Keep it simple. How Bond/FX/PE guys/gals make money is they borrow cheap and invest it a higher yielding instrument/vehicle.
For the Carry Trade, especially in Currency Carry Trades, recognize that one interest rate is yielding higher than the other, so to profit from that, borrow in the lower yielding currency, convert to the higher yielding currency at the spot rate, invest it for a period, convert back, pay back what you borrowed plus interest, keep spread.
ex) Say the BRL/USD spot rate is 2.41 and BRL’s interest rate is 6% and the USD’s interest rate is 1%. Per the Covered Interest Rate Parity, the difference in the spot and forward rates, should be the difference between the two interest rates of the two currencies. Knowing this, the implied one-year forward rate is 2.41 x (1.06 / 1.01) = BRL/USD 2.529.
Because you know that the 6% yielding BRL will converge closer to the 1% USD, you want to borrow in USD and invest in the BRL
now. The reason for this is because the yield is high, it implies the price is low. This means that BRL is trading at a ‘forward discount’ because the price will eventually rise over time as the yield comes down. So what do we do to take advantage of this?
- BORROW lower yielding FX. Say, Borrow $100 USD @ 1% (meaning you have to pay back $101 at the end).
- CONVERT into higher yielding FX at current spot price. $100 x BRL/USD 2.41 = BRL/USD 241
- INVEST converted FX @ current, higher yield for the period. BRL/USD 241 x 1.06 = BRL/USD 255.46
- CONVERT back to funding FX at current, unchanged spot rate. 255.46 x 1 / 2.41 = $106
- Pay back borrowed amount + interest. $106 - $101 loan (principal + interest) = $5 profit.