Don’t confuse liquidity gaps with level of turnover. We have had a few days last week where hourly turnover in the EUR was at record levels and these levels are only going to increase. When conditions are fine, massive turnover will continue. What’s of more interest to me is what happens when conditions aren’t fine. […]

I’ve been approaching USD/JPY with a swing trading mentality and a mild bearish bias, and whilst I’m still happy to trade the swings I’m not so sure about the bias anymore. There are a lot of (virtually every!) professional traders and analysts who are convinced that we are headed much higher and I guess I […]

The EUR will be whippy and silly at times I’m sure and even the GBP will get turbulent with EUR/GBP flows. I prefer to trade slightly ‘independent’ pairs like USD/JPY or AUD/USD during EUR-related risk events like today. We should get volatility but prices should return to some sort of normal value soon afterwards. USD/JPY […]

I’ve had a reasonably good handle on USD/JPY over the last two weeks and I know I’m trading a market well when I’m willing to flip from long to short and back again. Many of the bank macro analysts are turning bullish again on USD/JPY but I don’t sense this yet from the price action. […]

Forget about fundamentals, once the market gets a nasty shock the obvious reaction is to scale back on all open positions and exposure. One of the biggest positions in the market is short JPY and these positions could be tested in today’s conditions. I’m not taking any positions but I’m definitely looking at trading the […]

Many of the big stops, that we’ve been talking about for the last 2 days, were done overnight and a 250 pip fall was certainly a significant event. I’m really not sure what to do today during Asian trade, with prices sitting mid-range at 117.25. My shortish-term bias is still bearish but current levels aren’t […]

The market stalled in NY trade at a technical support level near 117.55 and with fundamentals still bullish alongside the trend, any stalling will have the market immediately thinking re-bound. But these rebounds will be shallow in my opinion and further heavy option-related stops down through 117.50 and 117.00 will surely be targeted, just like […]

My sources tell me that option players are very heavily skewed in USD/JPY and that hedges will need to be increased as we break fresh ground on the downside. Today’s break below 118.00 saw the first batch of sell orders triggered and there could be much more to come. I would not be at all […]

E-commerce dealers at the major banks were reporting sharply reduced liquidity yesterday and this will mean more volatility in a heavily-positioned USD/JPY market. The trend is obviously very strong but pull-backs will be sharp and painful. Put your traders cap on as we could easily see 300/350 pip ranges over coming sessions, perhaps 119.00/122.50, or […]

Normally these big optionality levels prove solid on the first test at least and I’ve been hearing for the last week or so that 117.50 is the next big level.

Every pullback seems to run into a myriad of bids and this type of sideways trading after a big up-move certainly smells of typical bullish consolidation. The next big optionality level is at 117.50 and that would seem to be the obvious topside target. Personally though I’m leaving it alone as my timing on this […]

The day-traders can’t complain about the opportunities in USD/JPY with multiple opportunities to trade either side of a 100 pip range. The market is awaiting official news of a general election in Japan and this uncertainty will only add to the volatility. There will be opportunities for both sides but those who’ve been buying dips […]

The patient and alert trader had some very nice chances yesterday to pick up decent intraday swings and with volatility still high, I am better off looking for these kinds of opportunities than trying to pick exact directions. The market is long and bullish but there seems to be enough demand to continue to fuel […]

The race to the bottom just got even more crowded with Reuters reporting that the Korean vice-finance minister said in parliament that they will manage the KRW to move in line with the weakening Yen. USD/JPY has been crushed almost 100 pips lower from earlier spike highs at 115.40. FXWW chatroom.

The vertical uptrend in USD/JPY is showing no signs of wanting to consolidate and fresh highs are being made with ease. Many good commentators saw this coming  (not me I’m afraid ) and levels near 118 look feasible before we get totally overstretched. I continue to chase this market higher with my small short position; […]

I’m hearing a few snippets from around the market regarding downside stops in USD/JPY and in GBP/JPY in particular. We may see Europe have a go at these later on, as Asia certainly doesn’t seem to have any momentum. I’m still running a small short position in USD/JPY but after some modest day-trading efforts yesterday, […]

My short USD/JPY trade didn’t look great on Friday night and it looks even worse now, well over 100 pips out of the money. Luckily I only took a very small position but adding at current levels near 113 is not really an attractive proposition nor is closing the position after what might have been […]

The market was certainly taken by surprise by the BOJ’s additional easing but a closer look at the fine print may suggest that this is not such a big deal (robbing Peter to pay Paul so to speak). I will try fading the rally into the medium-term technical resistance level at 111.65 (50% 147.50/75.50). This […]