page".

209 / 1.53689 = $135.99 (since $ isn't the base currency)

 

The 'help page' was the usual 'F1' on the Alpari platform. All about operating the platform but not the basics that I should have paid more attention to much earlier.

 

Thank you for your help. I have looked at 'babypips' again and now understand.

 

Most obliged to you HLM, thanks for taking the trouble.

[joy99 10]

some brokers are going out to the 5th decimal to get a tighter spread and call it a fractional pip, but it isn't worth what a full pip is worth.

[phreddy 10]

one pip is 0.0001, it is easy to understand

 

Yes, Karkty, that's what I said "I understood that it was the fourth decimal place for £/$ and Euro/$, that the price was expressed as say 1.5435 and if it went to 1.5436 then the price went up one pip."

 

It was the fifth decimal place (0.00001) that my broker uses, that threw me. Joy99 and Hlm sorted that out for me but thanks for your interest.

[atto 20]

one pip is 0.0001

it is easy to understand

I know you're here just to spam, so may not actually read this, but that's not actually true. In addition to what's been said, a counter-example would be USD/JPY, which is only priced to two decimal places.

[phreddy 10]

I know you're here just to spam, so may not actually read this, but that's not actually true. In addition to what's been said, a counter-example would be USD/JPY, which is only priced to two decimal places.

 

Thanks Atto, I was quite happy about the 2 decimal price, when I hit the 'pip measurer' on the chart it gave me a sensible reading. For the 5 decimal places I had a big number. That is what caused me to write.

 

I don't understand the 'spam' allusion! I thought that 'spam' came to e-mails. What does it mean on fora? Would it be the same as 'trolling'.

[atto 20]

I don't understand the 'spam' allusion! I thought that 'spam' came to e-mails. What does it mean on fora? Would it be the same as 'trolling'.

The guy above, who posted the nonsensical reply, was simply spamming a quick 3 posts so he could private message (you can't PM before 3 posts) hundreds of users about some forex system he's pawning.

[phreddy 10]

Thanks again, it is like a new language!

[tlfx 10]

Thanks again, it is like a new language!

 

You can always count on these guys.

 

TL members are very helpful and resourceful...