Glossary · Execution and risk
Days to cover costs
Days to cover costs is how many days of funding at current rates it takes to pay once for entering and leaving a position: the round-trip costs divided by one day's funding. A pair with a 20% annual spread earns about 5.5 basis points a day, so 20 basis points of costs take about 3.7 days.
Carry positions are usually held for days or weeks, so this is often the more useful figure than a one-day net edge. The fewer days it takes, the more room the trade has for rates to fall.
Try it with live rates in the funding calculator