Using the economic calendar

Big price moves often arrive at times published days in advance. Five minutes with the calendar shows you when.

Reading a row

An economic calendar lists each release with:

• Time, in your platform’s time zone. Check which one.
• Currency affected directly.
• Impact rating, usually one to three marks. Three means the release can move the market sharply.
• Previous: last period’s figure.
• Forecast: the consensus of economists’ expectations. The market has priced this in.
• Actual: filled in at release time. The gap between actual and forecast is the surprise.

The surprise, scaled by the impact rating, is what drives the reaction.

Ranking the day

Not every three-mark event matters to you. Filter by the currencies in the pairs you trade. If you trade EUR/USD, a USD release matters; a GBP release matters only indirectly. Then rank:

1. Central-bank decisions and speeches.
2. Inflation (CPI).
3. Jobs reports.
4. Everything else, which rarely matters unless it confirms a theme.

Try it

Time	Cur.	Impact	Event	Previous	Forecast	Actual
13:30	USD	●●●	CPI (inflation, year on year)	3.2%	3.1%	—
13:30	USD	●●●	Non-farm payrolls (jobs added)	185k	170k	—
19:00	USD	●●●	Fed interest rate decision	4.5%	4.5%	—
13:30	USD	●●●	GDP growth (quarterly, annualised)	2.1%	2.4%	—
13:30	USD	●●●	Unemployment rate	3.9%	3.9%	—
09:30	GBP	●●●	Manufacturing PMI	50.2	50.5	—

Actual figure:

A typical calendar day. Tap a row to load it, then choose the actual figure. Reactions are illustrative; real moves depend on context.

Tap a different row and watch how it changes the forecast, the step size and the direction that counts as “good” for the currency. The unemployment rate is the one where a higher number weakens the currency.

Quick check

1. Question 1 of 3

   Which column tells you what the market has already priced in?

   APreviousBForecastCImpact

Go deeper: The four forex sessions and when the market really moves · How to Read an Economic Calendar