GBPUSD: How to Trade the Pound-Dollar Pair

GBPUSD is the exchange rate between the British pound and the US dollar: a price of 1.3000 means one pound buys 1.30 dollars. Traders often call it "cable". It is the fourth most traded currency pair, with 7.6% of global forex turnover in the 2025 BIS survey, and it usually moves further in a day than EURUSD.

To trade GBPUSD you buy if you expect the pound to rise against the dollar and sell if you expect it to fall. This guide covers how the quote works, what one pip is worth, the hours it moves most, what drives it, what it costs and how to place the trade in MetaTrader 5 (MT5). The usual path is to learn these, practise on an MT5 demo account, then trade live with the same steps. The examples use round prices and sizes; your platform's Specification window shows the exact figures for your account.

What is GBPUSD?

GBPUSD is the currency pair that prices the British pound (sterling) in US dollars, with the pound as the base currency and the dollar as the quote currency. The price tells you how many dollars one pound costs, so a rise in GBPUSD means the pound has strengthened against the dollar.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Triennial Survey put GBP/USD turnover at $731 billion a day in April 2025, 7.6% of all forex trading, behind EUR/USD, USD/JPY and USD/CNY. The pound was on one side of 10.2% of all trades, the fourth most used currency after the dollar, euro and yen. London is also the world's largest forex trading centre, which is why the pair is busiest in London hours.

How GBPUSD compares with EURUSD and the other popular pairs is set out in the best forex pairs to trade.

How do you read a GBPUSD quote?

A GBPUSD quote has a bid, at which you sell, and an ask, at which you buy, and the gap between them is the spread. If the screen shows 1.30000 / 1.30012, you sell at 1.30000 or buy at 1.30012, and the spread is 1.2 pips.

A move from 1.3000 to 1.2900 is 100 pips: the pound has lost one US cent. Pips, points and lots in general are explained in lots, pips and pip value.

What is one pip on GBPUSD worth?

One pip on GBPUSD is worth $10 on 1 standard lot, $1 on 0.10 lot and $0.10 on 0.01 lot, because the dollar is the quote currency. That is the same as EURUSD, so the difference between the two pairs is how far they move, not what a pip pays.

Pip value = lot size × 100,000 × 0.0001. At 0.30 lot that is 30,000 × 0.0001 = $3 a pip. The pip value calculator works it out for any size and account currency.

Worked example: one GBPUSD trade in both directions

You open 0.30 lot at 1.3000, so each pip is worth $3. A buy gains when the price rises and a sell gains when it falls:

The spread comes off every row. With a 1.2-pip spread, 0.30 lot costs 1.2 × $3 = $3.60, so a buy closed at 1.3050 nets $150 − $3.60 = $146.40.

The position is worth 30,000 pounds, or 30,000 × 1.30 = $39,000. At 1:100 leverage the margin set aside is $39,000 ÷ 100 = $390, as leverage and margin explains.

When is the best time to trade GBPUSD?

GBPUSD is most active from the London open to the end of the London and New York overlap, 08:00 to 17:00 UTC, which is 09:00 to 18:00 at UTC+1 and 15:00 to 00:00 at UTC+7. The busiest stretch is the overlap, when US data adds to London's volume.

The table uses the hours from forex trading sessions, for when the UK and US are on winter time. In the northern summer each window starts an hour earlier in every column; none of these offsets change.

The forex market hours tool shows which sessions are open now in your time zone.

What moves the GBPUSD price?

GBPUSD moves when expectations change for interest rates and growth in the UK compared with the United States, so the biggest moves come from Bank of England and Federal Reserve decisions and from UK and US inflation and jobs data.

A Bank of England decision lands in the middle of the London session, so the spread can widen and the price can jump past nearby orders for a few seconds. Slippage and gaps explains how stops fill in those moments.

What does it cost to trade GBPUSD?

Trading GBPUSD costs you the spread on every trade, swap for each night a position stays open and, on some accounts, a commission. Its spread is usually a little wider than EURUSD's, in line with its smaller share of turnover.

Swap follows the gap between UK and US interest rates. How each cost is worked out is covered in spread, commission and swap, and the trading cost calculator adds them up for your size.

How do you trade GBPUSD on MetaTrader 5?

To trade GBPUSD on MT5, find it in Market Watch, press F9 to open the New Order window, enter the volume, stop loss and take profit, then click Buy or Sell. The open position appears in the Trade tab of the Toolbox, where you modify or close it.

1. Find the symbol. If GBPUSD is not in Market Watch, right-click the list, choose Symbols, search for GBPUSD and click Show.
2. Read the specification. Right-click GBPUSD and choose Specification for the contract size, swap long and short and the trading sessions, as the MT5 Market Watch help describes.
3. Open the order window. Press F9, or right-click and choose New Order, as the MT5 help on executing trades describes.
4. Set the size and exits. Enter the volume in lots, then your stop loss and take profit prices.
5. Choose the direction. Click Buy if you expect the pound to rise against the dollar, Sell if you expect it to fall.
6. Manage and close. The Profit column in the Toolbox shows the running result in your account currency. Right-click to modify, or double-click and press Close.

The full first-trade walkthrough, including the mobile app, is in place your first trade on MT5.

How do you size a GBPUSD trade?

Size a GBPUSD trade from the money you choose to risk and the distance to your stop: lots = money at risk ÷ (stop distance in pips × $10). Because GBPUSD often covers more pips in a day than EURUSD, stops tend to sit further away, so the same risk buys a smaller size.

Example: a $3,000 account, 1% risk per trade ($30) and a stop loss 30 pips from the entry. The size is $30 ÷ (30 × $10) = 0.10 lot, so each pip is worth $1. With a take profit 60 pips away:

• If the price reaches the stop, the result is 30 × $1 = −$30.
• If the price reaches the target, the result is 60 × $1 = +$60.

With a 50-pip stop the same $30 gives $30 ÷ (50 × $10) = 0.06 lot. The method is set out in position sizing, and the position size calculator does it for any pair. GBPUSD and EURUSD often move the same way, so holding both is close to one larger position against the dollar, as correlation risk explains.

Try it on demo

On an MT5 demo account, open the GBPUSD specification and note the swap long and short. Put GBPUSD and EURUSD side by side on the same timeframe and compare how many pips each covers from the London open to the end of the overlap. Then open 0.01 lot of GBPUSD with a stop loss and take profit, close it, and check that the result matches pips moved × $0.10.

Why is GBPUSD called cable?

Cable is a long-standing market nickname for the pound-dollar rate. It refers to the GBPUSD pair itself, so "buying cable" means buying GBPUSD.

How much is 1 pip on GBPUSD?

One pip is a move of 0.0001. It is worth $10 on 1 standard lot, $1 on 0.10 lot and $0.10 on 0.01 lot, whatever the price, because the dollar is the quote currency.

What is the best time to trade GBPUSD?

From the London open at 08:00 UTC to the end of the London and New York overlap at 17:00 UTC, while the UK and US are on winter time, and an hour earlier in the northern summer. At UTC+2 the same window is 10:00 to 19:00, and at UTC+8 it is 16:00 to 01:00.

What moves GBPUSD the most?

Bank of England and Federal Reserve interest rate decisions, and the UK and US inflation and jobs data that change expectations for them. UK budgets and elections can also move the pound.

Is GBPUSD more volatile than EURUSD?

GBPUSD usually covers more pips in a day than EURUSD, while both have the same pip value of $10 per lot. So the same lot size swings further on GBPUSD, and position size is worked out from the wider stop.

• Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Triennial Central Bank Survey 2025: OTC foreign exchange turnover tables, final results (accessed 27 October 2026): GBP/USD $731 billion a day, 7.6% of turnover in April 2025, behind EUR/USD 21.2%, USD/JPY 14.3% and USD/CNY 8.1% (Table 5); the pound on one side of 10.2% of trades (Table 4); the United Kingdom the largest trading location (Table 6). https://www.bis.org/publications/triennial-survey/rpfx25-fx-tables-2.xlsx
• Bank of England, Upcoming Monetary Policy Committee dates (accessed 27 October 2026, page updated 21 September 2026): Bank Rate is announced eight times a year; remaining 2026 dates 5 November and 17 December. https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/upcoming-mpc-dates
• Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Meeting calendars and information (accessed 19 October 2026): the FOMC holds eight regularly scheduled meetings a year. https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomccalendars.htm
• MetaQuotes, MetaTrader 5 Help: Market Watch (accessed 19 October 2026): the symbol Specification window shows contract size, long and short swaps, the swap multiplier for each weekday and trading sessions. https://www.metatrader5.com/en/terminal/help/trading/market_watch
• MetaQuotes, MetaTrader 5 Help: Executing Trades (accessed 19 October 2026): opening the New Order window with F9; volume, stop loss and take profit fields; Buy and Sell. https://www.metatrader5.com/en/terminal/help/trading/performing_deals