When, during the week ending Oct. 24, 2008, the British pound/U.S. dollar pair (GBP/USD) fell more than six percent below the previous week’s low, it was the first time the pound had dropped that much in more than 16 years. To be precise, it hadn’t fallen that far, that fast since the week ending Sept. 18, 1992 — the week, in fact, when George Soros was credited with "breaking" the Bank of England with his massive short play against the British currency.

That the pound has taken weekly beatings of this magnitude only four times in the past 20 years, and that three of them have occurred in the past five months (the weeks ending Oct. 24, Nov. 12, and Jan. 23), is a testament to the extreme nature of the current market upheaval.