This Forex economic calendar shows the times and level of importance of every fundamental news announcements scheduled for release during today's global trading sessions. It should be the first thing that every Forex trader refers to before every currency trading session, especially for anyone who focuses on day trading who will likely be impacted the most.

Why Forex Traders Use a Calendar

In the Forex, major fundamental news is a major driver in the direction of the markets - often capable of ending old long term trends or breathing new life into an existing trend. Whether you plan to trade around the time of a major news release or not is a choice depending on your own style and approach. Some traders make their entire living off of capitalizing on market reactions to major fundamental news while others steer clear altogether and make the bulk of trading income during slow and relatively stable market conditions.

For long term traders (daily time frame and above), the large moves in currency pairs spurred by economic news announcements may not make as much of a difference but it's worth keeping an eye out in case a major unexpected release sparks the beginning of a major reversal that may go against your initial trade assessment.

In general, economic news announcements affect day traders in Forex the most - traders who rely on intraday price action to make entry and exit decisions. For some, news trading is a core style unto itself. For others, the times scheduled for a major Forex economic news release or event is viewed as a span of 15 to 30 minutes to avoid trading altogether. It's worth noting that if you intend to trade around news time using intraday methods, it would be advisable to make sure your Forex broker is a true ECN that facilitates news trading... or, at the very least, won't widen the spread to ridiculous levels during spikes in volatility. As a rule of thumb, most dealing desk and some STP brokers may either re-quote (avoids filling orders) or forbid news trading altogether by reversing profits attained from a news release's volatility spike.

The most important thing for Forex traders of all levels to remember is that the scheduled times for major economic news and events will most often cause a spike in volatility (sharp, large rises and drops in price) on all currency pairs that involve the countries and governments impacted by the news or event. For example, economic news in the European Union will affect all of the Euro pairs and crosses, such as EUR/USD and EUR/JPY.