The economic calendar lists scheduled data releases and central bank decisions. These events can move currency prices by dozens of pips in seconds, so knowing when they happen is basic risk management — even if you never trade the news.
The columns
- Time — when the figure is released (check your time zone setting).
- Currency — which currency the event mainly affects.
- Importance — usually low, medium or high.
- Actual / Forecast / Previous — the released figure, the consensus expectation, and the prior reading.
Surprise matters more than the number
Markets price in the forecast before the release. What moves prices is the surprise: the gap between actual and forecast. A strong jobs number that was fully expected may barely move the dollar; a small miss on an important figure can move it sharply.
The events that matter most
- Central bank rate decisions (Fed, ECB, Bank of England, Bank of Japan) and the press conferences that follow.
- Inflation — CPI and PCE releases.
- Employment — especially the US non-farm payrolls report.
- GDP and business surveys such as PMIs.
Practical tips
- Check the calendar before opening a trade, and know which events fall inside the time you expect to hold it.
- Spreads often widen around high-impact releases, and stop losses can be filled at worse prices (slippage).
- If you are learning, it is perfectly reasonable to stay flat around major releases.
You can see the live calendar on our Markets page.