Intermediate course
Trading the News
What happens to prices, spreads and orders when economic data and rate decisions are released, and how to plan your trading around them in your own time zone.
7 lessons · 70 minutes · Free
Free. Enrol to open the lessons; your progress and certificate are saved to your account.
Free certificate
Mark every lesson complete and pass the final quiz with 70% or more to get a certificate of completion. You can download it as a PDF or share it on LinkedIn.
Get your certificateA few minutes each month do a large share of the moving in currency markets, and they are published in advance. This course is about those minutes: why prices jump when a number comes out, what that does to your spread and your stop, and what you can do about it beforehand.
It builds on the Fundamental Analysis lessons on the calendar, central banks, inflation and jobs data, and on the news lesson in Trading Strategies. There is no forecasting here. The work is in the preparation.
Lessons
- 1Why prices jump on releasesA release moves a currency by the part the market did not expect, and it does so in one jump. Learn what is already in the price and what is not.
- 2Spreads and slippage at news timeIn the release minute spreads widen, stops slip and prices gap. Learn why, and what it costs a real position in dollars.
- 3Rate decisions and press conferencesA central bank meeting is three events in one. Learn why the decision is often the quiet part and the press conference brings the second move.
- 4Surprise versus forecastThe headline is only part of a release. Learn to size a surprise, count revisions to earlier months and read a report whose parts disagree.
- 5Avoid, wait or trade: three approachesStay flat, wait for the first move to settle, or trade the release at reduced size. Learn what each one costs and how to size the last two from the same risk budget.
- 6A news-day checklistKnow the release time where you live, deal with pending orders and open positions, and check your margin before the number lands.
- 7Course check: test yourselfFlashcards for the news-trading vocabulary, and ten questions on surprises, spreads, slippage, rate decisions, the three approaches and news-day preparation.