Intraday trading and release of economic data

Discussion in 'Data Sets and Feeds' started by gifropan, Dec 13, 2006.

  1. As an intraday trader how do you handle the release economic figures?

    Very often, to hold a position before their release seems to be worse than rolling dice. On the other hand sometimes the best move of the day happens immediately and instantaneously after the release of the figures.

    Personally I think it is best not to have a positions before the release of major pieces of data and see what trends are established after their release and attempt to find opportunities to get on those trends.

    What do you suggest and how do you approach this problem?
     
  2. i hold my swings and b&holds through announcements...

    as to the mentioned intraday trades...

    i am almost always flat prior to FOMC, etc. (i trade dow futures mostly).

    ime, FOMC are some of the best scalping opportunities available.

    it's pure order flow scalping.

    similarly, i go flat (on my intraday trades) in oil prior to petroleum reports, etc.

    then, i trade the reaction to the news

    in brief, trade the market's reaction to the news. trying to predict the reaction before the news is not something i have an edge on, thus i don't do it

    i am sure there are some who DO . but not me
     
  3. Define before and after.

    1min, 5mins, 30mins, 1hour or what???

    Also, if your waiting for trends to be establish...

    Probably best to not trade on FOMC announcement days and trade several days prior or several days after.

    Mark
     
  4. erToo

    erToo

    It does seem to go in the direction of the last pattern though whippy and choppy. I usually just sit there and watch.
     
  5. By before I mean a few minutes before the release of the data, say 5 minutes. By after I mean what ever trend appears to develop after the figure. I use 2 or 5 minute bar charts and one cannot expect a trend to be assessed in less that say 30 to 60 time periods. Using a 2 minute bar charts this would means between one and two hours after the release of the figure.