Skip to content
GetProfitable
Search
Dictionary

Gopher

Another trading-desk name for USD/JPY, used interchangeably with ninja; the origin is disputed and largely a matter of floor habit.

Nicknames in the currency market are not standardised, and several pairs carry more than one. USD/JPY is variously the gopher, the ninja, or just dollar-yen. Some brokers' internal systems still use the older codes.

The practical point is not the name but the behaviour. Dollar-yen tends to track the US 10-year Treasury yield closely, because the yield gap determines how attractive it is to hold dollars against a historically low-yielding yen.

Example: the US 10-year yield rises from 4.10% to 4.35% over two weeks and USD/JPY rises from 150.20 to 153.40. That is roughly 13 pips of yen weakness per basis point of yield.

Related: ninja, interest-rate-differential, carry-trade

See it drawn

Original diagrams for the ideas on this page. Illustrative, not real market data.

Contango and backwardationTwo futures curves against contract expiry: one rising above spot, one falling below it.The same commodity, priced for delivery at different dates.78.0076.0074.0072.0070.00Futures pricespot+1m+2m+3m+4m+5m+6mMonths until the contract expiresspot price74.00CONTANGOlater contracts cost more than spotBACKWARDATIONlater contracts cost less than spot
Contango and backwardation. A futures curve shows what buyers will pay for delivery in one month, two months and so on. When later contracts cost more than the spot price the curve is in contango; when they cost less it is in backwardation.

Educational only, not advice. Spotted an error? Post in Site Feedback.