Guide · 2 min read
What a pip is worth on gold (XAUUSD)
Short answer: With the usual contract of 100 ounces per lot, every 1 dollar move in gold is worth 100 dollars per lot. If you count a pip as 0.10 dollars, one pip is worth 10 dollars per lot. If you count a point as 0.01 dollars, one point is worth 1 dollar per lot.
Published: 24 October 2026.
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"Pip" comes from currency trading, where it means the fourth decimal of most pairs. Gold has no such standard. That is why two traders can both say "30 pips" and mean very different amounts of money.
Pip, point and tick
- Point: the smallest step the price shows. Gold is usually quoted to two decimals, so a point is 0.01 dollars.
- Pip: most gold traders mean 0.10 dollars. Some tools mean 0.01, and a few mean 1.00.
- Tick: the smallest step the price can actually move, which MT5 shows as the tick size in the symbol's specification.
What each move is worth
With a 100-ounce lot:
- A 0.01 dollar move: 1 dollar per lot, 0.01 dollars per 0.01 lot.
- A 0.10 dollar move: 10 dollars per lot, 0.10 dollars per 0.01 lot.
- A 1.00 dollar move: 100 dollars per lot, 1 dollar per 0.01 lot.
- A 10.00 dollar move: 1,000 dollars per lot, 10 dollars per 0.01 lot.
If your broker uses 10 ounces per lot, divide each line by 10. If it uses 1 ounce, divide by 100.
How to check your own broker
In MetaTrader 5, right-click XAUUSD in Market Watch and open Specification. Read three lines: contract size, digits and tick size. Contract size times tick size is what one tick is worth per lot. Our contract calculator works it out for the common markets.
Why it matters
A stop of "50 pips" can be 5 dollars or 50 cents of price, depending on who says it. Copy the wrong one and your loss is ten times what you planned. Think in dollars of price, then turn that into lots with the position size calculator. Our guide on how to calculate lot size for gold walks through the full sum.
FAQ
What is one pip in gold?
There is no single rule. Most traders call a 0.10 dollar move in XAUUSD one pip, but some brokers and tools call 0.01 a pip, and others count whole dollars. Always check what your broker or tool means.
How much is one pip on gold per lot?
If a pip is 0.10 dollars and one lot is 100 ounces, one pip is worth 10 dollars per lot, 1 dollar per 0.10 lot and 0.10 dollars per 0.01 lot.
What is a point on XAUUSD in MT5?
In MT5 a point is the smallest price step the symbol shows. Gold is usually quoted with two decimals, so one point is 0.01 dollars, worth 1 dollar per 100-ounce lot.
Why does my broker show different pip values?
Brokers use different contract sizes (100, 10 or 1 ounce per lot) and different numbers of decimals. Both change what a pip or point is worth.
How many pips is a 10 dollar move in gold?
100 pips if a pip is 0.10 dollars, or 1,000 points if a point is 0.01. With a 100-ounce lot, that 10 dollar move is worth 1,000 dollars per lot either way.
Is it better to think in pips or in dollars?
In dollars. A move of 5 dollars in the gold price is clear on every platform, and it maps straight to money per lot without guessing what a pip means.
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BaroqTech makes software. It is not investment advice and it does not manage money. Trading leveraged products such as gold CFDs carries a high risk of losing money, and you can lose all of it. Results from a test or from a demo account do not predict results on a real account.
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