Forex Legend: George Soros And The British Pound

Anyone who trades forex would have heard ofbuying the Sterling Pounds to keep it high.
George Soros, the man who traded against theBut the final blow-off came as it gets closer to
Bank of England and won. This story has beenthe resistance area, George Soros and other
retold many times and is now stuff of legend. Butspeculators shorted even heavier, around $10
now in 2007 when GBPUSD is over the 2.000billion. Finally on that day at resistance, BoE
level from September 1992 once again, it is timeannounced they will no longer be part of the ERM
to recall this legendary forex event. Rememberand will not intervene with the currency and will let
September 19, Black Wednesday in 92, the dayit float freely. On that news, the hard drop in the
when the Bank of England withdrew and stoppedPound can be seen on the chart:
pumping money to keep the sterling pound strong.The following months, he and his investors made
Events leading up to Black Wednesday as it wasone of the biggest and rarest winnings in Wall
called: BoE joined the European ERM (ExchangeStreet history. After this event, he was the man
Rate Mechanism), the predecessor to the EURO).who "broke the Bank of England." By judging the
This is when all the currencies locked at a fixedfacts, Soros was lucky that BoE caved in before
price range with 6% leeway. If the price goeshis $10 billion and other speculators run out as BoE
below or above this range, the Bank of Englandhas a much deeper pocket than anyone individual.
must intervene and make sure the prices stay inThis has to be remembered. Had BoE decided to
this range. It's easier to understand the event ifcontinue intervening past the resistance, who
it's read in the chart onknows what may have happened but certainly
When it joined, the economies of the UK vs. thespeculators who continue to short would have
rest of countries in the MRE were not in sync.been with extremely heavy losses.
The UK's Domestic Interest Rate was too lowUsing fundamentals (macro economic views) can
compared to the rest of the stronger nations likebe advantageous in recognizing the imbalances in
Germany and France, which was much higher.the currency pairs but it must be a long term
This disparity was causing the fixed price range totrade and with a very big account to withstand
unbuckle. With Germany enjoying a fairly healthythe corrections and even the wrong timing of the
economy and UK entering it's economic recession,entries.
speculators saw this fixed price range inAny opinions, news, research, analyses, prices, or
disequilibrium, seeing the pound so high comparedother information contained on these articles are
to the Deutsche Mark while it's inflation andprovided as general market information and does
interest rising, they shorted in droves.not constitute investment advice. will not accept
BoE refused to lower interest rates due toliability or any loss or damage, including without
inflationary fears and cannot allow the GBP to belimitation to, any loss of profit, which may arise
devalued according to the ERM policy. The eventdirectly or indirectly from use of or reliance on
leadig to the yellow shaded area showed that BoEsuch information.