diff --git a/MANUAL.md b/MANUAL.md
index b0c8768f8..69d302db6 100644
--- a/MANUAL.md
+++ b/MANUAL.md
@@ -961,7 +961,7 @@ A query term can be any of the following:
 - `status:1` or `status:0` - match cleared/uncleared transactions
 - `real:1` or `real:0` - match real/virtual-ness
 - `empty:1` or `empty:0` - match if amount is/is not zero
-- `amt:<N`, `amt:=N`, `amt:>N` - match postings with a single-commodity amount less than, greater than or equal to N. (Multi-commodity amounts are always matched.)
+- `amt:N` or `amt:=N`, `amt:<N`, `amt:>N` - match postings with a single-commodity amount equal to, less than, or greater than N. (Multi-commodity amounts are always matched.)
 - `not:` before any of the above negates the match
 
 <!--
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 25d1b7f1e..bb23c0ab7 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ title: hledger news
 
 ## unreleased
 
+- parsing: amt queries use the = operator by default, eg amt:50 finds amounts equal to 50
 - don't break when there are non-ascii characters in CSV files
 - csv: add the `include` directive, useful for factoring out common rules used with multiple CSV files
 - balancesheet: don't bother showing equity, it won't be useful for most of us
diff --git a/hledger-lib/Hledger/Query.hs b/hledger-lib/Hledger/Query.hs
index d203d9b45..b0f09f01b 100644
--- a/hledger-lib/Hledger/Query.hs
+++ b/hledger-lib/Hledger/Query.hs
@@ -251,14 +251,16 @@ parseAmountTest s =
     '<':s' -> (LT, readDef err s')
     '=':s' -> (EQ, readDef err s')
     '>':s' -> (GT, readDef err s')
-    _      -> err
-  where err = error' $ "could not parse as operator followed by numeric quantity: "++s
+    s'     -> (EQ, readDef err s')
+  where
+    err = error' $ "could not parse as '=', '<', or '>' (optional) followed by a numeric quantity: " ++ s
 
 tests_parseAmountTest = [
   "parseAmountTest" ~: do
     let s `gives` r = parseAmountTest s `is` r
     "<0" `gives` (LT,0)
     "=0.23" `gives` (EQ,0.23)
+    "0.23" `gives` (EQ,0.23)
     ">10000.10" `gives` (GT,10000.1)
   ]