subject: Studying Spread And Quotes [print this page] Know what is forex spread and pips and exactly how it works. These are very important measure of success in currency trading.
Understanding Pips and Lot Size
Pips is the basic measurement use in forex trading to measure price movement. Pip is the smallest price movement in forex trading and pip stands for the acronym percentage in point. Pip is always measure by the last digit in forex price quotes, say you bought EUR/USD at 1.3123 and was able to sell it at 1.3126, you then earn 3 pips which is the difference between the sell price and the buy price. Every pip has a dollar equivalent depending on the lot size a trader is trading. Micro lot 1 pip is equal to $0.10, a mini lot 1 pip is equal to $1.00 and a standard lot 1 pip is equal to $10.00.
Forex Quotes
Let us use the following forex quote for EUR/USD to understand further what is forex spread. EUR/USD buy price 1.3123, sell price 1.3120, you can then buy EUR/USD at 1.3123 and look to sell it above this price and every changed to the upside of the last digit equals 1 pip. Did you notice the difference between the buy price and the sell price? This is called forex spread.
Forex Spread
Most forex brokers do not charge that client with commission fees or brokers fees, how then do the forex brokers earn when we trade with them? The answer is through the spread, which is why one of the selling points of forex brokers is offering low spread to their client. Once you enter a trade you will immediately suffer a loss amounting to the spread of the currency. Example if you buy EUR/USD at 1.3123 you already have a loss of 3 pips since you can only sell this at 1.3120. The 3 pips initial loss actually goes to your broker and works like a broker's fee.
Our first example is a buy transaction it will also be the same when you sell short a currency pair. Selling short EUR/USD at 1.3123 will give you the same 3 pip loss because when you close your short trade you will have to buy it at 1.3120.
Every time you enter a trade whether buying or selling short a currency pair you are charged by your broker via the currency pair spread, this is just once every time you enter a trade and when you close a trade this is actually the time when you pay your broker the spread.
There are times when the forex currency spread shoot up to the roof especially during times that the market is very volatile like when trading news announcement like NFP and rate interest adjustments or in times when the market is still digesting an economic news or information.
Now start talking in terms of pips when you measure profit or loss in forex trading or when you are describing a currency price range. Take advantage of brokers that offers small spread or better yet guaranteed fix spread. Avoid buying or selling during wild movement of price because you increase the risk of getting charge with a high spread.
