Economic Calendar Overview, Economic Indicators, Uses

It happens because the rise in the unemployed indicates the nation’s worsening economic health, making the currency less attractive to investors. Then, many traders take a short position on this currency, and its price declines. A lot of sites recommend the strategy of Forex trade based on the economic calendar as an optimal one for beginners. It is emphasized that it is rather easy to take profit from news due to the volatility wave. In fact, professionals advise the beginners not to trade during 30 minutes before and after fundamental news release because of the growing volatility and slippages. Examine the current market trend, strength, and direction, and evaluate support and resistance levels leading up to the news event and immediately following it.

An economic announcement at these levels would provide the perfect sell conditions (hindsight permitting in this example). If you are fast on the keyboard, you may like to manually enter your orders as the market breaches your key levels. Now you are clear on the expectation and previous results, you want to set your key levels. All statistics in this calendar are in expressed in nominal terms unless labeled “real.” “Real” statistics are inflation-adjusted using the most relevant deflator. Ltd. (“SFP”) for the offering of dealing services in Contracts for Differences (“CFD”).

You will only spend one minute with it a day (or less), but that one minute—every day—is crucial if you want to become a consistently profitable day trader. Central banks monitor the country’s economic health by raising and lowering interest rates and conducting other monetary policies. An increase in interest rates can push the national currency higher relative to other currencies and vice versa. Over the past 10 days, the price chart has formed a Triangle pattern. This means that the price can break out the upper or the lower border of the pattern at any time. The above examples are only a part of the cases that represent the relation of the forex rates to a wide range of economic events.

It is important to have enough deposit and long Stop Loss (the strategy is not for the faint hearted) to wait until the main direction of the trend is clear. The main trend starts in most cases when the actual value of the indicator deviates from the predicted by more than 40 thousand. Note that you don’t have to listen to the speech of the Bank of England governor (although it is useful). It is enough to follow the trend, that is the opinion of the majority. So, I still recommend reading the news or listening to direct speech, to pick up the start of the new trend early and start trading.

Brokers understand that the economic calendar is one of the essential tools for profitable trading. Bloomberg and Investing.com are some of the sites where you can find an updated economic calendar. The forex market is most affected by monetary and fiscal policy announcements.

Why is an economic calendar important?

A calendar generally displays every economic item coming out of major economies. This is too much information, so you will need to customize your calendar based on the currencies you want to trade and according to your strategy. Day traders may look to capitalize on price volatility caused by market biases leading up to major events, but longer-term trading strategies tend to favor those with a more conservative approach.

For example, when using the NFP report as an indicator, you should seek out a major USD currency pair because NFP is a measure of U.S. markets. Using our custom forex economic calendar, you can easily select what currencies and/or markets you’d like to focus on and filter events by currency and relevance or impact on your chosen market. There are many free versions of economic calendars available online, but designated trading platforms tend to offer account holders access to a more agile and all-encompassing calendar. Before you choose an economic calendar at random, remember that your calendar is only as useful as the events are relevant to your chosen market(s). Additional inflation data that you will find in an economic calendar include export & import price index and the house price index.

Jobless claims hit 264,000 in latest week, highest level since October 2021

If leading indicators are showing signs of an economic contraction, then an investor may want to reallocate their portfolio towards more low-risk, fixed-income securities. Conversely, if leading indicators show signs of an economic expansion, an investor may want to reallocate their portfolio towards higher-risk equity securities. The information does not represent an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any investment product. To understand the risks and costs involved, please visit the section captioned “Important Information” and the “Risk Disclosure Statement”. StoneX recommends you to seek independent financial and legal advice before making any financial investment decision. Trading CFDs and FX on margin carries a higher level of risk, and may not be suitable for all investors.

By selecting one or more of the 12 categories, you are able to filter down into the key economic events that will have an impact on the technical analysis and fundamental analysis you have prepared for upcoming trades. Some traders steer clear of the markets entirely when economic data is due to be released; others see the heightened volatility as the best time to trade. Either way, knowing precisely when events are set to land is key to trading successfully. If you day trade options, you can hold your positions through a major data (or earnings) release. Many options strategies are designed for trading these types of specific events. Once you buy an option (paying the premium) your risk is capped—the premium you paid is the potential loss.

United States – Economic indicators

The US is the world’s largest economy, and the US dollar is the world’s reserve currency. As a result, economic events related to the US tend to affect assets worldwide. Similarly, news releases from major economies such as the UK, EU, China, and Japan also significantly impact global financial markets.

Click on the links to read MarketWatch coverage of the data and speeches. CFI is the official provider of the Commercial Banking & Credit Analyst (CBCA)™ certification program, designed to transform anyone into a world-class financial analyst. Katrina Ávila Munichiello is an experienced editor, writer, fact-checker, and proofreader with more than fourteen years of experience working with print and online publications.

With that, you will have the information needed to implement your trading strategy and avoid uninformed decisions. A central bank is an influential financial institution in any country. It makes key decisions such as the need to print more money or amend the interest rate. Quantitative easing, the release of minutes, and speeches by key officials also make up the crucial information that a day trader should look out for from a central bank. An economic calendar is one of the essential resources for traders, especially the day traders.

Examples of events that are listed on an economic calendar include GDP data, employment reports, central bank announcements, consumer sentiment surveys, and hundreds of other types of events. Most market participants pay heavy attention to the U.S. economic calendar since the U.S. is such a large and influential economy. Major economic events in the country usually exert a significant impact on the global markets as a whole.

FED Interest Rate Decision

For example, you can start researching and planning your next Tesla trade in May or June if you know the company’s Q2 report is due in July. You can also combine this knowledge with our trading analysis to make more informed trading decisions. Even though stocks, forex, commodities and crypto are separate asset classes, financial markets don’t exist in a vacuum.

Besides, a country’s central bank will use it to determine if it needs to amend the interest rates. For instance, when the country records low unemployment rate and high wages, its central bank may decide to increase the interest rates. It is important to remember that trading around news events can result in significant slippage due to the increased market volatility. In these circumstances, it can be possible to lose more than you had initially invested. The keyword search bar can be used to search for a specific query across global markets e.g. searching ‘inflation’ would highlight any countries with CPI related events on the horizon. The economic calendar will show you all upcoming economic news and events happening across the world by default.

It also plays a central role in the global economy with the importance of the U.S. dollar as the de facto foreign currency reserve for all countries. You can’t know exactly what data will be revealed, or exactly how many orders will come into the market upon its release in a reduced-liquidity what is economic calendar environment. Because of this unpredictability, professional day traders typically close out their forex, stock, or futures positions three-to-five minutes before the high-impact data’s release. They also avoid taking new trades until after the data has been released.

So you can quickly scan and see what currencies might be affected today or in some specific days. It’s the most complete, accurate and timely economic calendar of the Forex market. We have a dedicated team of economists and journalists who update all the data 24h a day, 5 days a week.

• The ECB’s Governing Council announces the interest rate decision after the meetings.
• Some calendars will have extra features, such as events graded according to their expected market impact.
• There are loads of these economic data releases—at least once a week on average, and sometimes every day during particularly busy weeks.
• Note that you don’t have to listen to the speech of the Bank of England governor (although it is useful).

They typically describe the event, its scheduled date and time, and the previous, expected, and actual values. The predicted value tells us what numbers the market expects from a release. It can be a percentage value signaling a change in the indicator’s level or an absolute value, for example, the level of an index in points. These numbers – especially the forecast – affect market sentiment and price movement ahead of the actual event. Some calendars will have extra features, such as events graded according to their expected market impact.

You may filter the data accordingly to it’s impact on market or by country, search by keyword or examine historical values of the indicators. Trade your favourite instruments, with low spreads and access to global markets. This index accounts for several different data points https://traderoom.info/ to generate a score that reflects overall consumer confidence in the U.S. economy. The baseline score of 100 reflects neutrality among consumers, while scores above 100 suggest that consumers are more confident in the economy, and are more likely to spend rather than save.

If a news event is anticipated to reveal positive market insight, you may see a steep surge in price action prior to the news release and witness a precipitous dip if the news defies popular expectations. Powered by Thomson Reuters, our economic calendar provides real-time updates on all the market-moving announcements. Inflation has a close connection with monetary policy measures such as interest rates. For instance, a central bank will increase the interest rates when inflation is high and vice versa. Usually, low interest rates act as an economic stimulus as individuals and businesses are able to spend more money. So, there you have three interesting ways you may like to take advantage of the economic calendar and upcoming data releases.

An economic calendar enables you to plan your trading around key market-moving events. This is important for any trader, as economic releases can quickly change market conditions and may throw your existing strategy off course. Additionally, traders may want to time their entry and exit points with certain investments with the release of economic events. Traders can make bets on the impact or direction of the announcements and attempt to profit by entering certain trades. For example, if a trader anticipates better than expected economic news, the trader can take long positions (buying securities) to benefit from price appreciation.

So in case an upcoming event creates a huge swing in the market, you have already taken profits along the way. If you are trading in the forex market then knowing how to read the forex economic calendar properly is essential to the success of your trading journey. To maximise your chances of success in the forex market, you should follow the most important releases and international events on the forex calendar and start your day by checking it every morning.

Since that moment of increased risk is scheduled, it can be easily avoided, and it’s usually best to do so. There are loads of these economic data releases—at least once a week on average, and sometimes every day during particularly busy weeks. These events are listed on the economic calendar, along with the scheduled time of the release. Recurring news events tend to make the most compelling indicators because they have predictable effects on trading sentiment and volume.