Carry Trading

The carry trade is a popular online Forex strategy which takes advantage of the different interest rates between two currencies. If one currency has a relatively low interest rate it can be sold against a currency with a high interest rate and the trader may pocket the interest rate differential. Speculators are guaranteed rollover interest deposits in their account at the end of each trading day. This can provide a significant boost to trader’s profit. If, for instance, an investor buys the NZD against the JPY, which have interest rates of 7.25 and .25 respectively, the trader can make a profit of 7% provided the market doesn’t move.

However, even when exploiting interest rate differentials, there are still significant risks to a trader. Obviously, the market can still move against the trader’s position, though the rollover interest adjustments do help mitigate potential losses. Considering that most carryover traders use exceptionally high leverages to exploit interest rate differentials, even a small move against a position can lead to very high losses.