GBP/USD Price Analysis: Seems vulnerable near 1.3100 mark, bearish flag breakdown in play

• GBP/USD witnessed selling for the fourth straight day and dropped to over a one-week low on Monday.
• Hawkish Fed expectations continued underpinning the USD and acted as a headwind for the major.
• Dovish remarks by BoE’s Bailey weighed on the British pound and contributed to the ongoing slide.

The GBP/USD pair extended last week's retracement slide from the 1.3300 mark, or the 200-period EMA on the 4-hour chart and witnessed some follow-through selling on Monday. This marked the fourth successive day of a negative move and dragged spot prices to over a one-week low, around the 1.3110 region during the mid-European session.

The US dollar continued drawing support from rising bets for a 50 bps Fed rate hike move at the May meeting. Conversely, the sterling was weighed down by dovish remarks from the Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, saying that we are starting to see evidence of a growth slowdown. This, in turn, exerted downward pressure on the GBP/USD pair.

Looking at the broader picture, the pair on Friday confirmed a break through an ascending trend channel, which constituted the formation of a bearish flag pattern. Sustained weakness below the 1.3100 round-figure mark will further validate the bearish bias and set the stage for a further near-term depreciating move for the GBP/USD pair.

The next relevant support is pegged near the 1.3070 region, below which the downward trajectory could further get extended towards the 1.3035 intermediate support. The GBP/USD pair could eventually drop back to challenge the key 1.3000 psychological mark, or the lowest level since November 2020 touched earlier this month.

On the flip side, attempted recovery moves might now confront stiff resistance near the 1.3150-1.3160 region. Any subsequent move up is more likely to attract fresh selling and remain capped near the 1.3180-1.3185 zone. This is closely followed by the 1.3200 mark, which if cleared decisively might prompt some short-covering around the GBP/USD pair.

GBP/USD 4-hour chart

Technical levels to watch