Economic calendars are essential tools for forex traders. They provide exact times for announcements that could affect market volatility and are essential tools in any trader’s toolbox. Economic calendars typically feature major economic events like GDP reports, interest rate decisions, employment figures and inflation data – they may even include central bank speeches and major events with an effectful influence on global economies.
Most traders make it a habit to check the Economic Calendar both morning and evening to stay abreast of market developments, effectively managing risk by being aware of when and how a high-impact event may impact existing positions.
By understanding how economic news and releases affect markets, beginner traders can gain a deeper insight into what drives currency prices in particular directions. They can use an Economic Calendar to study price patterns and anticipate any possible trends that might emerge before an important release takes place.
Customisable Economic Calendars can save time and reduce stress. They let you organize economic events and market moving data in a manner that suits your trading style and strategy, with filtering options such as timeframe, country or category filtering to help narrow your search to the most relevant data for trading plans. Some calendars even classify each event into categories of high, medium and low impact on the market to illustrate potential market implications of each event.
Most economic data and events listed on the Economic Calendar are associated with specific currencies and countries, making it easier for you to zero in on those events and data that matter most for your trading plan. For instance, nonfarm payrolls reports from the United States are highly anticipated as they measure changes to employment statistics. The Economic Calendar will display scheduled release dates/times as well as previous values, forecasted values and actual values that show you what to expect upon release of each report or data release; previous values represent recently released information; forecasted values represent market expectations while actual values will show you when released; previous value indicates recent data released whilst forecasted values reflect market expectations while actual values represent what will actually appear once published once it has been released;
Forex market participants rely on a range of data releases, including GDP, unemployment, inflation and interest rate decisions as the cornerstones for decisions on interest rate decisions and economic activity. Other data releases such as manufacturing trade wholesale consumer prices can have an effect on market volatility that traders closely watch out for.
Example: If unemployment in the US were to increase, this may cause interest rates in that country to rise and this may in turn have an immediate effect on the USD, leading it to strengthen against other major currencies. Other data like GDP may also have an indirect influence on currency market.