- 65% of pending orders in the 100-pip range are to SELL the Pound
- 52% of traders are bearish on the Sterling
- Next support is located at 1.37 mark
- Upcoming events: Powell testifies again
The Pound has continued its decline against the US Dollar in the short term pattern, which was charted on Wednesday. Although, the currency exchange rate is about to meet dominant support level, which might either be passed or it could hold the descent of the GPB/USD rate.
The US economy grew in line with the forecast of 2.5% in the final quarter of 2017. It was the slowest growth rate in three quarters, as businesses invested less in equipment and inventories.
The US Dollar remained on a strong foothold, following the expressed optimism from Powell about economic conditions in the US. In the meantime, with inflation getting higher and continuously well performing economy, analysts expect the Fed to raise rates more than 3 times this year.
Powell speaks again
The economic calendars are showing that Jerome Powell is set to speak once more in front of the Congress. Meanwhile, a rather minor data release will occur at the same time.
Namely, the ISM Manufacturing PMI is set to be published at 15:00 GMT. Note that tit is the exact time, as the text of the Federal Reserve's Chairman's will published. Due to that reason the fluctuations could be massive as on Tuesday.
The data release will be covered by the Dukascopy research team on the bank's live webinar platform. The coverage is set to start ten minutes before the release. To join the webinar one needs to click on the notification that should pop up a minute before the start on all of the bank's trading platforms. On the other hand joining is possible at any time by either googling Dukascopy webinars or finding them in the TV section.
GBP/USD continues downwards
The patterns drawn on Wednesday have held their ground, as the Pound continues to trade against the Greenback in a narrow channel down pattern. However, the decline on Thursday morning turned sideways.If one looks at the hourly chart, it can be observed that the rate made a few attempts to rebound after meeting the lower trend line of the channel down pattern. Although, the resistance of the weekly S2 has stopped the efforts of the Pound.
Meanwhile, it was noticed that the supposed sideways fluctuations were booking lower and lower rebound points. That indicates that the decline will continue.
Hourly chart
The daily chart's ascending channel was broken. The breaking of the pattern's support occurred due to the pressure created by the new large scale pattern. The new pattern is a simple descending channel, which is set to guide the pair until April.
However, there is additional information to be gained by examining the daily chart. Namely, the 55 and 100-day simple moving averages are set to provide support to the Pound against the Buck in the upcoming trading sessions.
Daily Chart
The bearish market sentiment remains unchanged, as 52% of traders are holding short positions. Meanwhile, Swiss Foreign Exchange pending orders are massively bearish, as 65% are set to sell.
The market sentiment of OANDA traders remains bearish today with 55% of open positions being short. In the meantime, Saxo Bank clients are less bearish market participants with 52% short positions.
Spreads (avg, pip) / Trading volume / Volatility