XAUUSD pip value calculator for gold traders
What is one pip of gold worth for your lot size? Pick the pip size you use and read the dollars. No sign-up.
Type your lots, the ounces in one lot, how you define a pip and how many pips you are looking at. You get the value of one pip for a full lot and for your position, the money value of your pips, the price move they represent and that move in points. The starting numbers are invented: 0.10 lots, 100 ounces per lot, a pip of ten cents and 50 pips.
Why gold pip value confuses people
In currency pairs the pip is a settled idea: the fourth decimal place for most pairs. Gold has no such agreement. Some brokers and educators call a ten-cent move one pip, others call a one-cent move one pip, and a few treat a whole dollar as a pip. MetaTrader 5 itself talks about points, the smallest price step the symbol can show, which on a typical gold feed with two decimals is 0.01. Because the word pip is loose, the only number you can rely on is the money value of a price move for your lot size, and that depends on one fact from your broker: the number of ounces in one lot.
That is why this calculator asks you to pick the pip size instead of hiding it. If you read a pip value from a table, find out which price move the table calls a pip before you copy the number into a plan. For a longer explanation of the naming problem, see gold pip value explained.
The formula
Value of a price move = lots x ounces per lot x price move in dollars. A pip is just a price move you have given a name, so the value of one pip is the ounces in the position multiplied by the pip size. For one standard lot of 100 ounces, a ten-cent pip is worth 100 x 0.10 = $10 and a one-cent pip is worth 100 x 0.01 = $1. Nothing else enters the formula: leverage, account size and the gold price itself do not change the money value of a one-dollar move, only the margin you need to hold the position.
| Lots (100 oz per lot) | Ounces | Ten-cent pip | One-cent pip | One dollar move |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.01 | 1 | $0.10 | $0.01 | $1.00 |
| 0.10 | 10 | $1.00 | $0.10 | $10.00 |
| 0.50 | 50 | $5.00 | $0.50 | $50.00 |
| 1.00 | 100 | $10.00 | $1.00 | $100.00 |
Every figure in the table is computed from the formula and is not a quote from any broker. If your broker uses a different contract size, change the ounces box and every row scales in proportion.
Finding your contract size in MetaTrader 5
Open the Market Watch window, right-click XAUUSD and choose Specification. The window lists the contract size, the minimum and maximum volume, the volume step, the digits, the tick size and the tick value. Many brokers use 100 ounces for gold, but some use a different size for certain account types or for micro products, so read your own specification rather than assuming. The same window shows the tick value, which the page on tick value and tick size connects to the formula on this page. Menu names can differ slightly between builds, so check your own terminal.
From pips to points
The last output converts the price move into points using the point size you enter. With two decimals the point is 0.01, so a 5.00 dollar move is 500 points and a ten-cent pip is 10 points. If your broker shows three decimals, the point is 0.001, the same 5.00 move is 5,000 points, and a ten-cent pip is 100 points. Mixing up points and pips is the commonest reason a stop or target ends up ten times too close or too far, so it is worth checking the units once in your terminal using a demo order.
A worked example (hypothetical)
A trader buys 0.20 lots at 2,650.00 and the price reaches 2,658.50. The move is 8.50 dollars. Counting a pip as ten cents, that is 85 pips. One pip on 0.20 lots is 20 ounces x 0.10 = $2.00, so 85 pips are worth 85 x 2.00 = $170. Check the same result without pips: 0.20 lots is 20 ounces, 20 x 8.50 = $170. The two routes agree because a pip is only a unit. In points the move is 850. If the trader had counted a pip as one cent, the same trade would be 850 pips at $0.20 each, which is again $170. The label changes, the money does not.
Using pip value to size a stop
Once you know what one pip is worth for your lot size, you can turn a stop distance into money. A stop 40 ten-cent pips away on 0.10 lots risks 40 x $1.00 = $40 before spread, commission and slippage. To work the other way, from a risk amount to a lot size, use the XAUUSD stop loss calculator or the position size calculator. To see how far a target must be for a profit you have in mind, use the XAUUSD take profit calculator.
Pip value in your trade history
The History tab shows the money result of each trade, not the number of pips, so a pip count has to be worked out from the open and close prices. When you review a month of gold trades it is often more useful to look at the average win and the average loss in money, then convert to pips only if you want to compare trades of different sizes. AI Trading Journal reads each closed position from your MetaTrader 5 history and shows results, win rate, profit factor and the calendar, with the result calculated as profit plus commission plus swap. It does not calculate pips for you, so write the pips you planned in the notes if you want to compare them later.
Limits of this calculator
- It assumes a dollar account and gold quoted in dollars per ounce. On an account in another currency the money value must be converted.
- It does not include spread, commission, swap or slippage, which change the money result of a real trade.
- The pip size is your choice. The calculator cannot know which convention your broker or your source uses.
- It is arithmetic, not trading or investment advice, and it says nothing about where price will go.
Frequently asked questions
How much is one pip worth in XAUUSD?
What is the pip value for 0.10 lots of gold?
Is a gold pip the same as a point?
Does leverage change pip value?
Does the journal app count pips?
Related guides
- Free position size calculator (forex and gold)
- Free risk to reward calculator
- Free drawdown recovery calculator
- Free trading expectancy calculator
- Free forex and gold profit and loss calculator
- Free margin calculator for forex and gold
- Free trading compounding calculator
- Free losing streak calculator
- Prop firm drawdown calculator (daily and maximum loss)
- Prop firm risk calculator: how many losing trades until the limit
- All trading journal comparisons
See the money result of every closed gold trade: free for 7 days
Free for 7 days, no card required. After that, a one-time $19.99 purchase. No subscription. Also on the Microsoft Store.
One-time $19.99, no monthly fee · your MT5 login never leaves your PC · trades go into your own journal on your PC, not through our servers.
Start free 7-day trial