Bitcoin’s price is now moving in near lockstep with the Japanese yen — an unusual relationship that traders are watching closely as 2026 gets underway. Quick take - Bitcoin opened 2026 on a bullish note, trading above the $90,000 area after retracing from its October 2025 all-time high of $126,000. - Since that October peak, Bitcoin’s weekly price action has exhibited an unprecedented positive correlation with the Japanese Yen Index (JPYX). The weekly correlation coefficient recently hit 0.89 — an 89% correlation — eclipsing the prior high of 0.82 seen in August 2022 (source: TradingView). What is JPYX and why it matters The JPYX is a synthetic benchmark created by Pepperstone that tracks the yen’s strength versus a basket of major currencies (including USD, AUD, NZD and GBP). It’s offered as a CFD — meaning traders are tracking yen exposure rather than holding physical currency. Given the unusually tight correlation, moves in the JPYX have become a meaningful lens through which some market participants are reading Bitcoin’s next steps: when the JPYX rises or falls, Bitcoin has tended to move in the same direction since October. Macro developments tying the two together Recent Japanese bond-market news has added fresh fuel to this cross-asset linkage. The government announced plans to auction ¥700 billion of 30-year Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs), and that news coincided with a modest pullback in the 10-year JGB yield — from a 27-year high of 2.132% to about 2.081% (Trading Economics). Bond yields had been climbing amid investor expectations for Bank of Japan rate hikes, following hawkish comments from the BOJ governor and worries about large government spending. At the same time, Japan’s real wages remain a weak spot: wages fell 2.8% in November 2025, putting pressure on consumers and making it harder for the BOJ to justify aggressive rate rises. The mix of hawkish rate expectations and clear economic weakness is creating conflicting signals in the bond market, which has translated into yield volatility and, via the JPYX linkage, additional volatility for Bitcoin. Why investors should watch JGB yields Because Bitcoin and the JPYX have tracked each other so closely since October, moves in Japanese bond yields — and any developments that shift expectations for the yen — could provide short-term clues for Bitcoin’s path as it tries to reclaim and hold levels above $90,000. That doesn’t imply causation, but the correlation means yen and bond-market dynamics are now a nontrivial input for traders watching crypto price action. Disclaimer: This article is informational and not investment advice. Trading cryptocurrencies carries high risk; readers should do their own research. Sources: TradingView, Trading Economics, AMBCrypto. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

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