Swap in MetaTrader 5: The Overnight Charge on Positions an EA Holds

Swap is the amount charged or credited to a position when it is carried into the next trading day. For an EA that closes within the day it plays no part. For one that holds positions for days or weeks it is a running cost or credit that the entry and exit prices do not show.

The MetaQuotes documentation was checked on 1 October 2026. AI assisted with research and drafting. RoboXpert develops its own trading software, so we have a commercial interest in this subject; see our editorial standards and commercial disclosure.

What swap is in MetaTrader 5

The MetaTrader help uses the word for the moment “when a position is moved to the next trading day”. Your broker sets the amounts per symbol. The value for buy positions and the value for sell positions are separate figures, and each can be a charge or a credit.

Where to read a symbol’s swap

Right-click the symbol in Market Watch and open Specification. According to the help, the window lists:

On an open position, the Trade tab has a Swap column, which the help describes as the “amount of swaps charged”.

Read the swap type before the number

The same figure means different things under different types. The symbol properties list, among others, swaps “charged in points”, swaps charged in money in a named currency, and swaps charged “as the specified annual interest”. A swap long of −7 in points mode and −7 in money mode are different costs.

Triple swap: the weekday multiplier

For a symbol that does not trade at the weekend, the charge for those days is booked on one weekday, which then counts three times. MQL5 exposes that day as the property “the day of week to charge 3-day swap rollover”. Which weekday it is depends on the symbol. Read it in the specification instead of assuming one.

A script can print all of it for the chart’s symbol:

Print("Swap mode: ", EnumToString((ENUM_SYMBOL_SWAP_MODE)SymbolInfoInteger(_Symbol, SYMBOL_SWAP_MODE)));
Print("Swap long: ", SymbolInfoDouble(_Symbol, SYMBOL_SWAP_LONG), ", swap short: ", SymbolInfoDouble(_Symbol, SYMBOL_SWAP_SHORT));
Print("Triple swap day: ", EnumToString((ENUM_DAY_OF_WEEK)SymbolInfoInteger(_Symbol, SYMBOL_SWAP_ROLLOVER3DAYS)));

These lines come from our read-only script, which compiled with zero errors and zero warnings on 1 October 2026. We did not run it on an account, so we show no output.

A hypothetical example: twelve nights of swap

Assume a position is charged $0.70 per night and is held for twelve nights, one of which carries the triple multiplier. That is eleven single charges and one triple charge: 11 × 0.70 + 3 × 0.70 = $9.80. The numbers are invented for the arithmetic and are not a broker’s rates.

If the trade’s price gain was $12, the result after swap is $2.20. An EA that holds many such positions at once pays this on each of them.

Why swap matters when you read EA results

• Tester settings. If the Strategy Tester calculates profit in pips, the testing help states that “swap and commission calculations are eliminated in this mode.” A report made that way leaves the charge out.
• Different brokers. Swap values are broker settings. A backtest on one broker’s symbol does not carry over to another broker’s account.
• Long holding times. Grid and recovery systems keep losing positions open while they wait for a return. The longer the wait, the larger the accumulated swap. See grid trading vs martingale.