On this page, traders can analyze the forex news calendar.
Forex calendar or forex economic calendar or forex news calendar represents a table that shows the scheduled news events or data releases that are expected to impact the foreign exchange markets.
The real-time forex economic calendar is below:
How to use the forex calendar?
Forex traders need to use a forex calendar to map important events that can change forex market prices in a tight time frame. Forex fundamental announcements calendar or forex news calendar sometimes can influence on market for several days, weeks, or months.
Forex news calendars always need to be adjusted to the trader’s current preference. A calendar needs to be filtered by date (pick day or week), filtered by currency (if you want EURUSD, then pick EUR and USD), and purified by impact news (low, medium, high). Forex calendar needs to be adjusted by preferred time (usually traders pick a local time). High impact news can influence the forex market the most, and these forex events need to be observed.
You can learn about each key forex economic indicators in our article.
Structure of a Forex Calendar
Forex or economic calendar differs from the way economic indicators are graded on it. Like, a few websites prefer the time aspect to rate economic indicators while some would choose the impact they have on the economy. A few platforms also prefer using volatility to rate economic indicators.
The best thing about a forex calendar available online is that it helps in keeping traders updated with all the economic and non-economic happening. They updated the tools regularly as it is online and sometimes it is just automatic and gives users 24*7 news and the latest updates.
Different websites can have different looks for their economic calendar, but a few things are going to be the same in all of them which include, country name, indicator name, impact or importance of the indicator, current value, future or forecast value, past value, etc. These are the basic information you can expect from a typical forex calendar.
Utilizing Forex Calendar
Though, with its easy usability, most of the forex traders use the forex calendar and develop their own trading patterns.
The economic calendar aids traders in planning and reallocating their traders as well as portfolios. It also helps in increasing awareness about various indicators chart patterns which can be crucial for a trader.
As a forex trader, you should keep yourself aware of economic events by having an eye on the forex calendar, and on that basis, you can take reasonable and smart trades on your preferred currencies.
Just being able to read the forex calendar is not enough, you also need to know how you can implement it in real trading. You need to know that a forex calendar available on different sites would have different mechanisms. It depends on the website and the kind of events the website covers or targets depending on user interests. A lot of websites only cover the U.S based events in their forex calendar as the American currency is quite popular in trading.
Though there are websites that provide information on events based on various filters like geography, market cap, popularity, etc.
Different nations have different impacts on the forex market. Without a doubt, the American dollar rules the market with it having the status of ‘Reserve Currency’ in many nations, but other national events of different countries also impact this arena. Some such examples are U.K Brexit, the financial turmoil of Greece, etc. Such events do have gigantic effects on the currency market even though the ruling currency is the dollar. Even the U.S market gets impacted by this kind of event.
What Kind of Information a Forex Calendar Provides?
The following information is an example of the kind of information a forex calendar provides.
The following economic events have a considerable effect on the financial markets every month.
- Central Bank Rate Decisions
- Retail Sales
- US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP)
- Consumer Price Index (CPI)
- Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
- Produce Price Index (PPI)
- Durable Goods Orders
- New Home Sales
- ISM Data
- Trade Balance
- Existing-Home Sales
Read about key forex economic indicators in our article.
There are mainly two categories that a forex calendar highlights – reports on recent economic and financial events and prediction reports of future economic and financial events. Both of these categories are very crucial as they impact the forex market and strategies of traders around the world, helping them take the right kind of trade at the right time.
Along with this, indicators are also an important aspect of a forex calendar. In indicators as well, there are two types based on the time prospect. Among them, the one is called the leading indicators. These indicators typically change ahead of any gigantic or major economic event of adjustment. Though they change once the economic events of the pattern have already been witnessed.
The volatility factors enter here and based on that the leading indicators can be separated into three groups based on the impact that they have.
The first group is the most relevant and includes events such as the announcement of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Purchasing Manager’s Index, Unemployment rate, Initial Jobless Claims, Consumer Confidence Index, Durable Goods Orders, Home Sales, and more. They have a higher influence on the market as these data are sensitive in nature.
The second group is the group with the important and crucial data. It includes information like the Beige Book report, Housing starts, Factory Orders, Business Inventories, Federal Budget Balance, Average Hourly Earnings, and more.
In the last group comes two indicators that reflect the average price stats for consumers and producers. You may know them by the name – Consumer Price Index and Producer Price Index.
In addition to these groups, the forex calendar shows volatility expectations using three colors. The red color shows a higher impact, orange shows a medium impact, and yellow shows a lower impact.
How Forex Calendar Impact the Forex Market?
A forex calendar is full of information for traders to analyze and take profitable trades accordingly. All they need is knowledge and the skills of utilizing that information.
Forex economic calendar investing table can be marked for the weekly and monthly time frames. So, long term traders can use the forex calendar as same as day traders.
The currency market is also run by political and economic factors that very hardly impact the strength or value of a currency. A forex calendar gives information on all such events and helps in predicting minor or major changes.
As a forex trader, if you can understand and analyze such factors or indicators, you can also understand how they would impact the economy of a nation. You would also know then that how you can take advantage of these changes in your trading.
These indicators state how a currency would be valued at a certain point in time. Also, an economic indicator states the health stats of a nation, which impacts the currency, so what’s better than analyzing it, right?
Though the total or overall health of an economy is impacted by a variety of events that tend to change at a rapid rate. And nowadays, online forex calendars are so fastly updated that they reflect such changes on a real-time basis which eventually helps traders in making decisions regarding their trades.
Let us understand this concept with an example.
The trade balance between the two countries states how much demand and supply are there between those two countries. So, if the demand is higher for one country’s goods and services, the currency of that country would appreciate in value. So, the citizens of the other country would have to pay more for buying goods.
In general, a country with a big trade deficit is said to have high volumes of imports of international goods or services. Such a nation would have to sell its own currency to purchase the currency of that other nation in the international market to balance the trade deficit. It would impact the overall economy of that nation negatively.
A forex calendar shows such news and traders take their trades accordingly, which impacts the overall trade situation in the long term. Apart from this, other particulars like political change, international trade, economic data release, capital markets, economic outlook, etc. also impact the economy of a nation which eventually has its toll on the forex market.
For a forex trader, economic reports are like the main essence behind each precise move and forex calendars are a medium to get such reports and valuable information.
There are a bunch of global events that affect the financial markets, whether it is the forex market, equity market, or commodity market. Even if you use tools like fundamental or technical analysis, using and learning how to trade an economic calendar is of at most importance.
An economic calendar is the calendar of forthcoming economic events that happen across the globe and is likely to have an impact on various financial markets like currency, stocks, indices, bonds, and more. In any of the markets you trade, at any time, you have to keep yourself updated with the daily news. Even for long term investors, being updated with the major economic events can have significant effects.
All the mentioned events are the drivers of volatility and have a big impact on the forex market. Especially the Non-farm Payroll Data has the most impact on the market when it gets released on the first Friday of every month and states the data of the US jobs market.
How to Trade an Economic Calendar?
There are three methods through which you can trade the economic calendar.
- Intraday Trading
- Swing Trading
- Momentum Trading
The economic calendar is just another trigger in the overall trader’s strategy. Usually, traders develop a strategy using a combination of economic events and technical analysis. Suppose your strategy based on technical analysis shows that security should be bought. In that case, the economic event can delay the purchase or can be used as a catalyst to increase position size if the economic event follows the primary trend.
How to trade an economic calendar example:
Trader trade EURUSD. Price is 1.3 and the main trend is bullish. Price is around the highest high in the last 7 days. NFP economic report is excellent for the US economy, the number of jobs in the US economy over the last month is increased. The trader enters into a position right after the news because the economic event confirms the trend and the trader’s plan based on technical analysis.
If the NFP report is bad for the US economy, the trader will be flat. The trader will not trade because the technical analysis plan is not confirmed using fundamental analysis (economic event).
Why Should You Use a Forex Calendar?
Even though the usage or importance of forex or economic calendars is not underrated, many forex traders still are unaware of utilizing it for the best. A forex calendar is probably not the answer to all your questions but it definitely is the information giver you need as a trader to trade it in the market in your favor.
As a forex trader, your job is to understand the chart patterns and signals provided by the economic calendar and make your forecast and trading pattern based on it. It would help you to know when to enter the market and when to exit it in a way that you can feel the most advantageous and can control your losses if any. All you have to do is synchronize your trading pattern with the economic moves or events and trade that information at the right time.
Forex calendar is also useful for traders that are involved in short selling. For example, if you are aware of an economic event that is going to prove negative for a nation, you can sell that currency in the forex market to take advantage.
Being said that, to predict such moves, you also need to have enough skills to implement that at the correct time.
In the forex market, a forex trader needs to know three important aspects of data given on the forex calendar. Those three factors are the preceding period, the current period, and the analysts’ estimation for any specific data.
If you keep yourself updated with these data points, you can easily ace the trading and earn a profit based on the forex calendar information. In this prospect, the forex calendar also helps traders in knowing how much volatility if any would be triggered by the event or report release.
The Bottom Line
If you are also an aspiring forex trader and want to conquer this field with consistent profit and trading, the forex calendar can be your best friend that would help you throughout your journey and on which you can rely on.
Once you understand the basics of a forex calendar, trading patterns would become easier to identify. All you have to do is spare a few minutes daily to read and implement the forex data gathered from the forex calendar and analyze its impact on the currency you trade.
It would also help you with learning key economic indicators and read between the lines of your preferred currency and the national health of a country. The more accuracy you get in predicting the information and its impact, the better your trades would become.
But yes, all these won’t happen overnight. Give yourself the time to learn the concepts, and eventually, you would be ahead of others. We wish you the best for your future endeavors and trading discoveries!
