Currencies have been extremely active not only in recent weeks, but throughout the year as a number of global “macro “effects” have created ripples through not only equity and fixed income markets, but those of currencies as well.
And with a bevy of exchange traded funds and notes that track most major currencies from both the long and short side available to retail and institutional investors alike, in a sense currency investing has been “democratized” to the world in recent years and is not something that is solely limited to large institutions or those with FOREX futures/options accounts.
This said, the two best performing non-leveraged currency tracking products in the ETF space in 2011 are WisdomTree Dreyfus New Zealand Dollar (NYSEArca: BNZ) as well as WisdomTree Dreyfus Japanese Yen (NYSEArca: JYF).
Both funds are actively managed and attempt to track the relative movement of the stated currency versus the U.S. dollar.
We have seen an increase in interest in such products not only from a pure speculation standpoint, but also in a hedging capacity from institutions whom previously did not have the acumen, or the tools necessary to use currency futures or options within their strategies.