The US Dollar (USD) has given traders and markets a run for their money in this very volatile and nervous trading week. The main takeaway – and probably the main topic next week around the dinner table at Thanksgiving – will be the question of whether the US Federal Reserve is now truly done with hiking for the time being. Traders will get the chance to put all the pieces of the puzzle in place. The Greenback could possibly regain some strength, as this week’s move looks a bit overdone. The calendar this Friday is a very slim one, with only housing data and building permits foreseen. Do not expect any big waves. The two actions that will probably guide the markets are a reduction of positions ahead of the weekend and some paring back of incurred losses in overdone and overstretched moves from earlier this week, in all asset classes.

The US Dollar is trying to continue its recovery from Tuesday’s meltdown. The recovery is not going as speedily as hoped, however, as only baby steps are visible in the US Dollar Index (DXY). It looks like traders have been unwinding their US Dollar long positions and only a substantial catalyst in favour of the Greenback will help to bring the DXY back to 105 and higher. The DXY was able to bounce off the 100-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) in the late 103s. Now expect to see follow through from there, with 105.29, the low of November 6, as the market level where the DXY should try to close above this week. From there, the 55-day SMA at 105.71 is the next price point on the topside that needs to be reclaimed by US Dollar bulls before starting to think of more US Dollar strength to come into play. Traders were warned that when the US Dollar Index would slide below that 55-day SMA, a big air pocket was opening up that could see the DXY fall substantially. This materialised on Tuesday. For now the 100-day SMA is trying to hold, at 103.62, although the 200-day SMA is a much better candidate for support. Should that level even be broken substantially, a long term sell-off could get underway with the DXY falling between 101.00 and 100.00.