Holding XAUUSD overnight costs (or occasionally pays) a swap, charged at the daily rollover, usually around 5 p.m. New York time. Many brokers charge a triple swap on Wednesday for gold to cover the weekend. Spreads also widen around rollover, and over the weekend price can gap past your stop. Day traders usually close before rollover; swing traders can hold, but should include swap in the plan and size smaller.
What is a swap on gold?
When you trade XAUUSD with a CFD or spot broker, you are not buying physical gold. Holding the position past the daily rollover means the broker finances it overnight, and that financing appears as a swap (also called rollover or overnight fee).
- The swap is applied once per trading day at rollover, often shown as 00:00 server time on MT4/MT5.
- It can be negative (you pay) or positive (you receive), and it is often different for buys and sells.
- With US interest rates high, long gold positions usually have a negative swap, because you are effectively borrowing dollars to hold gold, which pays no interest.
Why Wednesday costs three times as much
Spot trades settle two days later. A position held through Wednesday night is treated as rolling over the weekend, so many brokers charge three days of swap on Wednesday for currencies, gold and silver, and charge nothing extra on Saturday and Sunday (Tickmill). Some brokers charge the triple swap on a different day, so check the “3-day swap” field in your symbol specification.
How to work out your swap cost
- In MT4/MT5, right-click XAUUSD in Market Watch → Specification.
- Find Swap long, Swap short, the swap type (points, money or percentage) and the 3-day swap day.
- If the swap is in points: on a 100-ounce contract, 1 point (0.01) is worth $1 per lot, so swap per night ≈ swap points × $1 × lots.
Example (illustrative values): your broker lists a swap long of −40 points. Holding 0.10 lots costs about $4 per night and about $12 on the Wednesday triple-swap night, or roughly $28 for a full week. On a small account, that adds up quickly.
| Position | Normal night | Wednesday (×3) | Full week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.01 lots | $0.40 | $1.20 | $2.80 |
| 0.10 lots | $4 | $12 | $28 |
| 1.00 lot | $40 | $120 | $280 |
Based on an example swap of −40 points. Your broker’s real value will differ and changes with interest rates.
The rollover spread spike
Around rollover, liquidity is thin and many brokers’ gold spreads widen sharply for a few minutes. That matters because:
- Sell positions close at the ask price. A spread spike can trigger a tight stop on a sell even if the chart (which shows the bid) never reaches it.
- Entries placed at rollover start the trade with a much bigger cost than normal.
Avoid opening trades or placing very tight stops in the minutes around rollover.
Weekend gap risk
Gold stops trading on Friday evening and reopens on Sunday evening (exact hours depend on your broker). If major news breaks over the weekend, Monday’s opening price can be far from Friday’s close.
- A stop loss is not a guarantee: if price gaps past it, it fills at the first available price, which can be much worse.
- Some brokers raise margin requirements before weekends or holidays. Check your margin before Friday’s close.
Should you hold or close?
| Your style | Usual approach |
|---|---|
| Scalping | Close before rollover. Swap and spread spikes eat small targets. |
| Day trading | Close by the end of the New York session, especially on Wednesday and Friday. |
| Swing trading | Holding is part of the plan: include swap in your expected result, use wider stops and smaller size. |
| Any style, big weekend risk | Reduce size or take partial profit before Friday’s close. |
Overnight checklist
- Check swap long/short and the triple-swap day in the specification.
- Estimate the total swap for your planned holding time, and include it in your profit/loss calculation.
- Move stops away from levels a rollover spread spike could hit.
- Before the weekend, ask: would I be comfortable if Monday opened $30–$50 away?
- Size swing trades from a wider stop using the lot size calculator.
FAQ
Why is my gold swap negative on both buys and sells?
Brokers add a markup to the interest-rate difference, so sometimes both sides are negative. It varies between brokers and account types.
What time is rollover for XAUUSD?
Usually around 5 p.m. New York time, which many MT4/MT5 servers show as 00:00. Check your broker’s trading hours.
Do swap-free (Islamic) accounts avoid the cost?
They do not charge a swap, but many apply an administration fee after a set number of days instead. Read the account terms.
Is holding gold over the weekend a bad idea?
Not always. Swing traders do it regularly. Just size the position so that a weekend gap would not seriously damage your account.
