Why is the Yen so different?

S

SomeYoungGuy

I'm still working on my strategy, trying out all kinds of things. I'm backtesting, curve fitting, and optimizing as I figure out how the forex markets move.

I test my strats against the euro, the Aussie, cable, Swiss Franc, Loonie, I can tweak my inputs to make a paper profit. Nothing that I will put real money into yet, but I'm just playing around. But the Yen remains elusive. I'm trying RTM, trend following, blends of the two, but everything falls on its face against the Yen.

Anybody else have the same experience? Why is the Yen so different from all the other majors?
 
I'm sure all currencies are manipulated by their country's central bank anywhere from a little to a lot. Are the Japanese just that much more clever about it than everybody else?
 
The yen is different, because it's an economy with a large amount of domestic savings and a large number of Mrs Watanabe's, who absolutely love to punt FX in their spare time.
 
Japanese yen is considered one of the "safe heaven" currencies to which market participants flee when they smell huge losses. USD is the other currency like this. Swiss Franc was another "safe" currency before the banking crisis unfolded and exposed the reliance of Sitzerland on the riskier side fo banking.

I understand you look at all other major currencies versus US dollar. In this case what you see is US dollar dynamiocs versus other currencies, not the other way round. Try looking at Pound Sterling versus Euro - you may find the dynamic quite different too.
 
I wouldn't say the BOJ is more clever, its just the Japanese economy is SO dependent on a weak Yen, they tend to step in more than others.
 
Quote from Martinghoul:

The yen is different, because it's an economy with a large amount of domestic savings and a large number of Mrs Watanabe's, who absolutely love to punt FX in their spare time.
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Based on this description I should move to Japan. I hear the Japanese are desirable marital partners too.
 
The high domestic savings allows them to be self-funding as a nation, which makes a big difference.
 
Quote from MoreYummy:

it is a carry trade currency
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Yes, because yen interest rates are so low. This puts yen into the same basket of "funding" currencies as recent US dollar.
 
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