Trading3 min read
Which news moves your pair? Gold, indices and crosses explained
A news rule only matters for the instruments that react to the release. Here is how to map news currencies to forex pairs, gold and indices before you trade.
Economic calendars list news by currency: USD, EUR, GBP, JPY and so on. Your chart shows a pair or an instrument: EUR/USD, XAU/USD, NAS100. Connecting the two is the step most traders skip, and it is where most accidental news trades come from.
Prop firm news rules work the same way. The restriction applies to the instruments linked to the release currency. If you know which news moves your instrument, you know when you are allowed to trade it.
Forex pairs: both currencies count
A forex pair is exposed to news from both of its currencies. EUR/USD reacts to EUR and USD releases. GBP/JPY reacts to GBP and JPY. A quiet day for one currency is not a quiet day for the pair if the other currency has a red folder release.
This is the most common mistake on crosses. A trader checks the calendar for GBP, sees nothing important, and opens GBP/JPY right before a Bank of Japan decision.
Gold and silver follow the dollar
XAU/USD and XAG/USD are priced in US dollars and react strongly to US data. CPI, NFP and FOMC days bring some of the biggest moves gold makes all month. If you trade gold on a funded account, every major US release is your release too, even though the word "gold" never appears in the calendar.
Indices follow their home economy
- NAS100, US30 and SPX500 react to US releases such as CPI, NFP and FOMC.
- GER40 reacts to EUR news, especially ECB rate decisions.
- UK100 reacts to GBP news, including Bank of England decisions.
- JPN225 reacts to JPY news and Bank of Japan decisions.
Oil and crypto
Oil is priced in dollars and often moves on US data as well as on its own reports. Crypto pairs quoted in USD can also jump on big US releases. Check how your firm treats these instruments, because rules for commodities and crypto are not always the same as for forex.
A quick checklist before every trade
- Write down both currencies of the pair, or the home currency of the instrument.
- Look for red folder releases for each of them today.
- Convert the release times to your own time zone.
- Check how many minutes you have until the next one.
Let the tool do the mapping
Doing this by hand for every trade takes time, and on a busy day it is easy to miss one currency. Prop Firm News Shield does the mapping for every instrument it covers. Pick XAU/USD and it watches USD news. Pick GBP/JPY and it watches both GBP and JPY. The countdown always points at the next release that matters for the pair on your chart, under your prop firm’s rule.