Traders Should Be Ready When And If USD/TRY Makes New Highs

 | May 05, 2020 12:34AM ET

As Emerging Market currencies (EMs) have been putting in all-time lows versus the US Dollar since the spread of the coronavirus in late February, one currency that has yet to do so is the Turkish Lira. However, it’s not because the Turkish Lira is doing so much better than other Emerging Market pairs, but rather it’s because of a spike in the currency back in early August 2018 when the price of the USD/TRY moved from roughly 5.00 to 7.0831. EM currency pairs vs the US Dollar had slowly been moving lower at that time, as the US was raising interest rates. However, the last straw was when US President Trump slapped tariffs on Turkish imports of steel and aluminum and the pair spiked higher.

The Turkish Lira had recovered those losses by November of 2018; however, USD/TRY is now just a stone throw away from those prior highs, currently trading near 7.0450.