The Swiss franc is the national currency of scenic Switzerland, a country that is known for its neutrality in international conflict, for its clockwork-like efficiency and for its reputation as a safe haven for protecting assets.

Investors who are extremely wary about the volatility of the stock market may opt to try to safeguard some of their money by purchasing Swiss francs through an exchange-traded fund (ETF), such as PowerSharesCurrencyShares Swiss Franc Trust (NYSE:FXF). However, currency investing is a zero-sum game in which one form of money rises at the expense of another, so the usually modest gains and losses of currencies typically are fairly minor compared to the wide swings that can occur in a topsy-turvy stock market.

Unlike the U.S. dollar, which has been trending up in recent weeks, the Swiss franc has been losing value lately. The retreat of the “Swissie,” the nickname for the currency not only of Switzerland but of neighboring Liechtenstein, had “gone largely unnoticed” by the market, particularly against the backdrop of rising tensions around global trade and protectionist policies of industrialized countries, according to a recent Bank of America research report.

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Paul Dykewicz, www.pauldykewicz.com, is an accomplished, award-winning journalist who has written for Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, USA Today, the Journal of Commerce,Seeking Alpha, GuruFocus and other publications and websites. Paul is the editor of StockInvestor.com and DividendInvestor.com, a writer for both websites and a columnist. He further is the editorial director of Eagle Financial Publications in Washington, D.C., where he edits monthly investment newsletters, time-sensitive trading alerts, free e-letters and other investment reports. Paul previously served as business editor of Baltimore’s Daily Record newspaper. Paul also is the author of an inspirational book, “Holy Smokes! Golden Guidance from Notre Dame’s Championship Chaplain,” with a foreword by former national championship-winning football coach Lou Holtz.