Yen To Dollar : All You Need To Know!
Welcome to another of my currency trading sites which this time looks in
detail at
the yen to dollar currency cross. As a full
time currency trader, I know how hard it can be to find impartial and
useful information whether you are looking at currency exchange as
either a trader like myself, or perhaps an overseas investor. Either
way, finding the right information is vital, and I hope that whatever
your interest, that this site gives you an insight into the currency
pair, both from a technical perspective and more importantly from a
fundamental viewpoint. I do have several other sites dedicated to
a particular pair, including two of the most widely traded major
crosses, the EUR/USD and the
GBP/USD. For those of you who have visited
my other sites will know, I make my
living from trading in the currency markets, so hopefully what you read here
will be useful. All the information is free, as I like to help others
learn and am always more than happy to help.
For
those of you looking to get the best rates for your yen to dollar
currency exchange, I have added a currency converter alongside which I hope you will
find useful. The rates are updated throughout the day, so they will
always be the latest prices. If you would like a yen to dollar quote
please just click on the little banner which will open in a new window. Please don't get a quote from your
high street lender, as it will always cost you a great deal more - the conversion rates will
be awful, and you will pay a substantial amount in commission and fees.
A specialist broker such as HiFX will get you the best
rates available, and they do not charge any commission or fees - they
make their profit on the spread between the bid and the ask. There is no
charge for a quote, so please just ask - you will be pleasantly
surprised.
Yen To Dollar : Introduction
The
Japanese economy is one of the most interesting and studied in the
developed world. In the last fifty years it has grown from a defeated
nation, to build one of the most powerful economies in the world, which
subsequently collapsed in the late 80' s and early 90's. The country is
still recovering from the shock waves that reverberated through the
banking system with such disastrous and long term effects. All this
turmoil has been reflected in the performance of the yen, and it's
relationship to the US dollar, and continues to this day. I hope that
the next few pages of this site will provide you with a background to
this fascinating country, and both how and why the currency has reacted
in the way it has over the last 40 years. If you are a currency trader
then the above chart will be very familiar. For those of you who are
simply looking for some advice and guidance on where the yen to
dollar exchange rate is heading in the future, please don't
worry - they are very simple to read and understand. In brief the above
chart shows you how the yen to dollar rate ( quoted as USD/JPY) has
changed over the last ten years. Each bar ( or candlestick) represents
one month of data. The red bar indicates prices fell during the period,
and a blue bar they have risen. Looking back to January 1998 the
exchange rate stood at 132.oo which meant that if you exchanged one US
dollar, you would have received 132 yen. Ten years later, the rate now
stands at 99.68 so that each US dollar is now only worth 99.68 yen. In
other words, the US dollar has significantly weakened in relation to the
Japanese yen over the period, which in turn has strengthened. So as an
overseas investor in Japan, or an importer of Japanese goods and
service, these are going to be more expensive. For the Japanese export
market this is starting to have a crippling effect, which I propose to
cover in more detail later- (conversely ofcourse, imports from the US
markets are cheaper)
Yen To Dollar : The Japanese Yen
The Japanese yen is the third most traded currency after the US dollar and the Euro, and is also used by many countries as the currency of first reserve after the dollar, Euro and UK pound. Over the last forty years, the currency has progressively strengthened from a high of 360 yen to the dollar to its current rate. As we can see from the above chart and a simple analysis, the pair have broadly channelled for the last ten years, with a support area at around 100. This level has recently been penetrated and from the above chart, we would expect the exchange rate to fall further. However, this is an over simplification, and certainly not an exhaustive study on which to base any trading or investing decisions. In order to confirm this view we need to consider in detail the economic pressures, the economy of the country, and the role that speculators play. With low interest rates, the yen is one of the most popular currencies for the carry trade against a variety of overseas currencies including the US dollar and again I will cover this aspect in detail later. If you would like to see a live chart with the current rates, please just follow the link here - yen to dollar.
So let's start by looking at the currency in detail and the relationship of the yen to dollar and associated exchange rates.