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Calendar & News Events

Purpose​

Calendar & News Events is not a generic economic calendar. It is an execution context guardrail designed to protect discipline during scheduled volatility — especially for challenge traders and rule-based workflows.

Its core job is to answer:

"Are you trading during scheduled uncertainty you said you'd avoid?"

It does this by:

  • Highlighting high-impact scheduled events (CPI, NFP, FOMC, rate decisions, etc.)
  • Defining volatility windows before/after those events
  • Enforcing news-based rules via the Rules vs Reality engine
  • Creating predictable avoidance zones around high-risk periods

This is a protective layer, not a strategy or prediction tool.

What This Feature Is NOT​

To avoid confusion with full economic calendars (ForexFactory, MyFxBook, broker calendars):

It is NOT:

  • A full economic calendar with every low/medium/high event
  • A forecasting tool (no forecasts, actuals, or "beats/misses" logic)
  • A signal generator or trade idea source
  • A sentiment/positioning dashboard
  • A real-time, intraday news feed

It IS:

  • A curated list of high-impact events only
  • Integrated tightly with Rules vs Reality for:
    • time-based restrictions
    • violation detection
    • post-trade review

What the Calendar Surfaces​

The Calendar & News Events feature provides five execution-relevant elements.

1. High-Impact Events​

Curated macro events that commonly cause large moves and execution risk:

  • Monetary policy: FOMC, ECB/BOE/BOJ/RBA/SNB rate decisions, statements, minutes
  • Employment: NFP, US unemployment rate, major employment releases
  • Inflation: CPI, PPI, key CPI prints for majors (USD, EUR, GBP, etc.)
  • Growth / Activity: Major GDP releases, key retail sales, select high-impact prints

No forecasts, actual values, or previous values are stored.

2. Volatility Windows​

Every high-impact event defines a volatility window around its scheduled time:

  • Pre-event window: X minutes before event (e.g. 15 / 30 / 60)
  • Post-event window: Y minutes after event (e.g. 15 / 30 / 60)

These windows are what your rules reference and what the Rules vs Reality engine uses for violation checks.

3. Restricted News Zones (Rule-Based)​

News rules turn volatility windows into restricted zones where trading is not allowed (according to your own rules).

Typical behaviors:

  • "No trading ±30 minutes around high-impact USD events"
  • "No trades if high-impact news is within 15 minutes ahead"
  • "No trading pairs whose currencies have high-impact news within ±30 minutes"

When a trade's timestamp falls inside one of these restricted zones, Rules vs Reality flags a news violation.

4. Session Context​

Calendar data is layered on top of your session structure (Asian / London / New York):

  • Shows which sessions contain high-impact events
  • Helps reconcile session rules with news rules
  • Makes it obvious when your "normal trading hours" are mostly blocked by news

5. Visual Cueing of High-Risk Periods​

In calendar or timeline views, the feature visually marks elevated-risk windows:

  • Red/blocked bands around news times
  • Event markers at release timestamps
  • Shaded ranges during pre/post volatility windows

How to Use It​

1. Pre-Session: Scan the Day​

Before trading:

  1. Open calendar view or widget.
  2. Look at today's high-impact events and their windows.
  3. Mark restricted zones based on your rules (e.g. ±30 minutes).
  4. Decide whether to trade at all today and which hours are realistically "clean."

2. During Session: Guardrails Against Impulses​

When a setup appears:

  1. Check time vs upcoming/ongoing events.
  2. Compare with your news rules (e.g. "no trades within 30 minutes of news").
  3. If inside a restricted window, you know this is a rule break, not just "a bit risky."

3. Post-Session: Review Trades Near Events​

After trading:

  1. Open Rules vs Reality Dashboard.
  2. Filter for news-rule violations or trades tagged with news-window context.
  3. For each trade, review which event it was near, emotions, conviction, and outcome.

Over time, this reveals patterns such as:

  • "Pre-news entries are low-conviction and often FOMO."
  • "News-window trades have worse slippage and worse R:R."
  • "News violations frequently start multi-rule violation cascades."

Why It Matters for Challenge Traders​

For prop firm challenges and funded accounts, news guardrails are especially important:

  • Preventing account blowouts – High-impact events can cause large spikes and slippage that exceed daily loss limits.
  • Reducing slippage – News windows are where stop fills are most unreliable.
  • Aligning with prop firm rules – Many firms explicitly restrict news trading.
  • Creating predictable routines – You know in advance which hours are "off limits."

Limitations and Clarifications​

  • High-Impact Only (by design) – Calendar is curated to major events only.
  • No forecasts/actuals/sentiment – Use external calendars if you need those.
  • Depends on your timezone setting – Incorrect timezone settings will make windows and violation timing inaccurate.
  • Not synced with broker calendars – Broker-specific restrictions/holidays are not automatically mirrored.
  • Scheduled times only – The system uses scheduled release times; it does not adjust for delays.
  • Rules are not retroactive – Adding a news-based rule today does not re-label old trades.

Support​

If you have questions about Calendar & News Events or think something looks wrong, email hello@trademonkey.app.