Before you trade a currency

Winner winner, chicken dinner

1. Who is the winner today?
   Currency Heat Map
   Currency Strong vs Weak
   
2. Who the banks thinks is the winner today?
   Sentiment (more shorts, Banks will go long and vice versa)
   
3. How liquid is Forex overall?
   Euro FX VIX ($EVZ)
4. Which news events are going on/coming?
   Daily FX Calendar
   Forex Factory Calendar

Which News to avoid?

• Elections - avoid trading 4 days before and after
• US - no trades at all
• Other - no trades in that currency
• News events - avoid NEW trades 12h before and after occuring
• (all) - Interest Rates
• USD - NFP (NonFarm Payrolls), FED speaks, CPI (Consumer Price Index)
• EUR - ECB speaks
• GBP - GDP (Gross Domestic Products)
• CAD - Employment, Retails Sales, CPI (Consumer Price Index)
• AUD - Employment
• NZD - Employment, GDP (Gross Domestic Products), GDT (Global Dairy Trade)
• JPY
• CHF
• News events - close EXISTING trades
• Trade is already losing → exit
• Trade is winning < 1 ATR → exit
• Trade is winning > 1 ATR → partial sell 50%, set to break even, continue with trailing stop

Intraday ATR Spreads

• Max Spread in percent of ATR
• 1m < 35%
• 5m < 30%
• 15m < 25%
• 30m < 20%
• 1H < 15%
• 4H < 10%