USD/CHF Price Forecast: US Dollar keeps bullish bias despite dropping toward 200-day SMA
- USD/CHF retreats for the second day as sellers gain momentum.
- RSI weakens, putting 200-day SMA support back in focus.
- Breach below 0.7906 exposes neckline near 0.7878 support.
The USD/CHF pair retreats for the second straight day on Tuesday but remains above its current weekly low of 0.7921 amid overall US Dollar (USD) weakness, triggered by the Greenback's strong correlation with falling Oil prices and traders' lack of expectation of Federal Reserve (Fed) rate hikes. This provided a leg down in the pair, which trades at 0.7933, down 0.16%.
USD/CHF Price Forecast: Technical outlook
Overall, USD/CHF is neutral to slightly upward-biased, even though the uptrend stalled after testing 0.8000. In the short term, momentum favors sellers, as indicated by the Relative Strength Index (RSI), which could open the door to a test of the 200-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) at 0.7906.
A breach below the 200-day SMA opens the door to test the ‘inverted head-and-shoulders’ neckline, which remains in play around 0.7878, before diving towards the 50-day SMA at 0.7864.
However, if USD/CHF climbs above June’s 15 high of 0.7968, it opens the door to test June 12's daily peak of 0.7976 ahead of the 0.8000 figure. Once hurdled, the next resistance would be the March 31 cycle high of 0.8042, ahead of the 0.8100 milestone.
USD/CHF Price Chart – Daily
Swiss Franc Price Today
The table below shows the percentage change of Swiss Franc (CHF) against listed major currencies today. Swiss Franc was the strongest against the Japanese Yen.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | -0.15% | -0.07% | 0.08% | 0.05% | 0.09% | -0.16% | -0.17% | |
| EUR | 0.15% | 0.08% | 0.28% | 0.21% | 0.23% | -0.02% | -0.02% | |
| GBP | 0.07% | -0.08% | 0.17% | 0.14% | 0.15% | -0.09% | -0.09% | |
| JPY | -0.08% | -0.28% | -0.17% | -0.04% | -0.01% | -0.22% | -0.24% | |
| CAD | -0.05% | -0.21% | -0.14% | 0.04% | 0.03% | -0.21% | -0.23% | |
| AUD | -0.09% | -0.23% | -0.15% | 0.01% | -0.03% | -0.24% | -0.23% | |
| NZD | 0.16% | 0.02% | 0.09% | 0.22% | 0.21% | 0.24% | -0.00% | |
| CHF | 0.17% | 0.02% | 0.09% | 0.24% | 0.23% | 0.23% | 0.00% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Swiss Franc from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the US Dollar, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent CHF (base)/USD (quote).
Swiss Franc FAQs
The Swiss Franc (CHF) is Switzerland’s official currency. It is among the top ten most traded currencies globally, reaching volumes that well exceed the size of the Swiss economy. Its value is determined by the broad market sentiment, the country’s economic health or action taken by the Swiss National Bank (SNB), among other factors. Between 2011 and 2015, the Swiss Franc was pegged to the Euro (EUR). The peg was abruptly removed, resulting in a more than 20% increase in the Franc’s value, causing a turmoil in markets. Even though the peg isn’t in force anymore, CHF fortunes tend to be highly correlated with the Euro ones due to the high dependency of the Swiss economy on the neighboring Eurozone.
The Swiss Franc (CHF) is considered a safe-haven asset, or a currency that investors tend to buy in times of market stress. This is due to the perceived status of Switzerland in the world: a stable economy, a strong export sector, big central bank reserves or a longstanding political stance towards neutrality in global conflicts make the country’s currency a good choice for investors fleeing from risks. Turbulent times are likely to strengthen CHF value against other currencies that are seen as more risky to invest in.
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) meets four times a year – once every quarter, less than other major central banks – to decide on monetary policy. The bank aims for an annual inflation rate of less than 2%. When inflation is above target or forecasted to be above target in the foreseeable future, the bank will attempt to tame price growth by raising its policy rate. Higher interest rates are generally positive for the Swiss Franc (CHF) as they lead to higher yields, making the country a more attractive place for investors. On the contrary, lower interest rates tend to weaken CHF.
Macroeconomic data releases in Switzerland are key to assessing the state of the economy and can impact the Swiss Franc’s (CHF) valuation. The Swiss economy is broadly stable, but any sudden change in economic growth, inflation, current account or the central bank’s currency reserves have the potential to trigger moves in CHF. Generally, high economic growth, low unemployment and high confidence are good for CHF. Conversely, if economic data points to weakening momentum, CHF is likely to depreciate.
As a small and open economy, Switzerland is heavily dependent on the health of the neighboring Eurozone economies. The broader European Union is Switzerland’s main economic partner and a key political ally, so macroeconomic and monetary policy stability in the Eurozone is essential for Switzerland and, thus, for the Swiss Franc (CHF). With such dependency, some models suggest that the correlation between the fortunes of the Euro (EUR) and the CHF is more than 90%, or close to perfect.
Author
Christian Borjon Valencia
FXStreet
Markets analyst, news editor, and trading instructor with over 14 years of experience across FX, commodities, US equity indices, and global macro markets.
