Points and pips on five digit and three digit quotes in MT5

[Fairman]

Points and pips on five digit and three digit quotes in MT5

A short reference, because the words get mixed up all the time and it causes real mistakes in EA inputs and indicator settings.

On a five digit EURUSD quote like 1.08235, the last digit is a point, 0.00001. A pip is 0.0001, so one pip equals ten points.

On a three digit USDJPY quote like 150.235, a point is 0.001 and a pip is 0.01. Again ten points per pip.

On gold quoted as 3000.25, a point is 0.01. There isn't a standard pip, and brokers use the word differently.

Where this matters:
MT5 inputs for stops and targets are often in points. A stop of 50 in points is 5 pips on EURUSD, not 50.
The crosshair tool shows distance in points.
Spread in Market Watch is in points. A spread of 12 on EURUSD is 1.2 pips.
Indicator settings like ATR show price values, not pips or points, so an ATR reading of 0.00042 on M1 is 4.2 pips.

The _Point variable in MQL gives the point size for the current symbol, and _Digits gives the number of digits. For pip size in a script, I use _Point times 10 on symbols with 3 or 5 digits, and _Point on 2 or 4.

[FXS HongKong Scalper]

A useful reference. Gold is where most mistakes happen, as you say. Indices and crypto CFDs can be even more confusing, since some brokers quote them to one decimal and others to two, and the value per point differs between brokers. Before running an EA on a new symbol, checking SYMBOL_POINT, SYMBOL_DIGITS and the tick value in the code, and printing them in the log, avoids surprises. A stop input of 100 points can mean very different distances on different symbols.

[Fairman]

The odd case is brokers that quote some pairs with four or two digits. A few still do on certain account types. Then a point and a pip are the same, and an EA that always multiplies by ten will set stops ten times too wide. The digits check handles it, but only if it's there. I'd test any EA on one five digit and one four digit symbol if your broker has both. Some brokers offer both kinds of account side by side, so the same EA can see different digits depending on where it runs. A check at OnInit that prints _Digits and the computed pip size to the log takes a second to read.

[Fairman]

Indices and crypto add more confusion. On an index CFD quoted as 18000.5, a point might be 0.1 or 1 depending on the broker. Some call one full index point a pip. For anything outside forex, I'd use price differences directly, like 10.0 index points, and never assume the platform's point means what you think it means. Gold and silver are similar: one broker's 10 points can be another's 1 point. The contract specification lists the tick size, and multiplying ticks by tick size gives a price distance you can trust whatever the label. Using that habit for every non-forex symbol avoids most of the confusion.

[Fairman]

On TradingView, the measure tool shows ticks and price change, and the tick size depends on the symbol. For forex symbols from many data providers the tick is 0.00001, so a measured 50 ticks is 5 pips. If the measure tool and your platform disagree on distance, check which units each is using before deciding which chart is wrong. Some feeds also use a tick of 0.0001 for certain pairs, so the same measure can mean different things on different data. Checking the symbol info on TradingView shows the minimum tick. A quick look clears up most of the disagreements.

[Fairman]

For journals, I'd always record distances in pips for forex and in price for everything else, and write the unit in the column header. It sounds trivial, but when you come back to an old journal months later and see stop: 40, you won't remember whether you meant points or pips. The header saves you redoing the work. A short note at the top of the journal explaining the units and the broker's digits helps too. If you change brokers later, the note tells you whether old and new numbers are comparable or need converting. These little things add up when you look back at a year of trading.