Reference

Pip vs pipette: the unit confusion that matters at scale.

A pip is the fourth decimal on most currency pairs (the second on JPY pairs). A pipette is the fifth decimal (third on JPY) — one tenth of a pip. Most modern brokers quote in pipettes; most position-sizing math is in pips.

The convention

For most currency pairs (EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/CHF), the pip is the fourth decimal place. EUR/USD moving from 1.0776 to 1.0777 is a one-pip move. For JPY-quote pairs (USD/JPY, EUR/JPY, GBP/JPY), the pip is the second decimal. USD/JPY moving from 154.20 to 154.21 is a one-pip move.

The reason for the difference is the absolute price level. A pip should represent approximately the same percentage of price across pairs. EUR/USD at 1.0776 has a pip of 0.0001 (0.0093% of price). USD/JPY at 154.20 has a pip of 0.01 (0.0065% of price). Both are similar orders of magnitude in percentage terms.

What is a pipette?

A pipette is one tenth of a pip — the fifth decimal on most pairs (third on JPY). EUR/USD at 1.07762 has the same pip-level reading (1.0776x) as 1.07767, but their pipettes differ. Brokers introduced pipette pricing roughly 2010 onward to enable tighter spread quoting (1.5 pip spreads, not just 1 or 2 pip spreads).

The trap. A trader configures their stop-loss at “30” in their broker's order ticket. If the broker quotes in pipettes, that's 30 pipettes = 3 pips. If the broker quotes in pips, it's 30 pips. The dollar risk on the same nominal stop differs by a factor of 10 between the two interpretations.

How to tell which your broker uses

Open the order ticket on your broker's platform. If the rate displays five decimals (e.g., 1.07762), the broker quotes in pipettes. If four decimals (1.0776), pips. Most major retail brokers (IG, OANDA, Saxo, MetaTrader-based) quote in pipettes by default. Some legacy platforms still default to pips.

The same logic applies to JPY pairs. USD/JPY at 154.205 (three decimals) is pipette pricing; 154.20 (two decimals) is pip pricing.

Reference table

Pair	1 pip	1 pipette	Example: 1.5 pip spread
EUR/USD	0.0001	0.00001	15 pipettes
GBP/USD	0.0001	0.00001	15 pipettes
USD/CHF	0.0001	0.00001	15 pipettes
AUD/USD	0.0001	0.00001	15 pipettes
USD/JPY	0.01	0.001	15 pipettes
EUR/JPY	0.01	0.001	15 pipettes
GBP/JPY	0.01	0.001	15 pipettes

The calculator's convention

The main calculator works in pips throughout. When you enter “30 pips” for the pip-movement field, you mean the standard pip definition above. If your broker quotes in pipettes, divide their displayed value by 10 before entering. Example: a stop-loss displayed as “320” in pipettes = 32 pips.