Rollover: the overnight cost most retail traders forget.
Holding a forex position past the daily 22:00 GMT cut-off triggers a swap charge or credit based on the interest-rate differential between the two currencies. Over weeks and months, the cumulative effect on P&L is substantial.
What rollover is
Spot FX trades settle T+2. A position held past the daily 22:00 GMT cut-off is technically rolled forward by one day — the broker's settlement system extends the settlement date. The interest-rate differential between the two currencies in the pair is applied as a credit or debit, calibrated to the 1-day forward rate.
Mechanism: when you're long the higher-interest-rate currency in a pair, you receive the differential as a daily credit. When you're long the lower-interest-rate currency, you pay the differential as a daily debit. Brokers typically add a markup of 0.5–2 % on the differential, in their favour either way.
Worked example
Long 1 standard lot of AUD/JPY. RBA cash rate 4.10 %, BoJ rate 0.50 %. Differential: AUD over JPY by 3.60 percentage points.
- Daily rollover credit ≈ position notional × differential / 365 = AUD 100,000 × 0.036 / 365 ≈ AUD 9.86/day.
- Per month (~22 trading days): ~AUD 217.
- Per year: ~AUD 3,600 if held continuously.
Same position held short (long JPY, short AUD) would pay roughly the same amount each day. The carry differential dominates the P&L of long-held positions in pairs with large rate differentials.
The carry trade
Retail traders running unintentional carry trades — long positions in carry-positive pairs held for weeks — are exposed to the same dynamic. The position generates daily credit until the day the cross moves 5–10 % against them in 24 hours and wipes out all accumulated carry plus principal.
Wednesday triple-swap
Spot FX settles T+2. A position held over Wednesday's daily cut-off would settle on Friday; rolled to Thursday-settlement, settle Monday; rolled to Friday-settlement, settle Tuesday. To bridge the weekend, brokers charge or credit triple swap on Wednesday (covering Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday). Holding a carry-negative position over a Wednesday is therefore three times as expensive as a normal day.
Reference: typical daily swap rates (May 2026, indicative)
| Pair | Long swap (per std lot) | Short swap (per std lot) | Implied annual carry |
|---|---|---|---|
| AUD/JPY | +$10/day | −$13/day | ~+3.6% long |
| NZD/JPY | +$11/day | −$14/day | ~+4.0% long |
| USD/JPY | +$15/day | −$18/day | ~+5.5% long |
| EUR/USD | −$1.5/day | +$0.5/day | ~−0.5% long |
| GBP/USD | −$1/day | −$1/day | ~−0.4% long |
| EUR/CHF | +$3/day | −$5/day | ~+1.1% long |
| USD/MXN | +$30/day | −$35/day | ~+11% long (volatile) |
What the calculator does not include
The position-size calculator on this site computes pip value and P&L assuming a same-day round-trip. Rollover/swap is not modelled. For positions held overnight, add the daily swap (positive or negative) to the P&L. For multi-week positions, the swap accumulation is often material relative to the pip P&L — particularly for high-rate-differential pairs.