Interest Rates!

What’s the deal with interest? I lost money on a 10 pip profit. Below is my online chat with an Oanda rep and as you can see I still don’t get it

Please wait for an agent to respond.
You are now chatting with 'OANDA’
OANDA: Thank you for choosing OANDA. How may I help you?
Chris: Hi, I’m new at this using a game account
Chris: and a quick question…
Chris: just now I went Long on EUR/USD at 1.36292
Chris: then closed out at 1.36401
Chris: so about 10 pips - the spread
Chris: but the interest paid was negative and my nalance went down. What am I missing?
OANDA: Interest is charged or earned on open trades.
OANDA: OANDA FXTrade - FXMath
Chris: DO you have a minute to explain how that works?
Chris: oh ok
OANDA: Try this calculator. Some pairs you make interest and some you will get charged.
Chris: so how does that work? This is only my 3rd week on this stuff so please forgive my newbie questions
Chris: I mean…how does interest get paid or earned on forex?

This is the reason I find oanda confusing. If you want to trade on the micro level try strategybuilderfx.com much easier. As far as your question intrest is paid or charged at 5:00pm est everyday. The way you make your trade is what determines if you are paid or get charged. Right now USD is paying a higher intrest rate then EUR so if you buy EUR/USD you will be charged intrest (they take your money) but if you were to sell EUR/USD then you would be paid intrest. The largest intrest payment is right now is on the JPY/USD buy. If you sell the pair you will be charged alot. However I have never seen a intrest payment or charge that is larger than a 10 pip gain. Usually the intrest is less than a pip.