{"id":31265,"date":"2026-03-20T23:59:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T23:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/uncategorized\/31265\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T23:59:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T23:59:38","slug":"usd-chf-stays-steady-as-federal-reserve-expectations-and-oil-led-us-dollar-demand-curb-swiss-franc-gains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/live-updates\/31265\/","title":{"rendered":"USD\/CHF stays steady as Federal Reserve expectations and oil-led US Dollar demand curb Swiss Franc gains"},"content":{"rendered":"The Swiss Franc traded flat against the US Dollar on Friday, after giving back part of earlier gains. USD\/CHF was near 0.7878 after briefly reaching 0.7900.\n\nThe US Dollar Index was around 99.54 after easing from 99.79. Even so, it was up nearly 0.30% on the day.\n\nThe Franc stayed firm against most major currencies, but it lagged the Dollar. Demand for the Dollar increased after the US-Israel war with Iran escalated.\n\nThe Franc first rose on safe-haven demand as the conflict began. Those gains faded after the Swiss National Bank signalled it could intervene in foreign exchange markets.\n\nMiddle East tensions remained in focus, with few signs of de-escalation and a higher risk of a longer conflict. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Pentagon is sending three warships and thousands of extra Marines to the region.\n\nThis followed comments from President Donald Trump that the US would avoid deploying ground troops in Iran. Higher energy prices supported the Dollar because oil is priced in USD.\n\nBoth the Federal Reserve and the Swiss National Bank left rates unchanged. The Fed held 3.50%\u20133.75%, while the SNB stayed at 0.00%.\n\nHigher oil prices may raise US inflation and delay Fed rate cuts. Swiss inflation remains low, and a strong Franc can limit imported inflation.\n\nLooking back to late 2025, we remember a period where the US dollar was strong, largely because of the US-Israel conflict with Iran. This tension pushed oil prices higher, and since oil is priced in dollars, it boosted demand for the currency. The dollar was also the preferred safe-haven, leaving the Swiss franc behind after the Swiss National Bank (SNB) hinted it might intervene.\n\nThe situation has changed significantly as we stand here in March 2026. The de-escalation of military activity in the Middle East in January has removed much of the geopolitical risk premium from the market. As a result, WTI crude oil prices have fallen from over $110 a barrel during the conflict’s peak to a more stable range around $78 a barrel this month.\n\nThis shift has directly impacted central bank outlooks, especially for the Federal Reserve. With lower energy costs, US inflation has cooled, with the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) reading for February showing a 2.8% year-over-year increase. This has allowed the Fed to begin its easing cycle, cutting its benchmark rate last month to the current 3.25%-3.50% range.\n\nIn contrast, the SNB has been dealing with a persistently strong franc, which has kept Swiss inflation very low, last reported at just 1.1%. To combat deflationary pressures and the franc’s strength, the SNB preemptively cut its own policy rate to -0.25% in its December 2025 meeting. This shows that while both central banks are easing, their motivations are fundamentally different.\n\nGiven these dynamics, the environment that held the USD\/CHF pair near 0.7900 last year has completely reversed, with the pair now trading around 0.7550. The shrinking interest rate advantage of the dollar over the franc suggests this downward trend may continue. Derivative traders should consider positioning for further downside in the pair.\n\nBuying USD\/CHF put options with expirations in the next three to six months could be a prudent strategy to capitalize on this trend. Market volatility has fallen since the war premium vanished, making options pricing more reasonable than it was a few months ago. This allows for a defined-risk way to bet on a weaker dollar against the franc.\n

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Start trading now – Click here<\/a> to create your real VT Markets account <\/strong> <\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Swiss franc steadied near 0.7878 per dollar as Middle East tensions and higher oil prices boosted USD demand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-updates"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"josephine","author_link":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/author\/josephine\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31265\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}