What is an economic calendar?
An economic calendar lists the scheduled releases of economic data and the dates of central bank rate decisions. Traders use it to know when a market-moving number is due, so a release does not catch them by surprise with an open trade.
What do High, Medium and Low impact mean?
Each event carries a TradingBox impact rating, shown as one to three bars. It is our own judgement of how closely forex and gold traders usually watch that release, not a prediction of what the market will do.
- High: Non-Farm Payrolls, CPI and Core CPI, GDP, Core PCE, and the Fed, ECB, Bank of England and Bank of Japan rate decisions
- Medium: the unemployment rate, average hourly earnings, PPI, the PCE price index, retail sales and the FOMC minutes
- Low: weekly initial jobless claims
Use the filters above the table to show only the impact levels and currencies you trade.
The main releases
- Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP): the monthly change in U.S. jobs outside farming, released with the unemployment rate and wage growth
- CPI: the U.S. consumer price index, the most watched measure of inflation; Core CPI leaves out food and energy
- GDP: the growth of the U.S. economy over a quarter, shown as an annualized rate
- FOMC: the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision, with a statement on its outlook
- ECB, BoE and BoJ: the rate decisions of the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan, which matter most for EUR, GBP and JPY pairs
How news can affect forex and gold
Around a major release, prices can move quickly in either direction. Spreads often widen, orders can fill at a worse price than requested (slippage), and price can jump past a stop loss. U.S. releases affect every pair that includes USD, and they often move gold too, because gold is priced in U.S. dollars. A number that differs from what the market expected can cause a larger move, but no calendar can tell you which way price will go.
Reading the table
- Time: shown in your local time. “approx.” means the source gives only an approximate time, as with Bank of Japan decisions.
- Actual: the released figure. Before release it shows a dash; just after the scheduled time it shows Waiting until the number arrives.
- Colours: a released figure turns green when it is usually read as supportive for its currency compared with the previous figure, and red when it is usually read as negative. Rate rises are green, cuts are red. It is not a trading signal.
- Weeks: use the arrows, swipe or the arrow keys to move one week back or forward, up to a month each way.
- Forecast: shown only when an official nowcast exists. Hover over it to see the source.
- Previous: the figure from the last release.
- Events that have already been released turn grey.
Limits of this calendar
It covers U.S. data and the four central banks above, not every country. Official agencies sometimes move a release date, revise earlier figures, or publish late, and our data can arrive a few minutes after the official release. Central bank decisions are read from each bank's own announcement, usually within minutes, and checked again against the bank's official rate data a few days later. For anything important, check the linked official source. The calendar is information, not a signal to trade.
Frequently asked questions
Which time zone are the times in?
Your own. The page reads your device's time zone and converts every release time to it, including daylight-saving changes.
Where does the data come from?
Official sources only: U.S. statistics agencies through FRED, and the published meeting calendars of the Federal Reserve, ECB, Bank of England and Bank of Japan. Each event links to its own explanation page, which lists the official source at the bottom.
Why is the forecast often empty?
We only show a forecast when an official public nowcast exists, such as the Atlanta Fed GDPNow estimate for GDP. We do not publish our own guesses or copy forecasts from other sites.
How quickly do actual numbers appear?
We check for new figures every minute for the first 30 minutes after a release, then every 10 minutes. The Actual column shows Waiting during those first 30 minutes until the number arrives.
Is the calendar free?
Yes. The calendar is free to use and needs no account.
Is this financial advice?
No. The calendar is information and education. It does not tell you whether or how to trade.
Keep learning
Sizing a trade around news? Use the lot size calculator to keep the risk the same whatever your stop distance. To learn how releases fit into a trading plan, see the guides or the Academy.
New to trading around news? Read our guide How to use an economic calendar: which releases move forex and gold, what happens around them and how to plan for them. For the US jobs report, see NFP day: what happens to forex and gold.
Trading involves a high risk of loss. This calendar is a tool, not advice. See the Risk Disclaimer.