Ministry of Finance
a.k.a. MOF
A government's treasury department; in forex, the name usually means Japan's MOF, which decides when to defend the yen.
A Ministry of Finance runs a government's money: taxes, spending, borrowing. Many countries have one. Forex traders, though, say "MOF" and mean Japan's. In Japan, the MOF (not the central bank) has the final say on currency intervention. When it decides the yen has fallen too far, too fast, it orders the Bank of Japan to sell dollars and buy yen.
Officials usually escalate their warnings first, from "watching closely" to "won't rule out any options". Traders hang on every word, because when the MOF finally pulls the trigger, USD/JPY can lurch hundreds of pips in minutes.
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