Multiple factors affect Forex and CFD markets, such as economic reports, speeches by politicians, sentiment indices, calculated by research centers, economic agencies and others. Briefly these are called news. News varies based on importance degree, influence on various currencies and others. Some traders start trading as soon as news is published; others try to avoid such timing. In any case, it is important to know the importance, influence and value of news.
The Structure of an Effective Economic Calendar
Many websites have an “Economic Calendar” section. However, in most cases it is not user friendly, or news are not reflected according to the level of importance. Let us analyze one of the most accurate options of an economic calendar - IFC Markets economic calendar.
First and foremost, it allows setting your clock so that the time of news issue coincides with client’s time zone. The calendar allows setting the news for a given date: past, present, future (one can choose from a drop down menu).
Economic calendar consists of information columns that are easily understood. The first column is the time of issue; second are the country and currency affected; third is the importance level: low, medium and high. Forth column is the news headline, while the fifth- – month, quarter or year, which evaluates news. Further on is the news value: sixth- previous value, seventh – forecasted one and the eighth – current value (news value).
It is noteworthy that the current value of issued data is highlighted by different colors for convenience: lower the forecast, above the forecast or neutral.
Influence of the Global News on Currency
Every trader should know that news related to the US Dollar influences not only the Dollar itself, but all other currencies and gold. News related to the currency influences only pairs with this currency. It makes sense to pay special attention to the news with high degree of importance.
It is preferable not to trade 20 minutes before and 20 minutes after an important news release. There is no need to forecast news impact as it is an almost impossible task. So while the news it is better not to trade and wait until the market calms down.
IFC Markets is a leading innovative financial company, offering private and corporate investors wide set of trading and analytical tools. The company provides its clients with Forex and CFD trading through its own-generated trading platform NetTradeX, which is available on PC, iOS, Android and Mobile. The company also offers MT4 platform available on PC, Mac OS, iOS, Android, Mobile and Smartphone. For comparison of the platforms, you can observe the advantages of both.