Currency pair (“cable”) · cross of two ECB reference rates

What is the GBP/USD reference rate and how has it moved?

The GBP/USD reference rate was 1.33353 on 16 Oct 2026: one GBP was worth 1.33353 USD. That is 0.7% below a year earlier and 38% of the way up its 52-week range. Annualised volatility over the year was 6.1%.

GBP/USD · 16 Oct 2026: 1.33353Previous fixing 1.32467 (15 Oct 2026) · ▲ +0.67%
12-month change: ▼ −0.7%from 1.34267 on 16 Oct 2025
52-week range: 1.30443–1.38167low 5 Nov 2025 · high 29 Jan 2026
Volatility, 1 yr: 6.1%annualised; full-year average since 2016: 9.2%

The past twelve months

Daily ECB reference fixings, 16 Oct 2025 – 16 Oct 2026 (255 fixings). Yellow dot: latest.

What the record shows

Over the past year GBP/USD has been calmer than usual: 6.1% annualised volatility against a 9.2% average for full calendar years since 2016. Its calmest full year was 2024 (6.0%) and its busiest 2016 (14.2%).
Since 4 Jan 2016 the rate has ranged from 1.05962 (28 Sept 2022) to 1.48691 (23 Jun 2016). Today's fixing is higher than 68% of the 2,763 daily fixings in that period.
Five years ago, on 15 Oct 2021, the fixing was 1.37517, so the rate is 3.0% below that level. Over one month it is ▼ −0.90% (from 1.34558 on 16 Sept 2026).
The largest single-day move of the past year was on 8 Apr 2026: 1.32446 → 1.34717 (▲ +1.71%).
Read the other way round, 1 USD was worth 0.74989 GBP on 16 Oct 2026 (USD/GBP).

How is the GBP/USD figure on this page produced?

The ECB does not publish GBP/USD; it publishes each currency against the euro. The cross is the ratio of the two: USD per euro ÷ GBP per euro = 1.12530 ÷ 0.84385 = 1.33353 on 16 Oct 2026. Because both legs are fixed at the same moment, the cross is internally consistent, but it can differ slightly from a market quote at 14:10 CET. See how to calculate a cross rate.

Year by year

GBP/USD yearly close, change, high, low, average and volatility
Year	Close	Change	High	Low	Average	Vol.
2026 to date	1.33353	▼ −1.0%	1.38167 29 Jan	1.31604 25 Jun	1.34361	5.5%
2025	1.34655	▲ +7.5%	1.37517 1 Jul	1.21174 13 Jan	1.31842	7.8%
2024	1.25292	▼ −1.5%	1.34015 30 Sept	1.23158 22 Apr	1.27859	6.0%
2023	1.27150	▲ +5.7%	1.31119 18 Jul	1.18385 8 Mar	1.24338	8.5%
2022	1.20258	▼ −10.8%	1.37207 13 Jan	1.05962 28 Sept	1.23604	12.3%
2021	1.34788	▼ −1.2%	1.42120 18 May	1.31922 9 Dec	1.37587	6.6%
2020	1.36492	▲ +3.4%	1.36492 31 Dec	1.15984 23 Mar	1.28389	10.9%
2019	1.32040	▲ +3.2%	1.33808 13 Dec	1.20339 3 Sept	1.27606	8.3%
2018	1.28000	▼ −5.3%	1.43220 17 Apr	1.25619 14 Dec	1.33515	8.6%
2017	1.35174	▲ +9.8%	1.35877 15 Sept	1.20650 16 Jan	1.28816	8.5%
2016	1.23117	—	1.48691 23 Jun	1.21484 28 Oct	1.35504	14.2%

Change = last fixing of the year against the last fixing of the previous year (2016 has no prior close in this record). Vol. = annualised standard deviation of daily log changes within the year. 2026 runs to 16 Oct 2026.

Since January 2016

ECB reference fixings, thinned to about every fifth fixing for drawing; the tables use every fixing.

Largest one-day moves since 2016

Date	From	To	Move
24 Jun 2016	1.48691	1.37040	▼ −7.84%
27 Jun 2016	1.37040	1.31871	▼ −3.77%
11 Nov 2022	1.14023	1.17755	▲ +3.27%
11 Oct 2019	1.22345	1.26180	▲ +3.13%
17 Mar 2016	1.40531	1.44609	▲ +2.90%

Moves are measured between consecutive ECB fixings, so a move after a holiday can span more than one calendar day.

Sources

European Central Bank — euro foreign exchange reference rates (series EXR.D.GBP+USD.EUR.SP00.A, retrieved 16 Oct 2026 via the ECB Data Portal).
Method for crosses, ranges and volatility: methodology.