What Is Swap Risk on Long-Held Trades

A night, a Wednesday, a month

Swap is a charge or a credit added to an open position at every night's rollover. Take a buy of the euro against the dollar with a swap of minus 0.8 pip a night, an example figure from a symbol's specification: 8 dollars at one lot, 3.20 at 0.40. On Wednesday night it is charged three times, to cover the weekend. Over the thirty days of December 2025 that is 22 weeknights, four of them Wednesdays, thirty charges: 240 dollars at one lot, 96 at 0.40, or 24 pips that the price has to move in the trade's favour just to pay for the month. Brokers' figures differ. The arithmetic of nights does not.

A tap left dripping

Picture a tap left dripping. One drip is nothing, and nobody gets up in the night for it; a month of nights fills the basin. The swap is that tap. It runs only at night, at the rollover, and each drip is small, 8 dollars at one lot in the example figures, less than a pip. The bill is not the size of the drip but the number of nights, and Wednesday's triple charge is the tap left running over the weekend. A trade held for a day never hears it. A trade held for a month has a full basin, and the basin is paid whether the trade wins or loses, on top of the spread it paid at the door.

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