Japanese retail investors are returning to buying the Turkish lira, a trade that has repeatedly burned them in the past. The currency has plunged more than 16% against the yen this year, becoming a hot bet among risk-hungry day traders. This trend is raising fears of a painful blowup that could spill over to other markets.
Japanese retail investors are returning to a trade that has burned them repeatedly in the past: buying the Turkish lira. The currency, one of the world's most volatile, has plunged more than 16% against the yen this year, yet it has become one of the hottest bets for Japan's risk-hungry day traders. They held almost 900,000 margin contracts tracking the yen-lira pair as of November 12, according to data from the Tokyo Financial Exchange—near an all-time high.
Tokyo is increasingly uneasy with the yen's weakness, leaving day traders exposed on all sides. This fondness for the lira is prompting fears of a painful blowup for investors, whose unraveling bets could quickly spill over to other markets. The high volatility of the Turkish lira underscores the risks involved in these speculative positions.