How To Trade The News

Trading the news is a trading technique to trade financial instruments based on trading news releases. Economic news, corporate profits, a change in management, and rumors are all news that can spur strong short-term moves in the markets. These price movements can create trading opportunities.

Trading The News

When trading the financial markets, there is always a lot of focus on timing. This is especially true when it comes to trading news events. After all, if you can trade the news before everyone else, you can potentially make a lot of money. However, it's not always easy to trade the news.

News Classification

There are two main news categories:

  • Periodic/Recurring: Periodic news announcements are scheduled releases of news that have an impact on the markets. These include quarterly earnings reports, interest rate announcements, and economic data. These types of announcements can move the markets.
  • One-Time/Sporadic: These are unexpected news releases. Unexpected events such as geopolitical events usually hurt the markets. Examples of recent sporadic events include the 2008 financial crisis and the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.

Basics 

Trading the news is a technique to trade equities, currencies, and other financial instruments on the financial markets. The idea behind trading the news is that price movements around economic data releases or major events can be predicted and profited from. By being aware of upcoming announcements and their potential market impact, traders can position themselves in anticipation of these events and benefit from price moves. 

There are a variety of different types of news announcements that can affect traders. Some examples include economic data releases, earnings announcements, and news events. Financial data releases include important indicators like GDP, employment numbers, and inflation data. Earnings announcements contain information about how profitable a company is and what analysts expect for the future. News events can be anything from a natural disaster to a terrorist attack. These announcements can affect the markets differently, so traders need to be aware of them and their potential impact.

News Trader

News traders are a type of trader who trades based on news events. They use news events to predict price movements and make trades accordingly. News traders use a variety of methods to trade news events. Some traders use technical analysis to trade news events, while others use fundamental analysis.

One of the most important things to remember when trading the news is that timing is everything. It is often said that “buy the rumor, sell the news.” This means that traders should buy assets before a big economic event is announced and then sell them after the announcement is made. This is because markets often move in anticipation of big news events and then correct themselves afterward. By buying assets before the event and selling them later, traders can take advantage of these market movements.

Another essential thing to remember when trading the news is that not all news is created equal. Some news events are more important than others and will impact the markets more. It is important to carefully research each news event you plan on trading and only to trade the most important ones.

Practices 

There are three main strategies that news traders use: historical, alerts, and fading.

Historical

Historical traders use past news events to predict future price movements. They will look at past data to see how prices reacted to specific news releases and then try to anticipate how the market will react in the future.

Alerts

Alerts traders use real-time news feeds to watch for breaking news that could impact prices. As soon as they see a potential opportunity, they will enter a trade.

Fading

Fading traders try to take advantage of overreactions to news events. They believe that the market often overreacts in the short term, and so they will enter trades in the opposite direction to the initial price move. This is one of the most popular strategies. 

Social Media

Social media has a profound effect on trading the news. For one, social media allows traders to get real-time news and commentary from other traders. This can help traders make informed decisions about what to trade and when to trade it. 

Social media can help traders find opportunities they may not be aware of. By following certain traders or trade-related hashtags, traders can quickly find and act on trading opportunities. Also, traders monitoring social media for news about the company may be able to get ahead of the market.

News trading can be a profitable strategy, but it does come with risks. The most important thing is to ensure that you are using reliable sources of information and that you have a solid understanding of how the news affects the markets.

About the author

Ziga Breznik is the owner and head of research at PublicFinanceInternational.org – he is an active investor in the forex, crypto and stock markets – he has seen trading platforms disappear along with his investments – especially during the “crypto boom”. Ziga learned the hard way that finding a reputable and trustworthy online brokerage is key to long-term success in the financial markets. He founded PublicFinanceInternational.org as a platform where he shares his research with one goal in mind: to provide unbiased and trustworthy online brokers reviews.