Chain direction matters if the chain is worn. If you remove and soak your chain regularly (which, by the way, is not recommended, regardless of how easy it is to remove the chain), then you won't have a problem regardless of orientation of chain. If you remove a well worn chain and install it in the reverse direction, you'll end up with a mysterious skip in your drivetrain. Reverse your chain to see if that's the cause.

There are two exceptions - if the chain has an "inside", i.e. points to the cogs, and "outside", i.e. never contacts cogs, except the pulley of the rear derailleur. If you have such a chain, you'll need to make sure that the inside is inside. You can still reverse its direction though, unless it is also directional, i.e there is a left and a right (the second exception).

The reason soaking the chain isn't recommended is that doing so causes the roller bushings lose their permeated lube. To re-permeate the bushings is very difficult, esp since they're surrounded by degreaser when you take the chain out of the degreasing tub/container. I imagine if you have rinse the chain and then soak it in some kind of lube for a while (overnight?) it would work, but I don't know of anyone who does that.

Also, if you soak certain metals too long in certain degreasers, you can damage the metal and you can have catastrophic chain failure. This is one of those components (the bars, stem, fork, front QR, pedals, BB axle are some others) that you simply cannot risk breaking - they're too integral to the control of the bike. In a full out effort you can break lots of things on the bike and not crash, but one of those "key" parts and you'll likely be on the ground.

cdr