Rollover

Spot forex trades normally settle two business days after the trade. Retail traders do not want delivery of currency, so any position still open at the end of the trading day is "rolled over" to the next settlement date. In the retail CFD world, rollover is when the broker applies the overnight financing charge or credit, the swap.

The forex trading day is conventionally considered to end at 17:00 New York time, which is 22:00 UK time for most of the year. Brokers' server clocks are often set so that this moment shows as midnight on the platform.

Triple swap

Because spot settles two business days ahead, a position held over Wednesday's rollover has its settlement date pushed over the weekend. Most brokers therefore charge or pay three days of swap on Wednesday night for forex. Some instruments, such as certain index or commodity CFDs, apply the triple charge on Friday instead; check the broker's contract specifications.

Example

Illustrative figures: you hold 1 standard lot of a pair with a swap of minus 6 dollars per night. Holding Monday to Friday through four rollovers (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday nights) costs 6 + 6 + 18 + 6 = 36 dollars, not 24.

Practical notes

• Spreads often widen sharply for a few minutes around rollover as bank liquidity thins. Stops placed close to the market can be triggered at that time.
• Positions opened and closed within the same day, before rollover, pay no swap.
• Rollover is also used loosely to mean the swap itself.

See swap and overnight financing and why spreads widen. The market hours tool shows the daily rollover in your own time zone.