Swap on gold is the overnight interest adjustment your broker charges or pays on an XAU/USD position that is still open at the daily rollover, 22:00 UK time for most of the year, which is 17:00 in New York. It is set per lot and per night, with one rate for buys and another for sells, and on gold both can be negative. Close the trade before its first rollover and it pays no swap at all.
When swap is charged
Swap, also called rollover or overnight financing, is applied once a day at the rollover: 22:00 UK and 23:00 in Paris and Berlin for most of the year, because it is fixed at 17:00 New York time. In the weeks when the UK and the US change their clocks on different dates, in March and around the end of October, it comes an hour earlier in both, at 21:00 UK and 22:00 in Paris and Berlin. Further east it is 02:00 in Dubai, 03:30 in Mumbai and 06:00 in Singapore while New York is on winter time, and an hour earlier while New York is on summer time.
A trade opened and closed on the same day, before the rollover, pays no swap. A trade still open at the rollover takes one night's swap, and another at every rollover until it is closed.
Swap long and swap short
Your broker sets two swap rates for each symbol: swap long, applied to buys, and swap short, applied to sells. They differ, and on gold both can be negative, so holding either direction overnight can cost money. Brokers change these rates from time to time, so the only figures that apply to your account are the ones on your own platform.
Where to see your swap in MT5
- In Market Watch, right-click the gold symbol and choose Specification.
- Read "Swap long" and "Swap short", and the swap type, which says whether they are in points, money or interest.
- Find "3-days swap": it names the weekday on which the broker charges three nights at once.
- Once a trade is open, the Toolbox, Trade tab has a Swap column showing what has been charged so far.
The Swap column is the most direct check, because it shows your broker's real charge on your own lot size. The Specification gives you the rate; the column shows what it came to.
Turning swap points into money
When the swap type is points, cost per night = swap points × the value of one point. On gold one point is $0.01 of price, and on a 100-ounce lot that is worth 100 × $0.01 = $1. So a swap of minus 30 points, an example figure only, costs $30 per lot per night, $3 at 0.10 lots and $0.30 at 0.01 lots. Across a week, at the same example rate:
| Lot size | One night | Triple-swap night | A full week, seven nights |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.00 | $30 | $90 | $210 |
| 0.10 | $3 | $9 | $21 |
| 0.01 | $0.30 | $0.90 | $2.10 |
The last column holds whichever weekday your broker uses for the triple: a position held for seven days, Monday to Monday for example, crosses four ordinary rollovers and one triple, seven nights in all. In pips, a point on gold is a tenth of the $0.10 pip, so minus 30 points a night is the same money as giving back 3 pips a night, at any lot size. The gold pip value guide explains points and pips on gold.
If the swap type is money or interest, the arithmetic is different, and the Swap column on an open trade is the quickest way to see what it comes to on your size. Either way, the figures in the table are an example, not a rate to expect.
Triple swap: three nights in one
Once a week the broker charges three nights at once, to cover the weekend. For spot forex that is usually Wednesday night, because of the settlement convention: a spot trade settles two business days after it is made (T+2), so a position rolled on Wednesday night moves its settlement from Friday to Monday, across the weekend. For gold and other CFDs the broker sets the day, and "3-days swap" in the Specification names it.
At the example rate, the triple night costs $9 at 0.10 lots instead of $3. A gold trade opened on the afternoon of the triple-swap day and closed the next morning pays three nights for one evening.
What swap means for signal followers
An intraday signal closed before the rollover, 22:00 UK most of the year, pays no swap, whatever its result. A runner left open overnight for TP3 does, and so does a trade held through the triple-swap night or over a weekend. This is one reason an account's result differs from a record that measures pips: the record counts the move, and the swap lands on your balance separately.
As an example at minus 30 points a night, 0.10 lots of gold held for three ordinary nights pays 3 × $3 = $9, the money of 9 pips at that size. A +180 pip result at 0.10 lots is $180, so after those three nights it is $171, before spread and any commission. The profit guide shows where swap sits next to the other costs, and the best time to trade gold covers the rollover hour itself.
Swap-free accounts
Many brokers offer swap-free accounts, also called Islamic accounts, which do not charge the nightly swap. Each has its own terms, often a fixed fee once a position has been open for a number of days, so read them before treating overnight holds as free. The figures differ from broker to broker, and the account terms are the place to find yours.
The short version
- Swap is charged or paid on positions open at the rollover: 22:00 UK most of the year, 17:00 New York.
- A trade closed before its first rollover pays no swap.
- Swap long applies to buys and swap short to sells; on gold both can be negative.
- Your broker's rates are in MT5 under Market Watch, right-click gold, Specification, along with the "3-days swap" weekday.
- In points, gold swap is $1 per point per lot on a 100-ounce contract, and 10 points is one $0.10 pip.
- On an open trade, the Swap column shows what you have actually paid.
Swap and the Forexero record
Our results page measures each signal in pips from the entry to the level reached, so swap is not part of it, as it is not part of any record kept in pips. If you hold a gold runner past the rollover, the swap belongs to your account rather than to the signal's score, and the Swap column is where to see it.
Every closed signal is on the record
The results page lists each closed VIP signal with its entry, stop, targets and outcome, stops included.
Ready to join? Compare the VIP plans: £89 a month, or £540 paid once a year.