The hideous declines in many currencies in this asset class have been a serious test of nerves.

Since the first sign that the Fed would start turning off the taps back in 2013,

every time the market has swooned, investors have hoped it would be a mere bump in the road.

Every time though, it's turned out to be much more than that.

Lately, these investors have enjoyed a rare spell in the sun.

Some have even put their tin hats back in the loft.

After a gruesome start to 2016, a series of "maybes" have helped emerging market currencies decline by some 10% from late January.

Among the reasons, perhaps the U.S. won't keep on cranking up interest rate as fast as it says.

Perhaps the reaction to China's currency devaluation was overdone and the country's economy won't collapse after all, at least not yet.

Perhaps that flower show in Tangshang, the one that reportedly brought steel production to a temporary halt,

really will succeed in putting a floor under iron prices, perhaps oil will find balance.

A lot of these reasons are pretty flaky and even at the time,

EM investors pinned some of it on technical factors and strokes of luck.

But now, just as some bystanders are deciding to jump into the market, it may be time for a pause.

The smart money says we won't go back to the ugly declines we saw at the start of this year,

but it also says it's wise to be very cautious, and thankful just for stability.

Among the laundry list of risks, the dollar seems to have dropped as far as it reasonably can based on the dovish rethink of the Fed,

at least for now iron ore prices are, once again, dropping off a cliff, down by over 20% or so from the recent peak.

Political risk is pinching Brazil and hammering Turkey, a nervous central bank is holding back the Korean Won,

and it's hard to see how the chance of Donald Trump running for U.S. president can be positive for risky assets.

Are we heading for another mini-crash? Probably not.

But it's also worth preparing for at least a bump in the road, and getting that tin hat out of storage just in case.