12 — 1971 — A MAJOR TURNING POINT

In August 1971, the United States ended the convertibility of officially held U.S. dollars into gold.

This marked the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system.

Over the following years, major currencies increasingly moved toward floating exchange rates.

And this was extremely important for Forex.

Currencies could now move more freely according to:

• Economic conditions

• Interest rates

• Central-bank policy

• Trade

• Capital flows

• Political events

• Market expectations

The modern FX environment began taking shape.