The FXStreet Forecast Poll about GBP/USD (Pound US Dollar) is a sentiment tool that highlights our selected experts' near and medium term mood and calculates trends according to Friday's 15:00 GMT price.
This chart informs about the average forecast prices, and also how close (or far apart) sit the numbers from all participants surveyed that week. The bigger a bubble on the chart means more participants targeting a certain price level in that particular time horizon. This distribution also tells if there is unanimity (or disparity) among participants.
Each participant's bias is calculated automatically based on the week's close price and recent volatility. Drawing from those results, this chart calculates the distribution of bullish, bearish, and sideways forecast prices from all participants, informing about sentiment extremes, as well levels of indecision reflected in the number of “sideways”.
By displaying three central tendency measures (mean, median, and mode), you can know if the average forecast is being skewed by any outlier among the poll participants.
In this chart, the close price is shifted behind so it corresponds to the date when the price for that week was forecasted. This enables the comparison between the average forecast price and the effective close price.
This chart tracks the percentage change between the close prices. Bouts of volatility (or extreme flat volatility) can be then compared to the typical outcome expressed through the averages.
This measure is basically an arithmetical average of the three central tendency measures (mean, median, and mode). It smooths the typical outcome eliminating any possible noise caused by outliers.
Together with the close price, this chart displays the minimum and maximum forecast prices collected among individual participants. The result is a price corridor, usually enveloping the weekly close price from above and below, and serves as a measure of volatility.
The Forecast Poll is a sentiment tool that highlights near and medium-term price expectations from leading market experts. It is a sentiment indicator which delivers actionable price levels, not merely “mood” or “positioning” indications. Traders can check if there is unanimity among the surveyed experts – if there is excessive speculator sentiment driving a market – or if there are divergences among them. When sentiment is not at extremes, traders get actionable price targets to trade upon. When there is a deviation between actual market rate and value reflected in predicted rate, there is usually an opportunity to enter the market.
You can also use the Outlook Poll for contrarian thinking strategies. Gonçalo Moreira, Research expert at FXStreet, explains: “People involuntarily follow the impulses of the crowd. Sentiment indicators, in turn, lead to 'contrarian' thinking. The prediction helps traders detect sentiment extremes and thereby limit their eventual toxic herd behavior.” Read more on Contrarian Approaches with Sentiment indicators
Besides the table with all participants’ individual prediction, a graphic representation aggregates and visualizes the data: the Bullish/Bearish/Sideways line shows the percentage of our contributors on each of these outlook biases.
This graph is available for each time horizon (1 week, 1 month, 1 quarter). We also indicate the average price prediction as well as the average bias.
In the GBPUSD Price Forecast 2023, our dedicated contributors expect a continuation of the bullish trend during the year. By the end of 2022, the average price for the pair is 1.3368. Read more details about the forecast.
From Jan 2022 to Dec 2022, the maximum level for the GBPUSD (Pound US Dollar) was 1.2418 (on 14/12/22), and the minimum, 1.0339 (on 26/09/22).
What caused the pound to US dollar pair downfall in 2022? the severity of the decline was intense mainly due to the monetary policy divergence between the US Federal Reserve (Fed) and Bank of England (BoE) in the first half of 2022. Meanwhile, the failure of the United Kingdom (UK) political system collaborated with the collapse of the Pound Sterling against the United States Dollar (USD) in the second half of the year.
Additionally, the British economy was badly hit by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that took place in February last year. The West responded with harsh sanctions on Russia, as Moscow refused to stay quiet and cut the gas supplies to Europe and the United Kingdom among other restrictive measures.
Bonds whose moves can impact the GBP/USD pair: T-BOND 30y; T-NOTE 10y; GILT 30y; BUND 30y; JGB 30y - GBP/USD traders should closely watch when trading it: UK 2y Gilt, UK 5y Gilt, UK 10y Gilt, UK 30y Gilt. This group also includes the following currency pairs: EUR/USD, USD/JPY, AUD/USD,NZD/USD, USD/CAD, EUR/GBP and USD/CHF