Conversion of decimal to tick format and vice versa

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Introduction

Tick format is pretty common format used by traders in fixed income trading. Decimals can be very mind-numbing to look at; tick format is very convenient to track small changes in price/yield of the bond. Here is a brief example: Tick Value: 99-105 Equivalent Decimal Value: 99.332. Anatomy of Tick Value: 99=pre decimal value. 10=Tick value and is 1/32nd of decimal. 5=1/8th of of 32nd. We can convert to decimal as follows: Decimal Value (99.332) = 99 + ((10 + (5/8)) / 32)

Background

I tried googling algorithm for doing it but could not find anything useful and decided to write one of my own. I have written this in VB script. This could be easily converted to C#/VB.Net or any other programming language.

Using the code

“+” and “-“ buttons in attached excel file typically increments / decrements the number in cell ‘b5’ by 1/8th of a tick. For example: Number in cell b5: 99-106. Clicking “+” button: 99-107. Clicking “-” button: 99-105. Cell “b10” presents the decimal equivalent of the tick value presented in cell “b5”. Special Notation: If the number in 1/8th of a tick in ‘4’ then it is represented as “+”. That is, 99-104 will be presented as 99-10+