Cost of Carry
What holding costs you daily: swaps, financing and storage between entry and exit.
Cost of carry is the daily price of holding a position: swaps, financing and decay. It decides whether time is your ally or your landlord.
Cost of carry is everything a position charges you to keep open: forex swap, CFD financing, futures roll gaps, options decay. Positive carry pays you to wait; negative carry bills you daily. Long holding periods turn small daily costs into the dominant line of the trade.
How It Works
- Accrues daily through swap and financing lines
- Compounds silently over weeks and months
- Varies by direction, pair and broker
Trading Tips
Price carry before entering any multi-week hold
Prefer positive-carry direction when thesis allows
Close stagnant negative-carry trades first
Cost of Carry Example
Say your long AUD/JPY earns $5 daily in positive carry while drifting sideways for two months. That $300 subsidizes the patience. The same trade reversed would have billed $300 for the identical chart.
How Traders Use Cost of Carry
Add carry to every holding decision like a second spread. Favorable carry buys time for slow theses. Hostile carry sets a shot clock: be right quickly or be gone.
Related Terms
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