What data type, scheme, and how many bits should be used to store a FOREX price?

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A typical FOREX price would be carried out to the 4th decimal place; for example, the current price of the GBP against the USD today is 1.2515. I have seen this price carried out to more decimal places.

This is really a two-part question.


First

There are two schemes that I am considering:

a) A floating-point type; double jumps to mind. I'm a bit concerned about rounding error here.
b) An integer type, storing the decimal and integer pieces separately.

Any other realistic options?

Of those ( above ), which one is correct?


Second

In either scheme, I would precisely specify the number of bits used via the <cstdint> library.

How many bits makes sense?

I'm looking to balance accuracy, memory/storage cost, and (of course) performance.

Thx, Keith :^)

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