This was a rather topsy-turvy week for the Rand, with the defining event being the US Fed announcement of increased interest rates for only the second time in a decade.
While this was expected by the market, Janet Yellen's expectation of a faster pace of rate increases next year caused some serious repercussions throughout the economic markets.
Much volatility followed, and there was no real calming of the markets from the start on Monday to the close on Friday
With a range of over 60c in the week, there was certainly no lack of action.
So let's get started with how it all happened!
How It Happened (12-16 Dec 2016) And so, Monday morning... a new day, a new week, a new start.
As we started the week, the sentiment patterns were not expecting the level of volatility which was about to follow, with the outlook (see below - click to enlarge) for the coming days showing us that we were to expect some weakening for the Rand, with a target area of just over 14.
!USDZAR STU 20161212 uy5 Shortly after the forecast, the Rand moved close to R13.90 to the Dollar.
And then the fun and games began...
The Rand with little warning, began to strengthen.
Below 13.80. Then below 13.70. And further still, below 13.60 - and through our short term invalidation level.
In just a few hours, the market had completely turned around the expectations.
When the day officially ended, the Rand had made a best level of R13.53/$, a good 30c or more off where it was when the day began!
With our invalidation level having being hit, we needed to issue an updated outlook.
And so, on Tuesday morning, the next update was issued (see below - click to enlarge)
Based on the revised preferred wave count, it looked like the Rand was likely to strengthen further before finally bottoming out and rising.
!USDZAR STU 20161213 ky5 But it seemed the Rand was not playing ball with Elliott Wave this week...
It was a little shaky throughout Tuesday, ending up just under R13.60 to the Dollar...
On Tuesday Fin24 released some interesting infographics for the year of 2016, showing which events shaped the year and how the Rand reacted in actual fact. A really interesting few pictures - you can check them out over here
--- Wednesday dawned...
....and the most part of it was pretty calm.
But the Rand was steadily weakening as the day went on, and by the time business closed, we were just short of R13.70.
And then the big news hit.
Our subscribers had got a warning due to our Rand Fundamentals, as the Fed was making a call on the interest rate decision on Wednesday evening...
...the news was a biggie.
Want the full Rand cycle picture?
Register Free for Rand Forecasts