IMPORTANT: Upcoming change to our fees structure

UPDATE: We recently notified you about our switch from Over the Weekend Fees to the industry standard of Daily Rollover Fees/Credits.  We appreciate the feedback that we’ve received regarding this change. 

Along with last week’s lowering of interest rates by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the increase in the NZD interest rate, we were able to lower our Spreads and adjust the Daily Rollover Fees/Credits – most with significant improvement for you, as follows:

Changes in Spreads:

Adjusted Rollover Fees/Credits:

*Minus sign means a fee; a positive number means a credit

Please note that Rollover fees/credits are determined by interest rates and as such are subject to change.

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Hi Everyone,

We wanted to let you know in advance about a change we are about to make to our fees structure that will become effective starting June 15th, 2014.

Up until now, we have been using the  Carry Over the Weekend fee to cover our rollover charges.  However, we have now decided to switch to the Overnight Rollover fees model consistent with standard industry practices.

What does this change mean?

This change means that starting June 15th, all Carry Over Weekend fees as you know them will be cancelled and instead, we will introduce a new fees model – Overnight Rollover. This new way of calculating fees is in fact not really new at all – Overnight Rollover fees are the industry standard, and are employed by almost all brokers, as it more accurately reflects the supply and demand forces driving the market.

Besides the obvious change of paying a daily fee rather than a weekly one, there’s one more important change you need to be aware of:

With Overnight Rollover fees, the fees are charged according to the direction of a given position (different fees for buy and sell positions, even if they’re on the same instrument) and in some instances, this means that you can get some money back.

As you can see in the sample fees/credits table below, negative numbers which are shown with a minus sign, indicate a fee that is deducted from your account while positive fees indicate an amount that is added to your account.  We advise you to take a look at the rollover fees on our Fees page to get familiarized with all the new prices.

Here is a sample from the above mentioned table (with actual rates) to illustrate the concept:

Some examples

Example 1, EUR/USD:  With our current Carry Over the Weekend fees, it costs $2 per lot (10,000 currency units) to hold a buy or sell EUR/USD position over the weekend.  In our new structure, with a daily “Sell” fee of $0.23, if you were to carry a Sell position for 7 days (a comparable period to our existing Carry Over the Weekend fee), it would cost you $1.61 – less than our current  fee.   Moreover, you will receive $0.01 per lot for holding a “Buy” EUR/USD position overnight.

Example 2, GBP/USD:  With our current Carry Over the Weekend fees, it costs $1 per lot  (10,000 currency units) to hold a buy or sell GBP/USD position over the weekend.   In our new structure, with a daily “Sell” fee of $0.60, if you were to carry a Sell position for seven days (a comparable period to our existing Carry Over the Weekend fee), your cost would increase to $4.20 compared to $1. However, the overnight rollover for a Buy position is plus $0.03, and so you will have $0.21 credited to your account for carrying this position for seven days, as opposed to the $1 it would cost under the old system.

So what are Overnight Rollover fees?

In the financial trading industry, rollover is the interest paid or earned for holding currency overnight. Each currency has an interest rate associated with it, and because currencies are traded in pairs, every trade involves two different interest rates.

If the interest rate on the currency you bought is lower than the interest rate on the currency you sold, then you will pay rollover fees.

If the interest rate on the currency you bought is higher than the interest rate of the currency/commodity you sold, then you will earn rollover fees.

Please note that because we will no longer be charging Carry Over the Weekend fees, all positions that are still open at market close on Friday will remain open over the weekend automatically (you no longer have to check the “Carry over the Weekend” box) and you will only be charged or credited with the standard daily rollover fee/credit for a position that was open on Friday night.

An important thing that you do need to take note of is that, because there is no rollover charged or credited for Saturday and Sunday, the fees for these two days are made up on Wednesdays, i.e. on Wednesday you will be charged or credited the regular fee multiplied by 3. Again, this is standard industry practice.

As always, feel free to leave us your feedback here in the comments, or contact us on the @CustomerService wall.

Questions and Answers:

1.  Will I be charged the new overnight fees on positions that I have opened prior to this change?

Yes.  We will stop charging the Carry Over the Weekend fees that currently exist and will begin charging the daily overnight fees.  Therefore, any position carried over from June 16th, will be charged an overnight fee. 

2.  When will the overnight fees be charged?

The fees will be charged at 17:00 New York time. The fees will be charged for any position open at this time.

3. Are Rollover fees subject to change?

Yes.  As market conditions change, we will evaluate if changes need to be made to the fees that we charge.  The full list of up to date rates can be consulted on our Fees page.

4.  How will I be able to see the overnight fees that will be charged?

You will be able to see the complete list of fees that we charge in the fees section of our website.  Additionally, when you manually open a position, it will show in the confirmation window that opens prior to placing the trade.

5.  Are there overnight fees on commodities, stocks, or indices?

We are charging overnight fees on all instruments which include currencies, commodities, indices and stocks. The overnight fees for all instruments are listed on our fees page.

6.  How will I be able to see how much I received or paid?

You will be able to view the fees and rebates in your account statement

7.  Will you be taking the overnight fee from the position or from the account balance?

For manual traders, we will be taking the overnight fee from the account balance.  For CopyTrade position, we will be taking the fee from the available copy balance.

8.  What if I do not have enough money in my account balance?

The system will charge the fee from the balance as detailed in question #6.  If you do not have available funds, it will create a negative balance.

9.  Will I be able to carry my trade over the weekend with 1:400 leverage?

Yes

10.  Will I be able to carry my trade overnight with 1:400 leverage?

Yes