Japanese Retail Traders Placed Contrarian Yen Bets as It Soared

Japan’s retail investors unwound bullish bets in the yen during the height of a recent rally, potentially capping its gains as talk of official intervention buoyed the currency.

Individual traders reduced ¥85.7 billion ($561 million) of net short positions in the dollar-yen pair from Friday to Tuesday, data from the Tokyo Financial Exchange Inc. showed. The wagers, which amounted to bets that the yen would strengthen, shrank by the most for any three-day period since October 2022, according to Bloomberg’s analysis of the figures.