Forex Economic Calendar

Scheduled economic releases and central bank events for the week ahead. Below the calendar is a guide to reading it — which events matter, what the columns mean, and what to do about a position you're already holding.

Calendar data and widget provided by TradingView. Times shown follow your browser's timezone. Data may be delayed or revised — verify anything critical against the issuing agency.

Why a technical trader still needs this

You can trade purely from charts and never form a view on monetary policy. What you cannot do is pretend the calendar doesn't exist, because a scheduled release is the one moment when price reliably ignores the level you were trading. A support zone that held five times will not hold through a rate decision, and a stop loss placed just beyond it can be jumped entirely rather than filled.

Used defensively, the calendar answers one question before you enter: is there anything scheduled between now and where I expect this trade to finish? That single check prevents the most avoidable category of loss in retail trading — being surprised by something that was published on a public schedule weeks in advance. As covered in Technical vs Fundamental Analysis, the two approaches don't compete here; one describes the terrain and the other tells you when the terrain is about to be rearranged.

How to read the columns

Impact. Usually shown as three levels or a colour. Low-impact items rarely move a major pair at all. Treat high-impact rows as the only ones that need a decision from you.
Actual. The number just released. Blank until publication.
Forecast (consensus). What economists expected. This is the critical column, because markets have already positioned for it. Price reacts to the gap between actual and forecast, not to whether the number is good in absolute terms — strong data that misses a stronger forecast will sell the currency off.
Previous. Last period's figure, sometimes marked as revised. Large revisions to the previous number can move price as much as the new one, and they're easy to miss.

Which releases actually move price

Central bank rate decision

All majors

The single biggest driver in forex. Rates set the return on holding a currency, so a surprise — or a shift in the language of the accompanying statement — reprices the pair immediately. The decision itself is often already priced in; the move usually comes from the tone of the press conference that follows.

Interest Rates and Central Banks →

Inflation (CPI)

USD, EUR, GBP

Inflation is what forces a central bank's hand, so CPI is really a forecast of the next rate decision. A hot print pulls rate-hike expectations forward and typically strengthens the currency; a soft one does the reverse.

Employment data (US Non-Farm Payrolls)

USD, and therefore everything

Released on the first Friday of the month, NFP produces the most violent scheduled move of the month in dollar pairs. Spreads widen sharply in the seconds around it and stops are frequently jumped rather than filled at the level set.

GDP

All majors

A broad measure of economic health. It moves markets less than CPI or employment because it is backward-looking and often heavily trailed by earlier data, but a large miss still repositions the currency.

PMI and business surveys

EUR, GBP, AUD

Forward-looking sentiment surveys published before the hard data. The 50 level divides expansion from contraction, and crossing it matters more than the exact number.

Retail sales

USD, GBP, AUD

A read on consumer demand, which drives most developed economies. Moderate impact on its own, but it shifts expectations for the GDP and inflation numbers that follow.

Three ways traders handle a high-impact release

Stand aside. Close or avoid opening positions on the affected pair shortly before the release, and return once spreads normalise. The most common choice among experienced discretionary traders, and the only one with no tail risk.
Hold, with the position sized for it. If your trade is a multi-day one, exiting around every release isn't practical. The adjustment is size, not timing: reduce the position so that a gap through your stop is survivable, and accept that your stop is an intention rather than a guarantee. See Risk Management Basics and Spread and Slippage.
Trade the release deliberately. The hardest of the three and not a beginner strategy. Spreads widen by multiples, slippage is routine, and the first move frequently reverses within minutes as the details of the report are digested. If you do this, plan for execution quality that has nothing in common with your backtest.

If you run automated strategies, note that an Expert Advisor has no idea a release is coming. It will keep opening positions into a rate decision unless you stop it or code a news filter — one of the more common ways a robot that tested well loses a month of gains in ten minutes.