May 2025 Newsletter: A Trade Breakdown

The dollar is different. It’s the main currency that entities around the world do hold for long periods of time. Since the dollar is used for those four previously-described purposes internationally, it means there is excess demand for the dollar by entities around the world above and beyond simply interacting with the American economy or financial... See more

This means that the dollar tends to be structurally overvalued on a trade balance basis. It trades based on all of the normal fundamentals that other currencies do, but then also has this extra layer of demand at all times, for all these various purposes. Most currencies are primarily used by the country that issues them, whereas the dollar is used... See more