An economic calendar lists every scheduled release and central bank event, with times, the currency affected and how much it's likely to move markets. Checking it should be the first thing you do before every session, before you even open a chart.
| Time (NY) | Currency | Impact | Event | Actual | Forecast | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02:00 | GBP | GDP m/m | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.0% | |
| 05:00 | EUR | CPI flash estimate y/y | 2.4% | 2.3% | 2.2% | |
| 08:30 | USD | Non-farm payrolls | — | 180K | 165K | |
| 08:30 | USD | Unemployment rate | — | 4.1% | 4.1% | |
| 08:30 | CAD | Employment change | — | 20.0K | 15.2K | |
| 10:00 | USD | Factory orders m/m | — | 0.3% | -0.5% |
Reading each column
- Time: set the calendar to your own time zone, or to New York time if you follow ICT.
- Currency: the currency most directly affected. A USD event affects every USD pair, US indices and gold.
- Impact: how much the event typically moves price. Focus on high-impact events for your markets.
- Forecast and previous: what the market expects, and last month's figure (which may be revised).
- Actual: the released number. Compare it with the forecast to judge the surprise.
A pre-session routine
- Check today's and tomorrow's high-impact events for every currency in your markets.
- Note their times in your own time zone, and mark them on your charts.
- Decide in advance: will you be flat, reduce size, or trade the reaction?
- Check for central bank speakers, and for holidays that thin out liquidity.
- If you trade an evaluation account, check your firm's news-trading rules.
Key takeaways
- An economic calendar lists scheduled releases with time, currency, impact, forecast, previous and actual.
- Check it before every session, for every currency your markets depend on.
- Decide in advance whether you'll be flat, smaller or trading the reaction around each high-impact event.
- Unscheduled news is never on the calendar, so size risk to survive surprises.