GBP/USD Price Analysis: Refreshes multi-month tops and retreats, back below 1.4200

GBP/USD added to the overnight strong move up and gained traction for the second straight day.
The intraday uptick stalled near a resistance marked by the top end of an ascending trend channel.
The set-up seems titled in favour of bullish traders and supports prospects for an eventual breakout.

Haresh Menghani FXStreet

The GBP/USD pair shot to fresh three-month tops during the mid-European session, albeit quickly retreated few pips thereafter. The pair was last seen trading just below the 1.4200 mark, nearly unchanged for the day.

Following a brief consolidation through the first part of the trading action on Friday, the pair turned positive for the second consecutive session and built on the overnight strong move up. The US dollar struggled to gain any meaningful traction and languished near multi-month lows. This, along with mostly upbeat UK macro data, provided a modest lift to the GBP/USD pair.

Looking at the technical picture, the intraday uptick stalled near a resistance marked by the top boundary of a short-term ascending channel extending from lows touched in March and April. The mentioned barrier, currently around the 1.4235 region, coincides with YTD tops touched on February 24. This, in turn, should now act as a key pivotal point for short-term traders.

Meanwhile, technical indicators on the daily chart maintained their bullish bias and are still far from being in the overbought territory. The technical set-up seems tilted firmly in favour of bullish traders and supports prospects for an eventual breakout to the upside. That said, bulls might still wait for a sustained move beyond the 1.4235 area before placing fresh bets.

The GBP/USD pair might then aim to reclaim the 1.4300 round-figure mark and prolong the upward trajectory further towards 2018 yearly tops, around the 1.4375 region.

On the flip side, the daily swing lows, around the 1.4170-65 region now seems to protect the immediate downside. Sustained weakness below might turn the GBP/USD pair vulnerable to accelerate the fall back towards the 1.4100 mark. This is followed by weekly lows, around the 1.4075 region, which if broken will negate the constructive outlook and prompt some technical selling.

GBP/USD daily chart

Technical levels to watch

GBP/USD

Overview
Today last price	1.4209
Today Daily Change	0.0018
Today Daily Change %	0.13
Today daily open	1.4191

Trends
Daily SMA20	1.4003
Daily SMA50	1.3896
Daily SMA100	1.3838
Daily SMA200	1.3497

Levels
Previous Daily High	1.4193
Previous Daily Low	1.4101
Previous Weekly High	1.4166
Previous Weekly Low	1.3982
Previous Monthly High	1.4009
Previous Monthly Low	1.3669
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	1.4158
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	1.4136
Daily Pivot Point S1	1.413
Daily Pivot Point S2	1.407
Daily Pivot Point S3	1.4039
Daily Pivot Point R1	1.4222
Daily Pivot Point R2	1.4253
Daily Pivot Point R3	1.4313

Author

Haresh Menghani

FXStreet

Haresh Menghani is a detail-oriented professional with 10+ years of extensive experience in analysing the global financial markets.

Markets move fast. We move first.

Orange Juice Newsletter brings you expert driven insights - not headlines. Every day on your inbox.

Editor's Picks

EUR/USD drops to daily lows near 1.1630

EUR/USD now loses some traction and slips back to the area of daily lows around 1.1630 on the back of a mild bounce in the US Dollar. Fresh US data, including the September PCE inflation numbers and the latest read on December consumer sentiment, didn’t really move the needle, so the pair is still on course to finish the week with a respectable gain.

GBP/USD trims gains, recedes toward 1.3320

GBP/USD is struggling to keep its daily advance, coming under fresh pressure and retreating to the 1.3320 zone following a mild bullish attempt in the Greenback. Even though US consumer sentiment surprised to the upside, the US Dollar isn’t getting much love, as traders are far more interested in what the Fed will say next week.

Gold makes a U-turn, back to $4,200

Gold is now losing the grip and receding to the key $4,200 region per troy ounce following some signs of life in the Greenback and a marked bounce in US Treasury yields across the board. The positive outlook for the precious metal, however, remains underpinned by steady bets for extra easing by the Fed.