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Friday, August 7, 2009

The Forex Pip Defined

By Bart Icles

In Forex trading, a Pip or Percentage In Point or Price Interest Point, is the smallest change in price of a given exchange rate. New traders to the market should have a thorough understanding of the concept as they will encounter this term all the time when doing currency trading.

Since transactions in Forex involve very large sums of currency and Forex spreads are usually very small, currency pairs are quoted to the fourth decimal place to be accurate. This is what is known as a Pip, or the smallest change of a currency pair. Take for example the currency pair of USD/EUR, quoted at 1.2345 and changes to 1.2346, the change in Pip would be 1. And if it changes from 1.2345 to 1.2305, the corresponding Pip change would be 40 Pips. Presently, there are 6 widely-traded currency pairs or called the majors, which are the following:

* EUR/USD, also called the 'EURO" * GBP/USD, also called the "CABLE" * USD/CHF, also called the "SWISSIE" * USD/JPY, also called the "NINJA" * USD/CAD, also called the "LOONIE", or "BEAVER" * AUD/USD, also called the "AUSSIE"

The EUR/USD is the most traded major by an average of 100 Pips a day.

Profits and losses are measured in Pips for any paired currency, though the Pip for a USD/JPY or US Dollar/Japanese Yen is not the same value as the Pip of a USD/EUR, or US Dollar/Euro, as it is quoted only at two decimal places; so the yen's Pip value is .01.

If the currency pair of USD/JPY moves from 110.95 to 111.00, it has gained 5 Pips. If the USD/CAD goes from 1.0234 to 1.0224, it lost 10 Pips. So if the USD/JPY went from 77.48 to 77.53, the increase would be 5 Pips. If you trade with the majors' like the AUD/USD and the exchange rate is at 1.9876, then 1 Pip for this trade is .0001, since it is set four decimal places.

When a trader says "30 Pips", it means thirty units of value in a trade. You might want to check carefully the individual currencies that you plan trading on to know what their respective Pips are, as these do vary. It may be confusing at the start, and the figures might seem a little formidable at first, but once you delve into Forex currency trading regularly, it'll soon grow on you.

The important thing to remember is that most currencies are placed at the fourth decimal place, such as those paired with the USD, or .0001, except the Yen. If you always keep in mind what a Forex Pip is, as also that each respective currency pair has a different value to it, you'll do well in your everyday trading. - 23210

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