USD/JPY rose during the session on Thursday as the market continues to grind around in this consolidation area. The candle for the session on Thursday ended up being a shooting star, so does suggest that the 79 handle will certainly be too much for it, and as such we should continue the consolidation that we've seen between 79 and 77.50 or sell.
This is a currency pair that features two central banks that are trying to devalue their own currencies. Because of this, the action isn't quite natural, and as such we may see a continual tug-of-war as we march forward. With that in mind I think that this pair continues to consolidate going forward, and selling towards the top of the consolidation zone and buying towards the bottom to get either a resistive or supportive candle is probably going to be the way to make money in this pair.
Bank of Japan
The Bank of Japan has clandestinely worked in this pair previously, buying silver right around the 77 handle. Because of this, it would not surprise me at all to find out later that they of course have been the ones lifting the market. Certainly, the overall trend is down and there are plenty of sellers out there for this pair.
The US dollar continues to weaken in general, so even though it gains in a "risk on" market against the Japanese yen, it is not fundamentally strong enough to continue much higher. At the same time, the Yen continues to be manipulated and therefore we do not have a breakout or anything like that in our near future.
I also have been playing much smaller positions in this market in simply letting it bounce back and forth. When the breakout does come, it should be rather brutal and therefore you do not want to be on the wrong side of it. This is especially true if you have a full-size position and that's why I've been trading the smaller ones.
If you have the ability to trade binary options, this may be the type of market does quite well for you as you have to clearly defined areas. Otherwise, short-term charts will be the way to go forward.
