Forex Critical: The Japanese Yen On Edge

I wrote little about the Japanese yen (FXY) over the past year or more. It’s time to pay closer attention. As every forex trader knows by now, on Tuesday, January 9th the Bank of Japan (BoJ) slowed down its purchase of bonds with more than 10 years maturity. The yields of these bonds ticked up … Read more

Forex Critical: Speculators Ride the Wave Against the Japanese Yen

The Japanese yen (FXY) is the one major currency that has been notably weaker than the U.S. dollar for most of the past month. USD/JPY peaked in December, 2016, but it looks like the sell-off bottomed out in April. Source: FreeStockCharts.com This yen weakness has been particularly evident against strong currencies, like the euro (FXE), … Read more

The Japanese Yen Flashes Red for 2016

Trading is off to a rough start in the new year. China kicked off the fireworks for 2016 with a trading halt. From Bloomberg: “The worst-ever start to a year for Chinese shares triggered a trading halt in more than $7 trillion of equities, futures and options, putting the nation’s new market circuit breakers to … Read more

How to Trade the Euro After the “Draghi Drubbing”

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on December 7, 2015. Click here to read the entire piece.) Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), apparently decided not to follow the now well-established playbook for steering markets nearly perfected by the Federal Reserve: Guide the market to … Read more

The Correct Narrative On U.S. Wage Growth for the Second Quarter: The Dollar Recovers

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on August 2, 2015. Click here to read the entire piece.) It seems odd to fear that wage growth is slumping in the U.S. with increasing momentum supporting minimum wage hikes across the country and through many industries. Yet, wage data on … Read more

Forex Chart Review: The Power of 50 – Carving Out A Large Swath Of Key Pivots?

Tonight, January 14, 2014, I was casually doing my periodic check of forex charts and was absolutely startled to see so many currency pairs pivoting around the 50-day moving average (DMA). I was so captured by this pattern, I decided to post every single chart for the record. I realize that the tests and touches … Read more

T2108 Update (February 25, 2013) – Bearish Signals Converge Into A Flashpoint (includes a forex update)

(T2108 measures the percentage of stocks trading above their respective 40-day moving averages [DMAs]. It helps to identify extremes in market sentiment that are highly likely to reverse. To learn more about it, see my T2108 Resource Page. You can follow real-time T2108 commentary on twitter using the #T2108 hashtag. T2108-related trades and other trades … Read more

T2108 Update (February 20, 2012) – A Change In the Wind

(T2108 measures the percentage of stocks trading above their respective 40-day moving averages [DMAs]. It helps to identify extremes in market sentiment that are highly likely to reverse. To learn more about it, see my T2108 Resource Page. You can follow real-time T2108 commentary on twitter using the #T2108 hashtag. T2108-related trades and other trades … Read more

Japanese Yen Strengthens “On Schedule”

Today, market traders are noting that the yield on 10-year Japanese government bonds, also known as JGBs, dropped to 9-year lows at 0.72%. This weakness in yields stands in stark contrast to the Japanese yen’s (FXY) spate of weakness over the past two months and especially over the past two weeks. A week ago, I … Read more

This Time SHOULD Be Different – Fade the Japanese Yen

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on November, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) Japanese yen (FXY) traders have been here before. Earlier this year, the U.S. dollar (UUP) ripped from historic lows against the yen around 76 to a peak just above 84 in just … Read more