XAU/USD pip calculator

Most platforms set the value of 1 gold pip at $10.00 for a standard trade of 100 troy ounces, $1 for a 0.10 mini position and $0.10 for a 0.01 micro position. Your broker uses a pip to measure a small price step on the chart.

Broker lists show spot gold as XAU/USD. In US dollars, this code indicates the cost of 1 troy ounce of gold. Gold is priced per troy ounce in US dollars and cents on platforms such as MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView, with the price near $3,991.

UK platforms don't all place the gold pip at the same decimal point. Most forex platforms count a $0.10 change per ounce as 1 pip. In spot gold, IG and other firms count a $1 shift per troy ounce as 1 pip and offer spreads from 0.3 points.

Your contract size, often called a lot, tells you the amount of gold in 1 unit on the order ticket. Before trading with Pepperstone, CMC Markets or IG, check the instrument specification window on your platform. It shows how much gold you're buying.

Under the standard exchange specification used by most MT4 and MT5 brokers, 100 troy ounces make up 1 lot of gold. A size of 0.01 lots lets you trade just 1 troy ounce. Some brokers also offer gold contracts in grams alongside standard ounce contracts, allowing you to choose smaller trade sizes.

Your profit or loss on XAU/USD starts as a dollar amount because the pair trades in US dollars. If your trading account holds pounds, your platform converts the dollar amount to GBP using the live currency rate. Our standard pip calculator handles forex pairs in the same way.

Consider this example using a gold pip calculator: you buy 0.01 lots of XAU/USD at $3,991 per troy ounce. A position of 0.01 lots covers 1 troy ounce of gold.

If 1 pip equals $0.10, a $1 rise per troy ounce in the gold price equals 10 pips. If 1 pip equals $1, the same rise equals 1 pip. In either case, your gross profit from the $1 price move is $1 before spread costs. For a full 1 lot position covering 100 troy ounces, that same $1 gold price move produces a $100 profit or loss.

FCA rules cap UK retail gold leverage at 1:20, which means you put down a 5% cash deposit called margin to open the trade. Leverage lets you control a larger gold position with a smaller deposit, so your profit or loss per pip always tracks the full trade size rather than your deposit. Use our lot size calculator to plan your trade size and our margin calculator to find the required deposit.

To find the dollar value of 1 gold pip yourself, multiply the troy ounces in your trade by the 1 pip dollar amount set by your broker.

US dollar pip value = (troy ounces in the trade) × (pip size in US dollars)

If your account uses GBP, divide the US dollar pip value by the live GBP/USD rate to get pounds.

Pounds per pip = US dollars per pip / GBP/USD rate