How to Use the Forex Factory Calendar with Step By Step Guide

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Many traders think that fundamental news and economic data is only valuable for fundamental analysis traders. Although it is true that fundamental news is relevant only for fundamental analysis traders, technical analysis traders should also consider the possible ramifications of a fundamental news that points to a direction going against a trade.

Economic data is a big factor in how the forex market works. Currencies strengthen or weaken because of news releases regarding such economic data. Forex pairs move in a certain direction because of such strengthening or weakening of a currency caused by such news releases.

As such, even technical traders should consider these news releases when making a trade decision. Most astute traders would prefer to avoid trading a forex pair if an upcoming big impact news release may affect one of the underlying currencies being traded. For example, if a fundamental news regarding the US economy is coming out, traders may avoid trading any forex pair which includes the US Dollar.

So, how would we know if a news release regarding a certain forex currency is coming out? There are different sites on the internet where we can find such calendar of events. The Forex Factory calendar is one of the most popular.

Forex Factory Calendar and How to Use It

The Forex Factory Calendar is a calendar of economic events and economic news releases which can be found in www.forexfactory.com. It includes all economic news releases, central bank news releases and press conferences that may affect a currency that are scheduled for the month and more.

Step 1 – The Homepage

Below is an example of what a Forex Factory homepage looks like.

Forex Factory Calendar Homepage

It includes the economic news releases for the day, which is a snapshot of the Economic Calendar.

Step 2 – The Calendar

Traders may also click the Calendar tab which should bring them to the Economic Calendar page.

Forex Factory Economic Calendar

The Economic Calendar page shows us the Economic Calendar excluding all the other features of the Forex Factory website.

Step 3 – The Fundamental and Economic News

Economic Calendar Features

This page shows us the fundamental and economic news releases for the week. This includes the exact time of the news release, the currency that may be affected, the expected impact of such news release, the news release itself, the forecasted economic data if it applies, the result of the previous economic data release, and the actual data if it is already released.

Step 4 – The Impact News

The color of the tabs found on the “Impact” column indicate the potential impact of a particular news release. Red indicates a high impact news release, orange indicates a moderate impact news release, while yellow indicates a low impact news release.

high impact news

Traders may also filter the types of fundamental news releases that they would want to see. This is based on the Expected Impact, Currencies, and Event Types. This is done by clicking the “Filter” button on the upper right corner of the Economic Calendar, checking and unchecking the boxes depending on the trader’s needs, and clicking on “Apply Filter”. This streamlines the news that a trader would see depending on what is needed.

Step 5 – The News Detail

Apply Filter

Traders could also explore the details of the fundamental news release in order to understand how it could impact a certain currency. This is done by clicking on the folder icon under the “Details” column.

Step 6 – The News Overview

Details

Under the “Details” tab, we will see the “Specs”, which contain the actual details of a news release and some information on how it could affect a currency, the “History”, which shows the various results of previous news releases including the Actual, Forecast and Previous data, as well as Related Stories, which traders may read in order to get a feel as to how major market players view the upcoming news release. New traders should also read the “Usual Effect” portion on the Specs tab as it gives traders a quick information on how the numbers affect a currency.

Step 7 – The Graph

Traders may also click on the graph icon under the “Graph” column. This would show a graph of the historical results of previous news releases and how the forecasted and previous results relate to the actual results.

Graph

Step 8 – The Strengthening or Weakening Currency

As a side note, the color of the numbers released under the “Actual” column would indicate whether the data could contribute to the strengthening or weakening of a currency. Green indicates that the data could strengthen the currency and red indicates that the data could weaken the currency.

. Green indicates that the data could strengthen the currency and red indicates that the data could weaken the currency.

Given the depth of information provided by this page, traders can already have enough information whether to take a trade or avoid it.

Step 9 – Upcoming News Release

Traders may also scan through fundamental news releases from prior weeks as well as see the upcoming news releases weeks ahead. This is done by cycling through the left and right arrows found on the upper left corner of the Economic Calendar.

scan through fundamental news releases

Step 10 – Upcoming News Release Planning

Traders may also jump to certain dates by clicking the exact date they would want to check found on the calendar on the upper left corner of the page. They may click the dates within the current month or cycle through the months whether forward or back.

current month news

Step 11 – News Period Coverage

Traders may also opt to view the different periods, whether it is today’s news, tomorrow, this week’s, next week’s, this month’s, or next month’s news release. This can be done by clicking on the preferred period covered on the left corner of the page.

view different periods news

Step 12 – Time Zone Setting

Traders may also change the “Time Zone” settings in order to synchronize the time of the news release with their local time. This is very convenient as it would be easier for traders from different time zones to monitor certain news releases. This is done by clicking the time on the upper right corner of the page and selecting the appropriate time zone.

Time Zone settings

 Conclusion

The Forex Factory calendar is a very handy tool for fundamental and technical traders alike. Fundamental traders could make use of the economic data to help them make their fundamental analysis-based decisions.

Technical analysts on the other hand may use the calendar to help them decide to make a trade or avoid a trade due to an upcoming news release. Technical traders may opt to avoid trading a few hours prior to a news release whenever a high impact news release is coming up, avoid trading for the day when a central bank press conference is on schedule, close a trade in profit whenever a news release is coming and avoid sudden reversals or avoid the volatility that comes along with a news release.

Fundamental and technical traders may also learn how certain fundamental news could affect a currency, which is a wealth of knowledge in itself. This kind of information used to be available only to big institutional traders working for big banks. Why not use it and learn from it?

Read more about other Forex Factory Trading Tools

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