Economic Calendar for Forex Traders

Not all economic events move the market equally. Use the impact filters to focus on what matters most to your trading strategy:

• High Impact (red) — Major market movers like Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP), interest rate decisions, and CPI releases. Most forex traders plan their week around these events.
• Medium Impact (orange) — Events that can cause moderate volatility, such as PMI data, retail sales, and employment changes. Worth monitoring if you trade the affected currency pair.
• Low Impact (yellow) — Rarely causes significant price movement on its own, but provides useful context for overall economic sentiment.

If you primarily trade EUR/USD and GBP/USD, filter the calendar to show only USD, EUR, and GBP events. This removes irrelevant noise and helps you focus on the economic releases that directly affect your open positions and planned entries.

The red countdown at the top of the calendar displays the time remaining until the next high-impact release. Use this to:

• Avoid opening new positions too close to a major economic release
• Tighten stop losses before scheduled high-impact news
• Close positions if you prefer not to hold through volatile news events

Each economic event on the calendar displays three key data points:

• Forecast — The consensus estimate from economists. Markets have already priced in this expectation before the release.
• Previous — The result from the last reporting period. Useful for identifying trends and context.
• Actual — The real number when officially released. A significant deviation from the forecast typically triggers strong price action.

The key principle: forex markets react to the difference between Actual and Forecast, not whether the number is inherently positive or negative. A better-than-expected result strengthens the currency; worse-than-expected weakens it.

If you’re trading on a FundingTraders funded account, news trading rules apply depending on your account type. Most funded accounts restrict opening or closing positions within a window around high-impact events (typically 2–5 minutes before and after). The economic calendar helps you stay compliant by displaying all events in your local timezone with clear impact ratings. Check your account type’s specific guidelines for exact timing restrictions.

• Check the calendar every morning before your trading session. Knowing the day’s scheduled events prevents unexpected volatility from hitting open positions.
• Avoid entering trades 5–15 minutes before high-impact releases unless you have a tested news trading strategy with proper risk management.
• Use the “Today” filter for a focused view of only today’s economic events.
• Pay special attention to USD events — the US dollar is involved in over 80% of forex transactions, so USD news affects nearly every currency pair and major indices like US30 and NAS100.
• The three biggest market movers each month are interest rate decisions, Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP), and CPI inflation data. Mark these on your personal trading calendar.