British Pound/US Dollar GBPUSD

Follow these steps to trade GBP/USD Contracts for Difference (CFDs):

1. If you don’t already have a Global Trading account, open a trading account here.
2. Complete your account registration and verification process.
3. Search for GBP/USD under "Forex" > "Popular Currency Pairs", or type "GBPUSD" in the search bar.
   * You can add GBP/USD to your watchlist by clicking the watchlist star on the financial instrument information screen.
4. Review the real-time quote chart for GBP/USD and check upcoming events for the currency pair in the Economic Calendar to help inform your trading strategy.
5. Consider setting up a Stop-Loss Order to help you lock in profits and limit losses.
6. Buy or sell GBP/USD based on your view of its future price movement.

The key factors that affect GBP/USD are:

• Central Bank Interest Rates — The Federal Reserve (Fed) (US) and the Bank of England (BoE) (UK) make key policy decisions on interest rates and money supply. These banks can influence the value of their currencies by buying and selling foreign currencies (Forex) and raising or lowering interest rates.
• Geopolitical Tensions — Uncertainty in the political landscape of the US or UK can significantly impact the GBP/USD exchange rate. Brexit (the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union) is an example of a political event with economic implications for the UK and the global economy.
• Government Reports — For instance, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its Employment Situation Summary, while the UK’s Office for National Statistics reports data on employment and unemployment. Higher employment rates (and lower unemployment) in the US may lead to USD appreciation.
• Global Trade — Changes in the exchange of goods and services between the US, UK, and other countries can affect the strength of their currencies.

To learn more factors, read the article "Which Events Impact Forex Trading".

GBP is the abbreviation for the "British Pound", the official currency of the United Kingdom.

USD is the abbreviation for the "US Dollar", the official currency of the United States of America.

GBP/USD is the exchange rate of British Pounds to US Dollars, representing how many US Dollars are needed to buy one British Pound.

By nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the US economy is the largest in the world. This means it has the highest market value of goods and services produced. Despite this, the British Pound has a higher nominal value than the US Dollar.

The explanation for this is that the nominal value of a country’s currency is not necessarily tied to the strength of its economy.

Another example can be found in EUR/USD — the world’s most traded currency pair — where the numerator (Euro) is nominally higher than the denominator (US Dollar), yet this bears no direct relation to the relative strength of the US and European economies.