Anyone who traded in January 2015 remembers the SNB removing the 1.20 floor on EURCHF. The pair fell by more than a quarter in minutes and several brokers had serious problems. Most days nothing like that happens, but it shaped how I treat the franc.
My rules for CHF pairs:
Half my normal size on EURCHF and USDCHF. The pairs are usually calm, which is exactly what makes a surprise so damaging.
Flat before every SNB decision. They meet only four times a year, so each meeting carries more information than a Fed or ECB meeting, and they have a history of not preparing the market.
Careful with weekend holds. Some of the bigger SNB moves came outside regular meeting dates.
Watch the sight deposit numbers on Mondays. A sharp change can hint at intervention, though it's a noisy signal.
The other practical point is stops. On a gap, a stop on a CHF pair can fill far from where it was set. I check that my broker offers negative balance protection on the account I use for CHF.
Do others still trade CHF actively, or has the franc become a pair you only watch?
