Check the swap list before holding anything

[Shadow Trader]

Quick one.

A scalper who never holds overnight might never look at swaps. Then one position runs a few minutes past 5 PM New York time and the account is charged. On a Wednesday it's charged three times.

Swap rates differ by pair, direction and broker. Some combinations pay a small credit. Others cost a surprising amount, especially exotic pairs and metals. Rates also change, sometimes without much notice.

Where to find them: the symbol specification in the platform, usually under swap long and swap short, plus the broker's published swap table.

A rule that costs nothing: flat by 4:55 PM New York, every day, unless there's a deliberate reason to hold.

For anyone curious, a scan of the swap column across a whole watchlist takes two minutes and often turns up a pair or two that quietly cost far more than expected to hold. Exotic crosses and metals are the usual offenders.

A related surprise: swap rates sometimes change around central bank decisions, because the interest rate differential they're built on has moved.

How are positions near rollover handled, and has an accidental overnight swap ever turned up as a nasty surprise?