> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.hydravision.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.hydravision.ai/products/asset-profiler/ticks-pips-and-price.md). # Ticks, pips and price The one page to read before you type anything into a setfile. {% hint style="warning" %} **The short version.** Your report prints the step range twice: once in the asset's own quote unit in large type, and once directly underneath on the line **as Minimum Step Size**, in the unit Hydra Vision reads that setting in. On FX and on indices the two match. On gold, silver and other commodities they differ by a factor of a hundred. **The line that names the setting is the one already in the setting's unit.** {% endhint %} You don't have to do any of the arithmetic below. The report does it. This page is here for when you want to check it, or you're reading a profile made with an older version of the Profiler. ### Three units, and where each one appears **Ticks.** The smallest price movement the symbol can make. This is the unit the Profiler works in internally, because it's the only one that behaves consistently across every asset class. Tick figures appear in the small print under the step range, in the sweep table, and in the cost breakdowns. **Your quote unit.** What the report displays in large type. For FX pairs that's **pips**. For metals and indices it's **price**: dollars for gold, index points for GER40 and US30. It's chosen because it's the unit you'd naturally use when talking about that asset. **The setting unit.** `Minimum Step Size` is not always in pips. It is a count of a unit Hydra Vision picks by asset class, and Hydra Vision multiplies the value in the setting by that unit to get the price distance between positions. | Asset class (as Hydra Vision decides it) | One unit of `Minimum Step Size` is | Example | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------- | | FX | 0.0001 in price (0.01 on JPY pairs), so one pip | 13 = 13 pips on EURUSD | | Gold | 0.01 in price, one cent | 1503 = $15.03 on XAUUSD | | Other commodities (silver, oil, natural gas, platinum, palladium, copper, softs) | 0.01 in price | 36.8 = $0.368 on XAGUSD | | Indices (GER40, US30, NAS100, UK100 and similar) | 1.0, one whole index point | 176 = 176 points on GER40 | | US Dollar index (DXY, USDX, "Dollar") | 0.01 in price | 50 = 0.50 points | | Crypto (BTC, ETH, XRP, LTC, SOL, ADA and others) | 1.0 in price, or 0.01 when the price is under 100 | 500 = $500 on BTCUSD | How Hydra Vision decides the class: * **Gold** if the symbol name contains XAU or GOLD. * **Crypto** if it contains BTC, ETH, XRP, LTC or XBT. * **FX** if your broker lists the symbol as a forex instrument. * **US Dollar index** if the name contains DXY, USDX or DOLLAR (unit 0.01, because it trades close to 100). * **Indices** if the name contains a common index name: for example GER, DAX, DE40, US30, DJ, US500, SP500, SPX, NAS, US100, USTEC, UK100, FTSE, NIK, JPN, JP225, HK50, AUS200, EU50, STOXX, FRA40, CAC, ESP35, IT40, CHINA, US2000 or VIX. * **Commodities** if it contains OIL, WTI, BRENT, XBR, XTI, NGAS, XNG, XAG, SILVER, XPT, XPD, COPPER or a soft commodity (coffee, cocoa, sugar, corn, wheat, soybeans, cotton). * **Crypto** if it contains another coin name such as SOL, ADA, DOGE, DOT, LINK, XLM, BNB, AVAX or TRX. * **Anything else is not supported.** Hydra Vision will not start on a symbol it can't name, because it can't tell which unit the step settings are in. Contact support and the symbol can be added. A grid always keeps the unit it opened with, even if Hydra Vision restarts while it is open. The trap is that the report's quote unit and the setting unit are the same size on FX and on indices, and different sizes on metals and other commodities. ### The conversion Take the **tick** figure from the small print, and divide by the number of ticks in one setting unit. ``` Minimum Step Size = step in ticks ÷ ticks per setting unit ``` Ticks per setting unit by symbol type, at typical tick sizes (your broker's own tick size is the one the report uses): | Symbol type | Digits | Tick size | Setting unit | Ticks per setting unit | | ---------------------------- | ------ | --------- | ------------ | ---------------------- | | FX, 5-digit (EURUSD, EURCAD) | 5 | 0.00001 | 0.0001 | 10 | | FX, 3-digit JPY pairs | 3 | 0.001 | 0.01 | 10 | | Gold (XAUUSD) | 2 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 1 | | Silver (XAGUSD) | 3 | 0.001 | 0.01 | 10 | | Cash indices (GER40, US30) | 2 | 0.01 | 1.0 | 100 | | Cash indices, 1-digit quote | 1 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 10 | ### The sample set, worked | Symbol | Large number | Ticks | ÷ ticks per setting unit | `Minimum Step Size` | | ------ | --------------------- | ----------------- | ------------------------ | ------------------- | | EURUSD | 12.97 – 23.77 pips | 129.7 – 237.7 | ÷ 10 | **13.0 – 23.8** | | EURCAD | 18.86 – 24.10 pips | 188.6 – 241.0 | ÷ 10 | **18.9 – 24.1** | | XAUUSD | 15.03 – 35.03 price | 1502.6 – 3502.9 | ÷ 1 | **1503 – 3503** | | XAGUSD | 0.3677 – 0.8571 price | 367.7 – 857.1 | ÷ 10 | **36.8 – 85.7** | | GER40 | 175.8 – 409.8 price | 17577.4 – 40978.0 | ÷ 100 | **176 – 410** | | US30 | 350.2 – 816.4 price | 35018.4 – 81638.0 | ÷ 100 | **350 – 816** | Gold is the clearest illustration of the difference. The report says the range is $15.03 to $35.03, which is correct and readable: that really is fifteen to thirty-five dollars of gold. As `Minimum Step Size` the same range is 1503 to 3503, because the setting counts cents. A value of `15` in the setting would mean fifteen cents: a step a hundred times tighter, opening positions every fifteen cents on an asset that routinely moves twenty dollars in a day. The indices are the opposite case. Hydra Vision counts index steps in whole points, so on GER40 a 175.8-point step is 176 as `Minimum Step Size`. The large number and the setting value agree. ### A sanity check that always works Convert a setting value back to price and ask whether it looks like a sensible distance on that asset. For gold, `Minimum Step Size` of 1503 means 1503 × $0.01 = $15.03 per step. On an asset trading near $1,650 that moves about $24 on an average day, that is roughly one and a half steps inside a typical day's range. Now check `15`. That's 15 × $0.01 = $0.15. On an asset that moves $24 a day, that would be around 160 positions in an average day. Obviously wrong, and obvious in two seconds once you do the check. For GER40, 176 means 176 × 1.0 = 176 index points, the same figure the report shows in large type. {% hint style="success" %} **The check in one line:** multiply the setting by its unit from the table above, and see whether the result looks like a normal move on that chart. If it doesn't, the value is out by a factor of ten or a hundred. {% endhint %} ### Profiles made before v1.23 Asset Profiler v1.23 (schema 1.15) writes the setting unit into the export, so the portal reads it directly. Profiles made with v1.22 or older don't carry it, and the portal handles them like this: * **The value is marked *****(estimated)*****.** The portal works the setting unit out from the symbol name, using the same rules as Hydra Vision. Hydra Vision also looks at the live price for crypto, and an older export carries no price, so for a coin the estimate can be wrong. Re-running the profile with the current Asset Profiler removes the estimate. * **The line asks for a re-run.** Where the name isn't enough, for example an index or a dollar index listed under a name not in the list above, the line reads *re-run this profile with Asset Profiler v1.23 to get the setting value for this symbol* instead of showing a number. * **Currency pairs listed with a small contract.** Older versions recognised a currency pair as FX only when the broker listed it with a 100,000 contract. A pair listed with a smaller one (some brokers list crosses at 1,000) was profiled as non-FX: shown in price instead of pips, and built with the non-FX range multipliers (1.63 – 3.80 × the four-hour ATR instead of 0.30 – 0.55). The whole step range for such a profile is on the wrong basis, not only the unit. v1.23 counts any symbol Hydra Vision treats as forex as FX, and the portal asks for a re-run on these profiles rather than estimating. Such pairs need to be profiled again with v1.23. {% hint style="info" %} **Reading a value you noted earlier?** Before v1.23, the report converted the range with the pip rule on every symbol. That gave the right setting value on FX, gold, silver and oil, but a value a hundred times too large on 2-digit indices such as GER40 and US30 (ten times on a 1-digit quote), and a hundred times too large on Bitcoin. On the sample above, the old report showed 17577 – 40978 for GER40 and 35018 – 81638 for US30. Re-opening the profile in the current portal shows the corrected line. {% endhint %} ### Where the numbers come from in the file If you work directly with the JSON export, the fields are: | Field | What it is | | ------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | `meta.tick_size` | The size of one tick in price terms. | | `meta.ticks_per_setting_unit` | How many ticks make one unit of `Minimum Step Size`. The divisor above. From v1.23. | | `meta.setting_unit_price` | One unit of `Minimum Step Size` as a price distance (0.0001, 0.01 or 1.0). From v1.23. | | `meta.setting_asset_class` | The class Hydra Vision treats the symbol as: forex, gold, commodities, indices or crypto, or unknown for a symbol it does not support (setting values are then 0). From v1.23. | | `meta.ticks_per_pip` | How many ticks make a pip. Used for the pip figures on FX; it is not the setting divisor. | | `meta.ticks_per_unit` | How many ticks make one of the **displayed** quote units. | | `meta.quote_unit` | `pips` or `price`, which unit the report is showing. | | `solution.step_band.low_ticks` / `high_ticks` | The range, in ticks. | | `solution.step_band.low_setting` / `high_setting` | The range already converted into `Minimum Step Size`. From v1.23. | On FX, `ticks_per_unit` and `ticks_per_setting_unit` are both 10, which is why the two numbers coincide. On gold, `ticks_per_unit` is 100 while `ticks_per_setting_unit` is 1, hence the factor of a hundred. On a 2-digit index both are 100, so the large number and the setting value agree. ### What to do with this * The **as Minimum Step Size** line is already in the setting's unit; the large number is in the quote unit. * The tick figure converts on any symbol: divide it by the ticks per setting unit. * Multiplying a setting value by its unit gives the price distance, which shows up any factor-of-ten or factor-of-a-hundred error in seconds. * A value marked *(estimated)*, or a request to re-run, means the profile was made before v1.23.