MT5 tick value and tick size explained

Why one lot moves your balance by different amounts on different symbols, and where to read the numbers behind it.

Why tick value matters

Every profit and loss figure in MetaTrader 5 comes from a few numbers in the symbol specification: the tick size, the tick value and the contract size. If you have ever wondered why a one-lot trade on one symbol moves your balance by ten dollars per pip and on another by a different amount, the answer is in those numbers. This page explains them in plain terms, shows the arithmetic with invented values, and points out where a trader should look before trusting any calculator, including the ones on this site.

The three numbers in plain words

Term	What it means	Where it matters
Tick size	The smallest price change the symbol can make	Rounding of prices, stops and entries
Tick value	The profit or loss, in your account currency, when the price moves by one tick on a one-lot position	Converting a price move into money
Contract size	The amount of the asset in one lot, for example 100,000 units of a currency or 100 ounces of gold	Position size and margin
Point	The smallest price step shown by the symbol’s digits	Distances in points, spread in points

On many symbols the tick size equals the point, but that is not guaranteed. Some instruments, mostly indices and some metals, use a tick size larger than a point, so a quote can move by several points at a time. Read both from your own specification rather than assuming.

Where to find them in the terminal

In the desktop terminal, open Market Watch, right-click the symbol and choose the specification entry. A window lists the digits, the contract size, the tick size and the tick value, together with the margin settings, the swap values and the trading sessions. The wording of the menu and the order of the lines can differ by build and language, so check your own terminal. Specification values are set by your broker and can be different between two brokers offering the same symbol name.

The basic formula

For a one-lot position, the money made or lost by a price move is the move divided by the tick size, times the tick value. For a position of several lots, multiply by the lot size. In symbols:

result = (price move / tick size) x tick value x lots

The formula works for currency pairs, metals and indices alike, which is the reason the specification keeps these values separate from the symbol’s name. A hypothetical gold symbol with a tick size of 0.01 and a tick value of 1.00 dollar behaves like this: a 5.00 move is 500 ticks, so one lot makes or loses $500. At 0.10 lots the same move is $50. That matches the usual rule that one lot of gold is 100 ounces.

A forex example where the tick value is not obvious (hypothetical)

Take a currency pair quoted in a currency that is not your account currency. Suppose the pair is quoted in Japanese yen and your account is in dollars. The tick value is not a round number, because the broker converts the yen profit into dollars at a current rate, and the figure in the specification changes as the exchange rate changes. If a tick is 0.001 yen and the converted tick value reads 0.67 dollars for a one-lot position, a 0.10 move is 100 ticks, so one lot makes or loses $67 and 0.10 lots makes or loses $6.70. Those numbers are made up to show the method; your terminal shows the live ones.

This is why a fixed pip value in a table is only an approximation for pairs that do not have your account currency as the quote currency. The pip value calculator asks for the exchange rate for exactly this reason.

Tick value in the trade history

You rarely see the tick value in a closed trade. What you see in the history is the final profit in account currency, plus commission and swap. If you want to check that a result is consistent, rebuild it: take the price difference between entry and exit, divide by the tick size, multiply by the tick value and the lots, and compare with the profit column before costs. A difference of a few cents is normally rounding or a conversion rate that moved between entry and exit; a large difference deserves a look at the trading costs in your trade history and the lot size and contract size of the symbol.

Why calculators disagree with each other

Different contract sizes. Gold is 100 ounces per lot at many brokers but not all, and some index symbols use a multiplier of one, ten or fifty.
Different digits. Three and five digit quotes make the point ten times smaller than the traditional pip.
Account currency conversion. The tick value moves with the exchange rate for cross currency symbols.
Rounding. A calculator that rounds the tick value to two decimals can drift on a large position.
Cent and micro accounts. A lot may be a fraction of a standard lot, or the balance may be shown in cents.

When two tools disagree, the specification in your terminal wins, because it holds the numbers your broker actually uses to compute your balance.

How a journal uses these numbers

A journal does not need the tick value to be useful. AI Trading Journal reads each closed position from your MetaTrader 5 history and records its symbol, size, times and result, and the result already contains the tick value work done by the platform. What it cannot do is tell you what the tick value was or what you intended; if the figure matters to your review, write it in the notes. For a gold-focused routine see the XAUUSD gold trading journal page.

A short checklist before you trust a result

Open the specification and note the tick size, tick value and contract size.
Do the one-trade arithmetic by hand for a small, invented move.
Compare it with a calculator you plan to use.
If the tool and the terminal differ, use the terminal and note the reason.
Re-check after a change of account, broker or account currency.

Limits of this page

Menu names and the layout of the specification window vary by build and language.
All numbers in the examples are invented; use the live values from your own terminal.
It covers the desktop MetaTrader 5 terminal, not other platforms.
It explains arithmetic, not whether a trade is a good idea.

A full profit walkthrough for forex, gold and an index: how MT5 calculates profit.

Frequently asked questions

What is tick value in MT5?

It is the profit or loss, in your account currency, when the price of a symbol moves by one tick on a one-lot position.

What is the difference between tick size and point?

A point is the smallest step of the quoted digits. The tick size is the smallest price change the symbol actually makes. They are often equal but not always.

Where do I see the tick value?

Right-click the symbol in Market Watch and open its specification. The exact menu wording depends on your build and language.

Why does the tick value change?

For symbols not quoted in your account currency, the broker converts the result at the current exchange rate.

Does the journal app store the tick value?

No. It stores the closed position with its result; add any specification notes yourself.

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