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Pip difference calculator: how to count the pips between two prices

To get the pip difference between two prices, divide the price change by the pip size: EUR/USD moving from 1.3405 to 1.3455 is 0.0050 ÷ 0.0001 = 50 pips, worth $500 on one standard lot at the fixed $10 per pip. JPY pairs use a pip size of 0.01, and gold conventions vary by broker — or skip the arithmetic entirely and let our free pip calculator convert any move to dollars instantly.

The formula

Pip difference = (price 2 − price 1) ÷ pip size. Three steps: subtract the two prices, look up the pip size for the instrument, divide. For pairs quoted in US dollars (EUR/USD, GBP/USD, AUD/USD, NZD/USD) the pip size is 0.0001 — the fourth decimal. For JPY pairs it is 0.01 — the second decimal. For gold it depends on your broker, which is exactly why gold gets its own section below.

Subtract: 1.3455 − 1.3405 = 0.0050
Look up the pip size for EUR/USD: 0.0001
Divide: 0.0050 ÷ 0.0001 = 50 pips

If you would rather not do this by hand every time, our free forex pip calculator does the conversion instantly — enter the pair, lot size, and pip distance and it returns the dollar figures using the same formulas on this page.

Watch the fifth decimal (third on JPY pairs): that digit is a pipette — one tenth of a pip. EUR/USD moving from 1.34051 to 1.34556 is 0.00505 ÷ 0.0001 = 50.5 pips, not 505.

Worked examples

EUR/USD: 1.3405 → 1.3455

Difference 0.0050, pip size 0.0001, so 50 pips. On USD-quoted pairs the pip value is fixed regardless of the rate — $10.00 per standard lot (100,000 units), $1.00 per mini (10,000), $0.10 per micro (1,000) — so this move is worth 50 × $10 = $500 per standard lot, $50 per mini, $5 per micro.

USD/JPY: 155.20 → 156.10

Difference 0.90, pip size 0.01, so 0.90 ÷ 0.01 = 90 pips. The dollar value is not fixed on JPY pairs: one pip on a standard lot is ¥1,000, converted at the current rate. At a rate of 156.10, one pip is 1,000 ÷ 156.10 ≈ $6.41, so the full move is ¥90,000 ÷ 156.10 ≈ $576.55 per standard lot.

Instrument	Price 1	Price 2	Pip size	Pip difference	Per standard lot
EUR/USD	1.3405	1.3455	0.0001	+50 pips	+$500 (50 × $10)
GBP/USD	1.2710	1.2680	0.0001	−30 pips	−$300
USD/JPY	155.20	156.10	0.01	+90 pips	≈ +$576.55 at a rate of 156.10
XAU/USD (0.10 convention)	2,410.50	2,415.50	0.10	+50 pips	+$500 (100 oz)

A negative result means price fell. Keep the sign — it separates a move in your favor from one against you.

Converting the pip difference to dollars

Multiply the pip difference by the pip value for your pair and lot size:

USD-quoted pairs (EUR/USD, GBP/USD, AUD/USD, NZD/USD): $10.00 per pip per standard lot, $1.00 per mini, $0.10 per micro — fixed regardless of the exchange rate.
USD/JPY: pip value per standard lot = ¥1,000 ÷ the USD/JPY rate. At a rate of 150.00 that is 1,000 ÷ 150 = $6.67 per pip; at a rate of 160.00 it is 1,000 ÷ 160 = $6.25. The value drifts as the rate moves.

The fastest route: our free forex pip calculator takes the pair, the lot size, and the pip distance and returns the dollar value in one step — no rate lookups, no rounding slips.

The gold caveat (XAU/USD)

Gold has no universal pip convention — that ambiguity is exactly why people search for a calculator. Most brokers treat 1 pip = $0.10 of price movement; some treat the smallest increment, 0.01, as the unit and call it a point (or, confusingly, a pip). Under the 0.10 convention, one pip on one standard lot (100 oz) is 0.10 × 100 = $10. So gold moving from 2,410.50 to 2,415.50 — a $5.00 move — is 50 pips, worth 50 × $10 = $500 on 100 oz. Under the 0.01 convention the same move reads as 500 points at $1 each: the dollar P&L is identical either way; only the label changes. The smallest useful anchor: a 0.01 move on 100 oz = $1. Check your broker's contract specifications before sizing anything off a quoted "pip" number on gold.

Common mistakes

Counting pipettes as pips. On five-decimal quotes, divide by 0.0001, not by the smallest quoted digit. 1.34051 → 1.34556 is 50.5 pips.
Using 0.0001 on JPY pairs. The yen pip is the second decimal (0.01). Using 0.0001 inflates the pip count 100-fold and breaks every downstream dollar figure.
Assuming $10 per pip everywhere. That figure is specific to USD-quoted pairs at one standard lot. USD/JPY at a rate of 150.00 is $6.67 per pip, and gold depends on your broker's convention.
Dropping the sign. The pip difference between entry and stop is a loss, not a gain; keep direction attached when planning risk.

Pip arithmetic measures the size of a move — it says nothing about which direction price will go next. Leveraged forex and gold trading is high-risk, and real losses can exceed what clean pip math suggests when markets gap through levels. This page is education, not financial advice; we are not a registered adviser.

Where this fits

Counting pips is step one; pricing and sizing them is what matters. From here, see what a pip actually measures, the full pip value table by pair and lot size, and how pip value interacts with leverage. At ClaudeQuantAlgo we publish a timestamped, loss-inclusive record of our own hypothetical research — including a simulated backtest of 161 trades that lost money at a 46.6% win rate and 0.82 profit factor — because pip math matters most when you assume the next trade can lose.

Common questions

Is there a free pip difference calculator?

Yes — ClaudeQuantAlgo's free forex pip calculator (on the tools page at /tools/forex-pip-calculator/) converts a pip distance into dollars for the major pairs by lot size. The manual formula behind it: pip difference = (price 2 − price 1) ÷ pip size, where pip size is 0.0001 for USD-quoted pairs and 0.01 for JPY pairs.

How do I calculate the pip difference between two prices?

Subtract the two prices and divide by the pip size. EUR/USD from 1.3405 to 1.3455 is 0.0050 ÷ 0.0001 = 50 pips. USD/JPY from 155.20 to 156.10 is 0.90 ÷ 0.01 = 90 pips. Ignore the fifth decimal trap: that digit is a pipette, one tenth of a pip.

How much is a 50-pip difference worth in dollars?

On USD-quoted pairs like EUR/USD, 50 pips is 50 × $10 = $500 per standard lot, $50 per mini, $5 per micro — fixed regardless of the rate. On USD/JPY the pip value floats: at a rate of 156.10 one pip is 1,000 ÷ 156.10 ≈ $6.41, so 50 pips ≈ $320.31 per standard lot.

How do you count pips on gold (XAU/USD)?

Conventions vary by broker, which is why gold pip questions are so common. Most treat 1 pip as a $0.10 price move — worth $10 on one standard lot of 100 oz — while some count 0.01 increments (a 0.01 move on 100 oz = $1). The dollar P&L is the same either way; check your broker's contract specs before relying on a quoted pip count.

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Last updated 2026-07-16 · ClaudeQuantAlgo Research Desk · research and education only.

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