GBP/USD (Cable): Live Rate, Pip Value and Sizing
Cable moves further than EUR/USD for the same news, which is the single most useful thing to know about it. Same pip value, bigger ranges, so the correct position is smaller.
GBP/USD, known as cable, is sterling priced in US dollars. One pip is 0.0001, worth $10 per standard lot. It typically ranges wider than EUR/USD, so the same risk needs a smaller position. It is driven by Bank of England versus Federal Reserve rate expectations, UK inflation and jobs data, and it is most active in the London session.
GBP/USD right now
One pip = 0.0001 of price. A standard lot is 100,000 pounds, so pip value = pip size × contract size × lots. Figures assume a USD account; confirm the contract size with your broker.
A professional charting terminal with a coach built in - the Mirror Desk helps you document, forward-test and encode your own edge as an indicator, from your own trade log. It is a tool for your process, not a signal service and not a promise of results. It is a free preview of the real desk, and a free guest account is required to open it: put in your email, we send a login code, and you are on a live chart in under a minute. The preview runs real market data with one indicator at a time - nothing is saved and no broker is connected. A preview of the product, not advice.
Open GBPUSD on the live desk (H1) → See what the desk does →Why it moves further
Sterling is less liquid than the euro and more sensitive to domestic politics and fiscal news, so cable's daily range is usually larger than EUR/USD's. That is not an opportunity by itself - the same lot size simply carries more money at risk, which is why the sizing tool above matters more here.
What drives it
- Bank of England guidance, UK CPI and the labour market report.
- Fed expectations on the other leg, exactly as in EUR/USD.
- Fiscal events - budgets and gilt market stress have produced some of its largest moves.
- Risk sentiment, since sterling tends to weaken when investors get defensive.
Chart Bound replays real historical tape, free, so you can learn this instrument's rhythm before any money is on it.
Play free, no signup →Session behaviour
Cable wakes up at the London open and does most of its work before the London close. The Asian session is thin, and gaps between the Asian range and the London open are common enough that traders mark the Asian high and low in advance.
The trap
Traders move from EUR/USD to cable keeping the same stop distance and the same lot size. With a wider average range, a 20-pip stop that was sensible on the euro is inside the noise here. Use a volatility-based stop - the ATR calculator - and let the size fall out of it.
How far GBP/USD actually moves
Measured on the OANDA feed our charting desk runs on, 2026-01-11 to 2026-09-17 (180 completed daily bars). Recalculated every week.
| Average daily range | 83.6 pips |
|---|---|
| Median day | 74.8 pips |
| Widest day in the window | 222.4 pips |
| Quietest day | 23.7 pips |
| Average as % of price | 0.621% |
| Widest weekday | Thursday (91.4 pips) |
| Busiest hour | 14:00 UTC, about 23.2 pips in that hour (quietest 23:00, 6.8) |
The median is the middle day and the average is pulled up by a handful of violent ones, so size a stop against the median and expect the average to flatter you. Full table for every instrument, with the method, on average daily range by pair.
Frequently asked questions
What is a pip worth in GBP/USD?
$10 per standard lot, $1 per mini and $0.10 per micro, for a USD account - the same as EUR/USD.
Why is GBP/USD called cable?
From the transatlantic telegraph cable that carried the sterling-dollar rate between London and New York in the 19th century.
Is GBP/USD more volatile than EUR/USD?
Its daily range is typically wider, so the same lot size carries more money at risk. Size from the stop rather than by habit.
When is the best time to trade cable?
The London session and its overlap with New York, when sterling liquidity is highest.
Embed this calculator on your site
Free to use, on any site, with no signup: paste this one line where you want the tool to appear. It loads our hosted version, so it stays up to date, and the link under it credits back to this page.
420×620 by default and it scales down to fit a narrower column. Please keep the attribution link.
Keep learning
Chart Bound replays real historical tape, free, so you can learn this instrument's rhythm before any money is on it.
Play free, no signup →