What Is the Economic Calendar?
The economic calendar refers to the scheduled dates of significant releases or events that may affect the movement of individual security prices or markets as a whole. Investors and traders use the economic calendar to plan trades and portfolio reallocations and to be alert for chart patterns and indicators that may be caused or affected by these events. The economic calendar for various countries is available for free on many financial and market websites.
Key Takeaways
- The economic calendar refers to the scheduled dates of significant releases or events that may affect the movement of individual security prices or markets as a whole.
- Investors and traders use the economic calendar to plan trades and portfolio reallocations and find chart patterns and indicators that may be caused or affected by these events.
- Most of the events listed fall into two categories: projections of future financial or economic events or reports on past financial or economic events.
Understanding the Economic Calendar
Economic calendars usually focus on a given country's scheduled releases of economic reports. Examples of events on an economic calendar include weekly jobless claims, reports of new home starts, scheduled changes in the interest rate or interest rate signaling, regular reports from the Federal Reserve or other central banks, and economic sentiment surveys from specific markets and many others.
Traders and investors rely on the economic calendar to provide information and trading opportunities. Traders often move into or out of positions corresponding with an announcement of some event or with the heavy trading volume that often precedes a scheduled announcement.
The majority of the events listed fall into one of two categories: projections of future financial or economic events or reports on recent financial or economic events.
Following the economic calendar can be especially beneficial for a trader who wants to take a short position. If the trader guesses correctly about the nature of the announcement, they can open a position immediately before the scheduled announcement and then close it within hours.
Navigating the Economic Calendar
Economic calendars are available for free from financial and economic websites. These calendars vary from site to site, however. Although they are referred to as "economic calendars," the actual calendar listings depend on the website's focus and the events the users of the website are likely to be interested in.
For example, the economic calendar on many websites lists only events in the United States as these events have a large market impact. Other sites allow users to build their own economic calendar by using filters to display or hide events.
You can create your own economic calendar by visiting the websites of the agencies that affect your investments the most and finding their regularly scheduled releases. Some examples are websites for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
While these free calendars can be a helpful starting point, most traders customize a calendar of their own based on the types of trades they prefer and the asset classes and regions they are comfortable with. Moreover, a customized economic calendar doesn't need to be limited to government and central bank releases.
A trader may, for example, create an economic calendar around the major releases from oil-producing regions while also incorporating the U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly petroleum status report and the quarterly filing dates of the oil sector companies they follow. In this way, an economic calendar becomes a customizable trading tool like an indicator alert.
What Is the Economic Calendar for Forex?
The economic calendar for Forex generally follows the same events and releases as economic calendars for stocks with the addition of events and releases in the countries for the pairs being traded.
How Does the Economics Calendar Work?
An economics calendar shows scheduled events, news releases, and other regularly released data that tend to affect trading and investing.
Are Economic Indicators Released Quarterly?
Some economic indicators are released quarterly, while others are monthly reports. For example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases data on the employment situation monthly; gross domestic product is released monthly with estimates for a one-quarter period.
FAQs
An economic calendar lists out a range of different upcoming economic events, including: Economic indicators: Economic news and data such as GDP growth, inflation rates, and employment figures provide insights into the health of an economy.
How does the economic calendar work? ›
The economic calendar displays the scheduled release dates of information related to the economy that significantly impacts the financial markets. The financial markets are a news-driven supply and demand vehicle; therefore, the release of significant news or economic events will drive price movements in the market.
What is actual in economic calendar? ›
Specification of an Economic Event
The expectation is the average forecast of the top 50 analysts. This number is very important because this is the reference threshold you can use to judge the Actual release. Actual - This is the actual value when the release occurs.
How to read economic calendar forex? ›
Important parts of a forex economic calendar
- Date. This is the day the economic event or data release is scheduled to occur. ...
- Time. The time indicates when the event is expected to be released. ...
- Event. ...
- Country/Region. ...
- Event's significance. ...
- Select the desired timeframe. ...
- Apply country/region filters. ...
- Consider time zone adjustments.
The Gregorian calendar, like the Julian calendar, is a solar calendar with 12 months of 28–31 days each. The year in both calendars consists of 365 days, with a leap day being added to February in the leap years. The months and length of months in the Gregorian calendar are the same as for the Julian calendar.
How does the calendar method work? ›
If day 1 was on the 4th of the month, you'll mark X on the 22nd. So the 22nd is your last fertile day of this cycle — you can start having unprotected sex the next day. The calendar method can only predict what are most likely to be safe and unsafe days — it can't tell you for sure exactly when you're fertile.
How do you predict currency trading? ›
3 Common Ways to Forecast Currency Exchange Rates
- Purchasing Power Parity.
- Relative Economic Strength.
- Econometric Models of Forecasting Exchange Rates.
Most traders will start by choosing one longer timeframe and another shorter timeframe. As a general rule, traders use a ratio of 1:4 or 1:6 when performing multiple timeframe analysis, where a four- or six-hour chart is used as the longer timeframe, and a one-hour chart is used as the lower timeframe.
Why is the forex calendar important? ›
It helps you to anticipate market movements. By knowing when significant financial events are going to occur, you can predict potential market volatility. It enables you to manage risk more effectively. If you're aware of when high-impact data is due to be released, you can adjust your trading positions accordingly.
How does non-farm payroll affect forex? ›
How does NFP data affect forex? NFP releases have a general tendency to cause large movements in the forex market. If the Fed decides to lower interest rates to combat high unemployment, it reduces demand for the dollar, causing it's the dollar's price to fall.
A personal finance calendar is a useful tool for budgeting, saving, and investing. It can help you plan for major expenses and keep track of important days, such as tax day or events that impact the stock market.
What are the special days for forex? ›
On Tuesday trading quickens and the market experiences its first spike in activity. Market volatility on Tuesday is approximately 120-130% of what it is on Monday. This is why Tuesday is one of the best days for forex traders.
How does the money calendar work? ›
The Money Calendar uses 10 years of historic data to spot specific windows – usually 35 days or less – when certain stocks move up or down.
How does fiscal calendar work? ›
A fiscal year spans 12 months and corresponds with a company's budgeting process and financial reporting periods. Fiscal years can differ from a calendar year and are an important concern for accounting purposes because they are involved in federal tax filings, budgeting, and financial reporting requirements.
How does the calendar round work? ›
The Calendar Round is made from the interweaving of the Tzolk'in and Haab calendars. In the Calendar Round, any given combination of a Tzolk'in day with a Haab day will not repeat itself, until 52 periods of 365 days have passed.
How did the 10 month calendar work? ›
Legendary 10-month calendar
There were four months of "31" days—March, May, Quintilis, and October—called "full months" (pleni menses) and six months of "30" days—April, June, Sextilis, September, November, and December—called "hollow months" (cavi menses). These "304" days made up exactly 38 nundinal cycles.
