As the Fed meeting approaches, the strength of the dollar pushes the British pound down to $1.24

The British pound is in a bad spot today, as it has gone down for the fourth day in a row.

The US dollar is again pushing the limits of its power, which is putting pressure on the GBP/USD pair early on Wednesday. The pair fell to just below $1.24 before buyers who were serious about buying pushed the exchange rate above the mark. Still, this is the fourth time in a row that the UK currency has gone down.

What comes next, though, could change the story. The Federal Reserve will decide on rates at a meeting next week. This time, it's not so easy to guess what will happen. Central bankers thought that rates might stay the same for a while, but that was before the hot jobs report.

When traders make changes to their portfolios in response to a possible surprise rate hike, the fx market can become more volatile. If the meeting to set interest rates doesn't change anything, it's possible that the market would have already priced that in. Still, in a week, sharp changes are likely to be caused by doubt.