What Is an Overnight Position?
Overnight positions are open trades that have not been closed or liqu🔯idated by the end of the normal trading day.
Overnight positions are not held by day traders but are quite common in 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:foreign exchange and futures markets. Lo🍰ng-term investors naturally hold overnight positions on an ongoing basis.
Key Takeaways
- Overnight positions are those that have not been closed out by the end of a trading day.
- Overnight positions can expose an investor to the risk that new events may occur while the markets are closed.
- Day traders typically try to avoid holding overnight positions.
- In the FX SPOT markets, overnight positions are subject to rollover interest charges that are debited from or credited to the client's account.
Understanding Overnight Positions
Simply put, overnigh🐭t positions are trading positions that are not closed by the end of the trading day. These trades are held overnight for trading the following day. Overnight positions expose the traders to risk from adverse movements that occur after normal trading closes.
This risk can be mitigated to varying degrees, depending on the markets traded. For example, in the currency market, or 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:spot market, any 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:contingent orders, such as 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:stop-loss and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:limit orders, can be attached to the open position.
In the currency markets, overnight positions represent all open long and short positions that a forex trader possesses as of 5:00 p.m. EST, which is the end of the forex trading day.
Overnight trading refers to trades that are placed after an ex🦄change’s close and bef꧑ore its open. Overnight trading hours can vary based on the type of exchange in which an investor seeks to transact.
Tip
Alternative markets may include foreign exchange trading and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:cryptocurrencies. Each market has standards for overnight trading that must be considered by in꧑vestors when placing trades during off-market hours.
Special Considerations
There are benefits and drawbacks to holding an overnight position. In the forex market, 5 p.m. EST is considered the end of the tr💎ading day, although, with the advent of technology and the global nature of this arena, this market is open 24 hours a day, five days a week.
Because a new trading day begins after 5 p.m., positions opened as late as 4:59 p.m. EST and closed as early as 5:01 p.m. EST are still considered to be overnight positions. The overlap of trading hours between exchanges in North America, Australia, Asia, and European markets makes it possible for a trader to execute a foreign exchange trade through a broker-dealer at any time.
The 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:rollover interest rate on overnight positions affects the trading account as either a credit or a debit. 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:In forex, a rollover means that a position extends at the end of the trading day without settling. Most forex trades roll over daily until they close out or settle. The rollovers are conducted using either 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:spot-next or tom-next transactions.
If a trader entered into a position on Monday at 4:59 p.m. EST and closes it on the same Monday at 5:03 p.m. EST, this will still be considered an overnight position, sinc🦂e the position was held past 5:00 p.m. EST, and is subject to rollover interest.
Maintaining an Overnight Position
Forex traders will generally take the risk, cost of capital, leverage changes, and strategy into account when deciding to maintain an overꦯnight position. The goal of keeping an overnight position is to try to increase profit on the trade by holding it overnight or by minimizing the loss of a losing daytime trade.
Some stock investors believe that maintaining an overnight position is a beneficial strategy, while others think purchasing or selling stocks shortly before closing time is a more profitable move. Those who believe in keeping an overnight position often hold their positions overnight, then sell, or trade, them as 🐼close to the opening bell as possible in the morning.
By trading early, ღstocks and traders are fresh, and any potential negative aspects of the previous day’s market have cleared the account.
Fast Fact
A 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:day trader often closes all trades before the end of the trading day, so as not to hold 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:open positions overnight.
It is rare that an overnight pos💃ition can transform a daytime loss into a profit and, additionally, there is a risk with keeping an open position overnight. Primarily, the𓃲 market can shift dramatically overnight, with the arrival of catastrophic news or other events that can affect the markets.
This risk is wh🐽y many investors have a strict daytime trading-only policy. Borrowing costs may occur as an overnight position requires broker leverage to maintain th𒈔e position.
Most companies report their financial results when markets are closed,♚ to enable all investors to receive the information at the same time. Significant announcements may be made after market hours, rather than in the middle of the trading day and can affect overnight po🌳sitions.