Scheduled economic releases cause the biggest intraday moves in forex and gold. Learn which events matter, why prices jump, and how traders prepare.
Twice a month or more, a few minutes of economic news can move gold or a major currency pair more than the rest of the day combined. For automated strategies, these moments are the biggest source of both opportunity and damage.
Why prices jump on news
Markets price in what they expect. Before a release, analysts publish a forecast, and prices already reflect it. When the actual number differs from the forecast - a "surprise" - traders reprice instantly. The size of the move depends on how big the surprise is and how important the data is to interest-rate expectations.
Which events matter most
For USD pairs and gold, the heavy hitters are:
- Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) - US jobs, first Friday of the month.
- CPI - inflation, which directly feeds interest-rate expectations.
- FOMC rate decisions and the Fed chair's press conference.
- ISM Manufacturing and Services PMI - business surveys.
- Retail Sales and GDP.
For EUR and GBP, the ECB and Bank of England decisions, their CPI releases and PMIs matter in the same way.
What happens in the market around news
- Spreads widen. Liquidity providers pull back seconds before the release.
- Slippage increases. Stop orders may fill several dollars away on gold.
- Price can spike both ways. A first move in one direction is often reversed within minutes.
- Volatility stays high for 15-60 minutes after big releases.
How automated strategies handle news
Most professional EAs include a news filter: no new trades from a set time before an event until a set time after it. A few design points matter:
- Use a reliable calendar. MetaTrader 5 has a built-in calendar that EAs can read directly.
- Mind the time zone. Calendar times in MT5 are in the broker's server time, not GMT. Mixing them up shifts every pause by hours - the EA then trades straight through the release and stops for no reason later.
- Filter by importance and currency. A low-impact Australian release does not need to stop a gold system; US CPI does.
- Decide what happens to open trades. Some systems close before news, others keep positions but stop adding.
Should you trade news at all?
Some strategies are built for it, using breakout orders around the release. Most are not. If your backtest was run on data that included news spikes, check what share of the losses came from those few minutes. You may find a simple news pause improves results without changing anything else.
Trading forex and gold carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for every investor. Past performance and backtests do not guarantee future results. This article is education, not financial advice.