2022 is in the books and the final ranking of major currencies from strongest to weakest shows the USD as the strongest and the Yen as the weakest. Forex Major Currencies from Strongest to Weakest Central Bank Fundamentals led both USD and Yen to their positions. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates the fastest and the most of any major country. Overall, the Federal Reserve raised benchmark interest rates to .25% from 0.25% at the end of 2021 to .5% (the high target) by the end of 2022. The Bank of Japan did not raise interest rates once in 2022, instead choosing to keep interest rates steady. as inflation accelerates. As a result, their currency rose for most of the year, with USDJPY reaching a high in July 1990 and a high on October 21, 2022. At its high, USDJPY gained 32.02% for the year. In the last 2 months, the pair USDJPY corrected more than 50% of the trading range for the year, and USDJPY ended the year still 13.91%, but remained at the top. USDJPY Down (JPY Up) Catalysts, in addition to overbought technical conditions and some technical biases including below 100- and 200-day MAs, include: Weakening US inflation, Federal Reserve tightening, which has reduced economic bias for 2023 (at least of market. traders), US stocks fell The Bank of Japan contributed by raising the limit of 10-year bond yields to 0.5% from 0.25% in December (a small but significant gesture and change). In total, the respective central banks did the following in 2022: Federal Reserve .25 nk Canada .00 D Reserve Bank of New Zealand 3.25 nk England 3.25 D Reserve Bank of Australia 3.00 D 5 Japan 0.0 D The US currency was next in strength. CHF. Although the SNB has raised rates by 1.75% – less than all but the Bank of Japan – they have generally benefited from safe havens in 2022 (and are not part of the EU or sterling). They had some of the best of the rest. On the weak side, GBP was the next weakest of the majors. GBP suffered from the war in Ukraine and its proximity to EU countries (and trade dependency). They also suffer from political uncertainty with three different prime ministers in 2022. Liz Truss’ tax blunders during her 0 or so days as prime minister also led to a sharp sell-off in September. The combination has caused investors to flee the pound. GBPUSD fell to a low of 1.0352 on September 26 before rallying 61.8% through December, helped by resolution of government issues and easing gas/oil. The weakening of the US dollar at the end of the year also helped the GBPUSD recover. GBPUSD settled at the 50% midpoint of the 2022 trading range at 1.20 99. Despite this, the USD gained 10.7% against the pound in 2022. , euros was the next strongest after the CHF, despite the difficulties caused by the Ukrainian border. A relatively mild winter and natural gas storage helped the EURUSD at the end of the year. The ECB sharply increased the rate at its December meeting, which helped keep November’s yields higher. AUD, CAD and NZD made gains and losses against major currencies in 2022. Some advances and some declines against major market players deserve the distinction of „mixing” in 2022. Below are the winners and losers of the major pairs. NOTE when USDJPY went up 13.91% I just converted JPYUSD for simplicity.