Over the past decade, the carry trade—borrowing in low-interest-rate currencies to invest in higher-yielding ones—has been a strategy marked by steady, if modest, gains punctuated by sudden, sometimes severe, drawdowns. This report provides an analytical, non-advisory look at the performance of carry trades over the 2014–2024 period. It distinguishes between institutional and retail strategies, examines the roles of major, exotic, and emerging market currencies, and explores how macroeconomic factors such as central bank policies, interest rate differentials, inflation trends, and geopolitical events have influenced carry trade returns.
