Overnight swap — the silent P&L leak on carry trades and long-hold EAs. Plug in your broker's swap rate and lot size; get nightly, weekly, and monthly cost.
Find swap rates in MT5: right-click symbol → Specification → "Swap Long / Swap Short".
Swap (aka rollover or overnight interest) is the cost or credit applied to positions held past the broker's daily rollover time — usually 5 PM New York. It reflects the interest-rate differential between the pair's two currencies, plus the broker's markup.
Brokers charge three days of swap on positions held through Wednesday's rollover — to cover settlement over the weekend. Plan around it. Many EAs close before Wednesday rollover on pairs with negative swap.
Swap-free accounts eliminate the interest charge but usually replace it with a flat administrative fee after N days. For most EAs, swap-free is only a win if you're holding multi-day trades on a pair with a large negative swap.
In MT5: Market Watch → right-click the symbol → Specification. Scroll to 'Swap Long' and 'Swap Short'. Values are in points per lot per night.
Yes — when the pair's long side earns the interest differential. E.g., going long USD/ZAR historically paid positive swap. Negative for the short side.