GBP/USD technical charts: Failed breakout vs impending golden cross

The failed breakout on GBP/USD's daily chart is painting a bearish picture.
The daily chart also shows an impending golden cross, a bullish development.
The latter is a lagging indicator and often traps buyers on the wrong side of the market.

Omkar Godbole FXStreet Contributor

GBP/USD's daily chart is reporting conflicting technical signals.

To start with, the pair fell 0.58% on Friday, invalidating a bull flag breakout - a continuation pattern - confirmed on Nov. 19. A failed breakout is widely considered a powerful bearish signal.

Even so, some technical traders may be reluctant to sell, as the 50-day and 200-day moving averages look set to produce a golden crossover in the next couple of days. A golden cross is a sign of long-term bull market, according to technical analysis theory.

In reality, however, it is a lagging indicator and often marks interim tops. Hence, the failed flag breakout takes precedence over the impending golden cross. Put simply, the probability of the pair falling to levels below 1.28 is high. Currently, GBP/USD is trading at 1.2846.

Daily chart

Trend: Bearish

Technical levels

GBP/USD

Overview
Today last price	1.2846
Today Daily Change	0.0011
Today Daily Change %	0.09
Today daily open	1.2837

Trends
Daily SMA20	1.2881
Daily SMA50	1.2675
Daily SMA100	1.2478
Daily SMA200	1.2704

Levels
Previous Daily High	1.2929
Previous Daily Low	1.2821
Previous Weekly High	1.2986
Previous Weekly Low	1.2821
Previous Monthly High	1.3013
Previous Monthly Low	1.2194
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	1.2862
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	1.2888
Daily Pivot Point S1	1.2795
Daily Pivot Point S2	1.2754
Daily Pivot Point S3	1.2687
Daily Pivot Point R1	1.2903
Daily Pivot Point R2	1.297
Daily Pivot Point R3	1.3012

Author

Omkar Godbole

FXStreet Contributor

Omkar Godbole, editor and analyst, joined FXStreet after four years as a research analyst at several Indian brokerage companies.

EUR/USD flirts with daily highs, retargets 1.1900

EUR/USD regains upside traction, returning to the 1.1880 zone and refocusing its attention to the key 1.1900 barrier. The pair’s slight gains comes against the backdrop of a humble decline in the US Dollar as investors continue to assess the latest US CPI readings and the potential Fed’s rate path.

GBP/USD remains well bid around 1.3650

GBP/USD maintains its upside momentum in place, hovering around daily highs near 1.3650 and setting aside part of the recent three-day drop. Cable’s improved sentiment comes on the back of the Greenback’s irresolute price action, while recent hawkish comments from the BoE’s Pill also collaborate with the uptick.

Gold clings to gains just above $5,000/oz

Gold is reclaiming part of the ground lost on Wednesday’s marked decline, as bargain-hunters keep piling up and lifting prices past the key $5,000 per troy ounce. The precious metal’s move higher is also underpinned by the slight pullback in the US Dollar and declining US Treasury yields across the curve.

Crypto Today: Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP in choppy price action, weighed down by falling institutional interest

Bitcoin's upside remains largely constrained amid weak technicals and declining institutional interest. Ethereum trades sideways above $1,900 support with the upside capped below $2,000 amid ETF outflows.

Week ahead – Data blitz, Fed Minutes and RBNZ decision in the spotlight

US GDP and PCE inflation are main highlights, plus the Fed minutes. UK and Japan have busy calendars too with focus on CPI. Flash PMIs for February will also be doing the rounds. RBNZ meets, is unlikely to follow RBA’s hawkish path.

Ripple Price Forecast: XRP potential bottom could be in sight

Ripple edges up above the intraday low of $1.35 at the time of writing on Friday amid mixed price actions across the crypto market. The remittance token failed to hold support at $1.40 the previous day, reflecting risk-off sentiment amid a decline in retail and institutional sentiment.