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What is the biggest “market moving event” of the month typically?
By Sean Hyman | June 5, 2009
NFP: Non-Farm Payrolls in the U.S.
This event draws traders like bugs to a light.
However, it’s not always the most prudent thing to trade, especially for newer traders. Why? The volume can be thin before and during the event and even up to about 30 minutes to an hour or so afterwards.
You see, the big banks usually stop making new trades in the marker WELL BEFORE the NFP announcement because they don’t want to put on their huge trades (usually a billion units or more, no lie) right before an “unknown” like this. The pros aren’t much on gambling on what they don’t know and can’t quantify.
No, they want to know what they are facing before placing trades. So since the “big boys” are out of the picture, so is a lot of the “huge” fx volume that we’re all so accustomed to most of the time.
Why the huge draw to NFP? Because, since the volume is thin and the numbers can routinely come out well off of expectations, it set up an environment for huge pip moves. Take a look at the last NFP for EUR/USD. This pair normally moves an average of 180 pips over 24 hours right now. However, upon the NFP announcement, it moved well over 215 pips.
If you dare to trade this event…be aware that you should trade FAR FEWER lots than you normally trade…and stops would have to be wide. Be comfortable with the potential dollar loss that could happen and make sure it is no more than 5% OR LESS of your account equity. Get a demo to trade, here: http://www.fxedu.com/practice-forex-account
Tags: account, bank, blog, demo, dollar, EUR, forex, forextrading, fx, fxedu, Hyman, lot, minutes, nfp, pair, payrolls, pip, pips, practice, Sean, Sean Hyman, time, trade, trader, trades, U.S., USD, volume
Topics: What To Look At In The Market | 1 Comment »
June 6th, 2009 at 10:19 am
Oh yeah. I like that 500pips+ GBPJPY moves. Can be against you as well