Pound Sterling Price News and Forecast: GBP/USD flash crash, drops from 1.2379-1.2242

FXStreet Team FXStreet

GBP/USD flash crash, drops from 1.2379-1.2242

The US dollar spiked hard across the board into the Tokyo fix, the last for Japan's fiscal year, sending sterling down 1.1% the yen down over 0.5%, EUR -.0.48% and AUD -1.8%.

As for the US dollar, the US Federal Reserve is back to the zero bound coupled with quantitative easing, measures last seen during the global financial crisis (GFC). However, the safe haven of the dollar gives it an edge. The US dollar is also broadly stronger at the start of this week, despite the rate of COVID-19 cases steeply on the rise, with the biggest jump in New Jersey.

GBP/USD Price Analysis: Consolidating in a contracting triangle

GBP/USD is lacking a clear directional bias for the second day and is trapped inside a symmetrical triangle or a contracting price range, as seen on the 15-minute chart.

An upside breakout would open the doors to re-test and possible break above the March 27 high of 1.2485. Alternatively, a range breakdown would imply an end of the bounce from the March 20 low of 1.1410 and could yield a drop to the hourly chart horizontal support at 1.2305.

EUR/USD climbs to daily highs near 1.1820

EUR/USD now picks up pace and advances to the area of daily peaks north of the 1.1800 barrier at the end of the week. The pair’s decent move higher comes against the backdrop of a generalised lack of direction in the FX galaxy and the mild offered stance in the US Dollar.

GBP/USD trims losses, retests 1.3460

After briefly challenging its key 200-day SMA near 1.3440, GBP/USD now manages to regain some balance and revisit the 1.3460 zone on Friday. Cable’s pullback comes as the selling pressure on the Greenback gathers traction, reigniting some recovery in the risk-linked space.

Gold flirts with four-week highs past $5,200

Gold extends its rebound, climbing for a third consecutive session and pushing back above the $5,200 mark per troy ounce on Friday. The move higher continues to draw support from lingering geopolitical tensions and the ongoing uncertainty surrounding US trade policy, both of which are keeping safe-haven demand firmly in play.

Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple consolidate with short-term cautious bullish bias

Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple are consolidating near key technical areas on Friday, showing mild signs of stabilization after recent volatility. BTC holds above $67,000 despite mild losses so far this week, while ETH hovers around $2,000 after a rejection near its upper consolidation boundary.

Breaking: US and Israel attack Iran, risk aversion to sweep global markets

Early Saturday, United States (US) President Donald Trump announced that the US had begun “major combat operations” in Iran, following Israel’s pre-emptive missile attacks against Tehran.

Starknet unveils strkBTC, shielded Bitcoin transactions on Ethereum Layer 2

Starknet, the Ethereum Layer 2 network developed by StarkWare, today announced strkBTC, a wrapped Bitcoin asset that introduces optional shielding while preserving full DeFi composability.