Forex Why do traders care about the economic calendar?

FXOchartist

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Surely forex traders are familiar with the term economic calendar. However, new or novice traders may still not understand the importance of the economic calendar for trading purposes. Why is the economic calendar important for trader tools the economic data released often has a high influence on currencies. Therefore, it is recommended to frequently check updated economic calendar schedules to prepare trading plans.

The economic calendar is a schedule of international events that contains economic news releases from various countries. One site that provides a popular economic calendar is Forefactory., and usually brokers also provide data for economic calendars for their clients including FXOpen broker.

Referring to the FXOpen blog, the main keys of the economic calendar are divided into several important data with high influence on currencies in the following summary:

  • GDP (Gross Domestic Product), this is an important indicator for measuring economic health, the value of goods and services produced.
  • Labor data, measuring employment figures, and unemployment rates are important economic barometers.
  • Inflation (CPI/PPI), Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) data are often used to measure the rate of inflation which may affect currency values.
  • Central Bank Interest Rates. Central bank decisions to increase or cut interest rates have a high impact on currencies.
  • Manufacturing and Services PMIs. This data is used to measure business conditions, values above 50 expansion, below 50 contraction.
  • Retail Sales, this data measures consumer spending patterns that reflect economic conditions of growth or contraction

The important economic data mentioned above often causes market volatility to increase and provides opportunities for traders, but sometimes the influence of the news is difficult to predict because the market response to the news may vary, and for this reason, some technical traders choose to wait and see when there is high impact news that will be released.
 
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