Today in a surprise announcement, the Swiss National Bank abandoned its silly policy of defending a peg to the euro.

Previously, the bank had set a line in the sand, defending the peg at all costs. That policy meant Swiss accumulation of hundreds-of-billions of euros that today plunged in price.

32% Move in 30 Minutes

As the above chart from Investing.Com shows, the Swiss Franc soared in value from 1.20-per-euro all the way to 0.82-per Euro.

That is a 32% currency move vs. the euro in a matter 30 minutes! Since then, the Franc declined back to 1.03-per euro.

One week from today, the ECB is expected to announce a massive €1 trillion QE intervention. If the euro declined as expected, the Swiss National Bank would have to accumulate billions more euros to defend the peg.

With that, the Swiss National Bank finally threw in the towel on the euro peg that it promised just last month would defend with "the utmost determination".