USDJPY Price: Tight Trading Range Ahead of US NFPs

USDJPY Price, Chart and Analysis:

• USDJPY has traded in a 56 pip range this week as traders wait for inspiration.

• Retail remain net-short, a bullish contrarian set-up.

Q1 2019 Japanese Yen Analysis and Forecast.

Low volatility – tight trading conditions – is currently a common denominator of most major fx-pairs and USDJPY is no exception. The pair have been stuck in a 56 pip range this week (111.58 – 112.14) making trading difficult. Looking inside this range, pivot points show pivot currently at 111.72 with initial resistance (R1) at 111.83 and first support (S1) at 111.52. The Commodity Channel Index (CCI) is trading in the middle of the -100/+100 range and currently gives no guidance.

Traders are now pinning their hopes on Friday‘s US Non-Farm Payrolls figure to help break this current impasse. Market expectations are currently for +185k new jobs – after last month’s blockbuster +305k - and a 0.3% rise in average hourly earnings (m/m).

USDJPY One-Hour Price Chart (March 1 – March 7, 2019)

IG Client Sentiment data show that retail traders remain net-short of USDJPY, a bullish contrarian set-up, with retail increasing their short-positions by 18.6% over the last week, increasing this bullish bias.

Traders may be interested in two of our trading guides – Traits of Successful Traders and Top Trading Lessons – while technical analysts are likely to be interested in our latest Elliott Wave Guide.

What is your view on the USDJPY – bullish or bearish？ You can let us know via the form at the end of this piece or you can contact the author at nicholas.cawley@ig.comor via Twitter @nickcawley1.