The economic calendar lists every scheduled release with its time, the currency affected, its expected impact and the forecast and previous values. You will find it under Tools & Services.

Reading an entry

• Time: shown in your local time zone.
• Currency: which currency, and therefore which pairs and indices, it affects.
• Impact: high, medium or low. High-impact events move markets; low ones rarely matter.
• Forecast / previous / actual: compare actual with forecast to judge the surprise.
• Restricted: events that pause trading on funded Standard accounts.

A weekly routine

1. Sunday or Monday: filter by high impact. Note the days with central bank decisions, inflation and jobs data.
2. Each morning: check the day's events for the currencies you trade.
3. Before each trade: if a high-impact event is due before your stop or target is likely to be reached, either trade smaller, tighten your plan or wait.

Around the release

• Spreads widen in the minutes before and after big releases.
• Prices can jump past stops, so a stop may fill worse than its level.
• The first move is not always the real move; a spike is often reversed within minutes.

The safest habit for most traders: be flat or have stops well protected before high-impact releases on the currencies you trade.