With the holiday season upon us, and in view of the anticipated slowdown in market activity for the next week or so, it seems like a good time to take a bit of a different look at world currencies and review how they performed against the dollar in 2015 when compared to 2014.

There were certainly several surprises in the Medium Corporation currency review that was recently released. Topping the list of the world’s strongest currencies in 2015 was the Bitcoin (XBT), which despite being a virtual currency is traded on all foreign exchange markets and is considered a regular currency for all purposes. The Bitcoin was up +21% for the year.

The second strongest currency against the USD for the year was the Israeli Shekel which came in 2% higher than last year. According to the report, all other currencies are ending the year in minus territory.

The Swiss National Bank made headlines early in the year when it abandoned the EUR/CHF 1.20 floor in place since 2011. This hugely unexpected action by the SNB took markets completely by surprise and sent the Swiss Franc (CHF) down -2% for the year.

Another major shock wave in 2015 was delivered by another central bank from the other side of the globe when the Peoples Bank of China entered the markets to defend against RMB weakness versus the USD. The unexpected action by the PBOC shook the markets during late summer, leading players to unload commodities at a record pace which weighed heavily on commodity related FX pairs, forcing the central banks of New Zealand, Canada and Australia each into multiple interest rate reductions over the year.

The Japanese Yen (JPY) was the next strongest currency against the dollar in 2015 tying the Swiss Franc with a drop of 2% over the previous year. The Bank of Japan implemented several easing moves at the beginning of the year. Mid-year, the Yen dropped sharply as global growth concerns stemming from the slowdown in China continued to drive JPY strength but to the surprise of many players the BOJ backed off from further easing over the remainder of the year retaining an optimistic outlook for the economy and opting to maintain its current easing program.