BoJ (Bank of Japan)

The Bank of Japan is Japan's central bank, founded in 1882. It's famous (or infamous) for keeping interest rates at or below zero for most of the past 25 years in an attempt to fight chronic deflation. The BoJ's policy stance directly drives JPY pairs — when the BoJ is dovish (rates near zero), the yen weakens. When the BoJ hints at hawkishness, the yen rallies hard. BoJ meetings happen eight times per year. Decisions are announced at no fixed time — they come whenever the meeting concludes, usually between 02:00 and 05:00 GMT. The unpredictable timing makes BoJ days high-risk for JPY scalpers. The BoJ's policy tools are unique. They use "yield curve control" (capping the 10-year JGB yield) and massive quantitative easing programs that have ballooned their balance sheet to over 130% of Japanese GDP. When they tweak these tools, the yen can move 200+ pips in minutes.