IBRK will charge me about 1.5% interest. Is there a way to pay closer to 0.25% BoJ rate? Like a government TBill.
Trade 6J Yen futures. You'll be paying spot-next TONAR (about 0.25%) and earning spot-next SOFR (about 5.15%) with no markup. Earning net at least pretty close to that difference.
Shorting any futures contract, including 6J, does not increase the cash balance with the value of the contract.
No, of course it doesn't. You will be accruing short yen vs long dollar interest on a daily basis though -- it is 100% dollar-yen carry.
sorry, still don't' understand. to me a carry trade is borrow yen at 0.25%, exchange jpy to usd and buy & hold us tbills at 5%. but with 6j yen futures, you don't get the capital to invest in tbills. so, how do you make the 5%?
for small retail, borrowing at 1.25 is a deal to kill for, but one must hedge the fx risk, which is not available.