Options Market Traders has put at least 11 billion pounds since the beginning of 2016 (nearly $ 16 billion) on the fall of the British national currency rate to $ 1.3502 or below, that is, to levels last seen in 1985.
Thus, as reported by Bloomberg, market participants expect the pound to weaken after the June referendum on Britain's membership in the European Union by at least 4% from the current level. The chances for such a fall are estimated at 59% of them.
More than half of these positions were opened after February 20, when the date of the referendum - 23 June was announced.
Investors are seriously considering the possibility of the UK exit from the EU (Brexit), although opinion polls have not yet demonstrate a clear advantage of one party or another.
Representatives of business and investment banks believe that Britain and the EU will suffer certain losses in the event of Brexit.
ING economists believe that in this scenario the primary losses to the economy of the Eurozone from referendum date until the end of 2017 will be around 0.3% of GDP. At the same time, the extent and duration of the economic consequences will depend largely on the political reaction, which, as noted in the research note of ING promulgated on March 24, is likely to be significant.
The exit of one country out of the EU it is also fraught with the risk of further collapse of the economic bloc, according to ING.
As for now, on Friday morning, the pound sterling was down 0.3 % against the dollar to $ 1.4113 and lost 2.5 % during the week.
Earlier, the UK Office for National Statistics reported that retail sales fell last month by 0.4% compared with forecasts of a 0.7% decline. The January index rose by 2.3%.
The volume of retail sales rose 3.8% year on year, as expected, after rising 5.4% the previous month.
Retail sales excluding autos fell 0.2% last month, confounding forecasts of a decline by 1.0%, after jumping 2.3% in January.