Forex Pips and Profits. How Does it Work?

By blujam On September 7, 2010 Under Forex Invincible Review

As more automated forex robots are released on to the market we are seeing people who are not familiar with trading looking at buying them as a way to earn passive income.
Yes I agree that this can happen however you will not always make the profits that are advertised. Why, because you will be trading in different Lot sizes and this will affect the value of the pips gained and or lost. You will also set your account up differently, be comfortable with different leverages and obviously have a different margin with your broker. I believe the more you know about trading the more success you will have using automated robots.

First of all let me explain pips. Pip is an acronym for Price Interest Points. In the wholesale market, all currencies are quoted to four decimal places, with the last placeholder called a point or a pip. The pip is 0.0001 ( one /10,000th)of the currency rate, with the exception to the rule being the Japanese Yen, in this case one pip is 0.01 ( 1 /10 ). If the currency pair EUR/USD was trading at 1.3525 and then moved to 1.3575, the movement is said to be 50 pips. The pip is the smallest measure of price movement used in Forex trading and when Traders refer to their wins or loses they usually refer to the number of pips gained or lost.

The other very important point is the actual value of the pip. This relates to the Lot size you are trading (the value of your transaction).
If you start with a full Lot($100,000) the pip will be worth around $10 USD, depending on the currency pairing, however if you trade with mini lots ($10,000)the value of a pip goes from $10.00 value to $1 or 0.10c in a micro lot ($1000).
The point to remember is the value of the pip affects both your profits and losses. When the trade goes against you and the pip is $10.00 if you have high leverage it does not take long to build up hugh losses.

One other thing to remember is the brokers are there to make money from your trading, Brokers realized that they can offer very high leverage as this will draw investors from other markets, but as traders you do not have to use it.

New traders all want to know how much capital (margin) do I need to start trading. Brokers will offer 100:1, 200:1, 400:1 and this means you need 1%, 0.5% or 0.25% of the transaction value as your margin (capital).
That is what is available, but when you are working out the leverage you feel comfortable with it might be you only want 5:1

Example. You have $2000.00 capital, broker offers 200:1 (which means you will be able to trade with a transaction value of $400,000) but you only want to trade a mini lot ($10,000) your real leverage for that trade is 10,000 divided by 2000 = 5 or 5:1. That is no problem you can do that.

“Leverage is measured by dividing the value of the transaction by your own capital”

When you first start trading high leverage is very risky(actually it is always risky) and is the number one reason most people fail. Using a robot that is basically scalping (small pip gains over a very short period) is one of the safest ways to trade. However it will lose trades and a slower approach , quietly building up your margin using small leverage is the way I would recommend.

Lyndsay is a successful entrepreneur and forex trader. Discover how you can get the best proven Automated Forex Trading System and start trading successfully today. For the #1 automated forex system available check out http://www.best-fx-trading.com/