Well, except with all this panic, the Yen is gaining against the USD, i.e. the "sale" is less good these last few days.
Not sure why, maybe it's because people are dumping USD, and buying Yen as a safe-haven currency?
Not sure why, maybe it's because people are dumping USD, and buying Yen as a safe-haven currency?
On top of that, many traders were involved in a "Yen Carry Trade". Meaning they were borrowing Yen (because of the near-zero rates which beat out the 5% USD rates) and were using it to trade equities, crypto, whatever.
When the Yen started gaining against the dollar, these traders were actually losing money (since they were short Yen due to their Yen-denominated debt). This caused an unwind, meaning the traders wanted to close their positions (sell their equities, crypto, whatever) and buy back Yen to repay their debt, which pushed the Yen up further.