How to Use an Economic Calendar to Enhance Your Trading

If you are trading any market, be it stocks or foreign exchange, you need an economic calendar. This is a schedule of dates of important news releases or events in the United States or other advanced countries that can influence the movement of forex pairs and the overall financial market. There are many places where you can keep a track of important dates, such as Bloomberg, MarketWatch, and Fortrade.

How to Read an Economic Calendar

With a basic understanding of the worldwide financial markets, you can quickly scan through an economic calendar. But what exactly would you be looking for? So, for example, if you are waiting for the Federal Reserve's next move on interest rates, you would look for the next Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) policy meeting. Or, if you want to know the next annual inflation reading in the United Kingdom, you would look for the next time the Office of National Statistics (ONS) releases the consumer price index (CPI).

Overall, any significant economic data or related events will be viewed on these calendars, such as those listed on our own economic calendar:



Clicking on one of the events will allow you to see its previous history:



As well as volatility: