Yen Carry Trade

[CW Tan]

Hi teachers,

They said Yen carry trade(s) was the cause for the massive global stock markets' sell-off over the past few days.

My question is : in "Yen carry trade", is carry a verb or a noun? What does carry mean here?

Thank you very much in advance.

[Mister Micawber]

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Judging from Investopedia's usage, it is a noun ('carry', I suppose, because the investor carries the funds from one currency to another):


Currency Carry Trade

A strategy in which an investor sells a certain currency with a relatively low interest rate and uses the funds to purchase a different currency yielding a higher interest rate. A trader using this strategy attempts to capture the difference between the rates - which can often be substantial, depending on the amount of leverage the investor chooses to use.

Here's an example of a "yen carry trade": let's say a trader borrows 1,000 yen from a Japanese bank, converts the funds into U.S. dollars and buys a bond for the equivalent amount. Let's assume that the bond pays 4.5% and the Japanese interest rate is set at 0%. The trader stands to make a profit of 4.5% (4.5% - 0%), as long as the exchange rate between the countries does not change. Many professional traders use this trade because the gains can become very large when leverage is taken into consideration. If the trader in our example uses a common leverage factor of 10:1, then she can stand to make a profit of 45%.

The big risk in a carry trade is the uncertainty of exchange rates. Using the example above, if the U.S. dollar were to fall in value relative to the Japanese yen, then the trader would run the risk of losing money. Also, these transactions are generally done with a lot of leverage, so a small movement in exchange rates can result in huge losses unless hedged appropriately.
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[CW Tan]

Hi Mister Micawber,

Thank you very much for your detailed explanation. I really appreciate it.

Best Regards.