The CHF/JPY pair is one of my favorite pairs in the sense that it does tend to form a very distinct range that the market will trade in from time to time. Even when he trends in one direction, it will often be more of a "grind", and as a result you have plenty of opportunities to get in and out of the market. It's pretty rare that this market takes off in one direction or the other with any significant force, so when you see it happen, you know it's the "real deal."
Because of this, I find this to be one of the best pairs to trade for the newer trader. This is simply because you can take your time, something that is very difficult to do in many of the other markets. One of the reasons that this market tends to grind more than anything else is that it is a relative play between two safety currencies, the Swiss franc and the Japanese yen. In general, when economic conditions are tough, both of these currencies will appreciate against most other currencies. However, against each other you really begin to see where money is trying to flow to globally.
Relative strength can be used in other markets as well.
When watching this pair, even if you do not see a set up in one direction or the other, you can often use this pair in order to trade the CHF or JPY against other currencies. For example, if both of these currencies are appreciating against other currencies around the world, simply by the currency that stronger in this pair against a particularly weak currency. In other words, if the CHF is depreciating in this market, compared against a particularly weak currency somewhere else.
All things being equal though, this pair typically does grind higher over time. That's another feature that I like about it is that even in a range bound market like we've seen over the last couple of months, you can see that we are gradually going slightly higher. This is like a trend in slow motion, which can be taken advantage of by traders who do not have a lot of time to watch the market. I am bullish of this market right now, but a pullback with some type of supportive action below would be an excellent way to enter the market. Alternately, a daily close above the 110 level is enough for me as well.
