What is rollover?
Rollover is the interest paid or earned for holding a position overnight. Each currency has an interest rate associated with it, and because forex is traded in pairs, every trade involves not only 2 different currencies, but their two different interest rates. If the interest rate on the currency you bought is higher than the interest rate of the currency you sold, then you will earn rollover (positive roll). If the interest rate on the currency you bought is lower than the interest rate on the currency you sold, then you will pay rollover (negative roll). Rollover can add a significant extra cost or profit to your trade.
The FXCM Micro Trading Station automatically calculates and reports all rollover for you.
Rollover Video Tutorial
Rollover examples?
When you buy the EUR/USD pair, you are buying the euro, and selling the US dollar to pay for it. If the euro interest rate is 4.00%, and the US rate is 2.00%, you are buying the currency with the higher interest rate, and you will earn rollover -- about 2.00% on an annual basis. If you sell the EUR/USD pair, you are selling the currency with the lower interest rate, and you will pay rollover—about 2.00% on an annual basis, since you are paying the euro interest rate and earning the US interest rate.
Rollover Video Tutorial
One of the most popular forex strategies in the twenty first century has been the Carry Trade. The "Carry Trade" takes advantage of both the differences in interest rates between countries and the high available leverage of the forex market.*
Learn How the Carry Trade Works
When is rollover booked?
5 pm in New York is considered the beginning and end of the forex trading day. Any positions that are open at 5 pm sharp are considered to be held overnight, and are subject to rollover. A position opened at 5:01 pm is not subject to rollover until the next day, while a position opened at 4:59 pm is subject to rollover at 5 pm.
A credit or debit for each position open at 5 pm appears on your account within an hour, and is applied directly to your accounts balance.
Weekends and Holidays:
Most banks across the globe are closed on Saturdays and Sundays, so there is no rollover on these days, but most banks still apply interest for those two days. To account for that, the forex market books 3 days of rollover on Wednesdays, which makes a typical Wednesday rollover three times the amount on Tuesday. There is no rollover on holidays, but an extra days worth of rollover 2 business days before the holiday. Typically, holiday rollover happens if any of the currencies traded has a major holiday. Therefore, Independence Day in the USA, July 4, closes American banks, and an extra day of rollover is added at 5 pm on July 1 for all US dollar pairs.
Where is rollover shown?
FXCM closely tracks and clearly displays rollover rates. Please be advised, interest rates are provided to FXCM by multiple global banks. Every effort is made to display rollover rates one day before they are posted to your account. However, during times of extreme market volatility, rates may change intraday.
Here is an example of the rollover rates in October 2007. You can see today's rollover rates by Opening a Demo Account.
To view today's rates, use the Simple Dealing Rates view. Click on the Simple Dealing Rates tab at the top of the Dealing Rates window. The rollover rates for all the currency pairs are in the Roll S and Roll B columns. Roll S will show you how much rollover you will pay or earn if you sell 1 lot of the currency pair (and have the position open at 5pm). If the number shown is negative, you pay that amount. If the number is positive, you earn that amount. The amount shown is denominated in the currency used by the account, which means that if the trading account is in US dollars, the rollover amount is shown in US dollars.
Do rollover rates and policies vary from broker to broker?
Yes. In addition to our policy of maintaining transparency in reporting rollover, FXCM is one of the world’s largest Forex Dealer Members, with over 150,000 live accounts trading through FXCM's trading platforms. Because it generates over $365 billion per month in notional trading volume to the banks it deals with, FXCM Micro is able to pass to its clients outstanding rollover rates on both sides of every currency pair.
*The above educational video(s) are for FXCM Micro, FXCM Standard accounts. However, execution-specific references apply to FXCM Standard accounts only. Execution details differ for FXCM Micro as it acts as counterparty to all transactions.
*Leverage is a double-edged sword, and can dramatically amplify your profits. It can also just as dramatically amplify your losses. Trading foreign exchange with a high or even moderate level of leverage may not be suitable for all investors.
