GBP/USD hammered down to 1.2300 neighborhood, lowest since March 2017

The GBP/USD pair remained heavily offered through the mid-European session on Monday, with bears now eyeing a move towards challenging the 1.2300 handle.

The bearish pressure surrounding the British Pound remained unabated on the first trading day of the week amid rising odds of a no-deal Brexit - especially the new British PM Boris Johnson assembled a cabinet that advocates a hard-line stance about leaving the European Union.

The already weaker sentiment deteriorated further after the UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab reiterated the government's stance on Brexit negotiations and called the EU stubborn, which did little to ease market fears that the UK will crash out without a deal on October 31.

It is worth reporting that Johnson, during his first statement to the House of Commons last week, demanded that backstop must be abolished in order to reach a deal and showed readiness to leave without a deal if the EU is not ready to make changes to the withdrawal agreement.

Meanwhile, reports that that the British government is ramping up preparations to leave the bloc without an agreement, confirmed by the UK PM spokesperson - Alison Donnelly's comments, did little to provide any respite, rather triggered a fresh leg of a downfall in the last hour.

On the other hand, the US Dollar stood tall near two-month tops - supported by Friday's stronger-than-expected US Q2 GDP growth figures, and failed to lend any support or stall the pair's ongoing steep decline to the lowest level since March 2017.

It would now be interesting to see if the pair is able to find any support at lower levels or continues with its well-established bearish trajectory amid absent relevant market-moving economic releases – either from the UK or the US and ahead of the upcoming key event/data risks.

This week’s busy economic docket features the highly anticipated FOMC meeting and the latest BoE monetary policy update, which coupled with important macro data – scheduled at the beginning of a new month, will now be looked upon for some meaningful directional impetus.

Technical levels to watch