Economic calendar for gold: the news that moves it (NFP, CPI, Fed) and what to do with your trading robot

The economic calendar is the schedule of data releases and central bank decisions that move the markets. For gold, the events that matter most come from the US: nonfarm payrolls (NFP) and the consumer price index (CPI), usually released at 8:30 a.m. New York time, or ET (1:30 p.m. in London, 2:30 p.m. in Madrid or Frankfurt), and the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decisions, at 2:00 p.m. ET (7:00 p.m. in London, 8:00 p.m. in Madrid or Frankfurt). Price doesn’t react to the number itself but to the surprise versus the forecast, and in those minutes spreads widen and orders can fill at worse prices. If you run a trading robot, you have two main paths—let it trade as it was tested, or pause it—and neither comes free.

How to read an economic calendar

It’s a day-by-day table showing when each country publishes its statistics (jobs, inflation, growth) and when its central bank announces its decisions. The dates are known months in advance: today you can find out what will be released next Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. ET, though not which way the price will go.

The four columns you need to understand

• Impact. High, medium or low, shown with colors or icons: how much that release usually moves the market. For gold, what almost always matters is high-impact US data.
• Forecast. Also called the consensus: the average of what analysts expect.
• Previous. The figure for the prior period, which is sometimes revised.
• Actual. The published figure. Until the exact release time, the cell stays empty.

The market reacts to the surprise, not the number

Before the release, the price already reflects what’s expected; what moves gold is the gap between the actual figure and the forecast. An illustrative example: if 150,000 new jobs were expected and 250,000 come out, that’s a positive surprise; if 300,000 were expected, the same 250,000 is a disappointment. And the first reaction can reverse within minutes because of a revision to the previous figure or other components released at the same time, such as the unemployment rate or wage growth in the jobs report.

Where to check it: MetaTrader 5 has one built in

You don’t need to install anything: MetaTrader 5 includes a calendar in the Calendar tab of the Toolbox (Ctrl+T, or View → Toolbox). MetaTrader 4 doesn’t have one built in; it’s one of the differences between MT4 and MT5. Each event shows its time, priority (how important it is), actual value, forecast and previous value, and you can filter by priority, currency or country: with USD and high priority selected, you have what matters for gold. The major financial portals and many brokers also offer free web calendars. Just check the time zone: on New York time, nonfarm payrolls should show up at 8:30 a.m.; on London time, at 1:30 p.m.; and on Central European time, at 2:30 p.m. (an hour earlier in Europe during the mismatch weeks covered below). If they don’t, the calendar is set to another time zone, such as your broker’s server time or GMT: change it in the settings or do the math.

The news that moves gold most, and what time it’s released

Almost every event that shakes XAU/USD comes from the United States: gold is priced in dollars, and the Federal Reserve effectively sets the price of money worldwide. These are the main ones, with their usual times in New York (ET), London and Central Europe (Paris, Frankfurt, Madrid and the rest of mainland Spain). Portugal, Ireland and Spain’s Canary Islands run on London time.

About NFP: “first Friday” is the custom, not a rule. In 2026, the report with January’s data came out on Wednesday, February 11, and June’s on Thursday, July 2. September’s is scheduled for Friday, October 2, at 8:30 a.m. ET (1:30 p.m. in London, 2:30 p.m. in Central Europe). Always confirm the date in the calendar.

About the Fed: in March, June, September and December it also publishes its Summary of Economic Projections, including the well-known dot plot, and the press conference can move gold as much as the statement.

The weeks when everything arrives an hour early in Europe

New York is usually five hours behind London and six hours behind Central Europe, but not always. The US moves its clocks forward on the second Sunday in March and back on the first Sunday in November; Europe does so on the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October. In 2026 that means March 8 and November 1 in the US, and March 29 and October 25 in Europe. In the days between each pair of dates, New York is only four hours behind London and five behind Central Europe: NFP and CPI arrive at 12:30 p.m. in London and 1:30 p.m. in Central Europe, and the Fed statement at 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., respectively. In 2026 that happened from March 8 to 28 (the Fed decided on Wednesday, March 18, with the statement at 6:00 p.m. in London and 7:00 p.m. in Central Europe), and it happens again from October 25 to 31, right in the week of the October 27–28 meeting: the statement on Wednesday, October 28, is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. ET, which is 6:00 p.m. in London and 7:00 p.m. in Central Europe, with the press conference at 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., respectively. If you trade from the US, nothing shifts: the releases stay at 8:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. ET all year round. On London time, the Sunday reopen and the start of the London–New York overlap also come an hour earlier; the full table is in gold trading hours and sessions.

Why gold reacts to US economic data

Gold pays no interest and no dividends. Much of its appeal depends on what you give up by holding it, and that’s where three forces come in—all of them moved at once by US data:

• The dollar. Gold is priced in dollars. When the dollar strengthens, gold becomes more expensive for anyone buying with other currencies, and its dollar price tends to fall; when the dollar weakens, the opposite usually happens.
• Real interest rates. These are interest rates after inflation. When they rise, a bond pays more in real terms, and holding gold, which pays nothing, carries a higher opportunity cost. When they fall, gold becomes more attractive.
• Expectations for the Fed. A strong jobs or inflation number suggests rates will stay high for longer; a weak one points to cuts. The market reprices its bets on the next meetings all at once, and gold moves with them.

That’s why the typical reading is that a stronger-than-expected jobs or inflation number tends to weigh on gold, and a weaker one tends to support it. The Fed works the same way: what counts isn’t the decision itself, but whether it surprises relative to what the market had already priced in. “Tends” is the key word: in moments of fear, gold’s safe-haven role can override both the dollar and interest rates. For the full picture of the asset, see how to trade gold (XAU/USD).

What happens to your orders when the news hits

For anyone trading, the problem with news isn’t just direction—it’s execution. Right before the release, many liquidity providers cut back or pull their quotes, because nobody wants to be left quoting blind. You notice it in three ways:

• The spread widens. The difference between the bid and the ask can multiply for a few seconds or minutes, before and after the release. Getting in at that moment costs more.
• There’s slippage. The order fills at a different price from the one you asked for—almost always a worse one when the market is running.
• Gaps appear. The price jumps from one level to another without trading the levels in between, and two consecutive prices can be several dollars apart.

This also affects your stop loss: if gold jumps several dollars in a second, the stop fills beyond the level you set. You still need it, but it doesn’t guarantee the price; we walk through the numbers in stop loss, take profit and break-even, and the cost of spread and slippage in spread, slippage and commissions.

This applies to everyone: a robot doesn’t get better prices than your broker gives you; it just executes without hesitating.

Trading gold news with a robot: your realistic options

There’s no answer that works for everyone, and we’re not going to tell you which one to pick: it depends on your account, your rules and how the system was built. These are the realistic options.

Let it trade as it was tested

A multi-year backtest includes every jobs report, CPI release and Fed meeting in that period. What matters is how it was run: some Expert Advisors come with their own news filter and others don’t, and a backtest’s figures only describe the system as it was tested. If you pause it by hand on every release, you’re no longer running that system but a different one that nobody has measured; if you have doubts about yours, ask its developer. The flip side: a backtest doesn’t fully reproduce your broker’s slippage in those seconds, so news can cost more in your account than in the simulation. Even the MetaTrader 5 Strategy Tester in “Every tick based on real ticks” mode, which replays the prices and spreads recorded in those minutes, can only approximate how your orders would actually have been filled.

Pause it with the Algo Trading button

If you’d rather it didn’t open anything around a release, MT5 has a master switch: the Algo Trading button on the top toolbar (“AutoTrading” in older versions). When it’s off (the icon turns red or gray), no robot in the terminal can trade. According to the AUREUM guide, the robot stays loaded on the chart but stops opening new trades and stops managing the open ones, which don’t close on their own: they stay on the broker’s server with their stop and target in place.

Two caveats. Pausing doesn’t protect what’s already open from the jump at the release. And NFP usually falls on a Friday: with AUREUM, if you pause and forget to switch it back on, the automatic Friday close (at 8:40 p.m. broker server time, according to its guide) doesn’t run either, so an open trade would be carried over the weekend.

If you trade a prop firm account

Here the decision may not be yours. Many firms prohibit trading for a few minutes before and after high-impact releases, with a different window at each firm, and some even count it as a violation if a stop or a target is hit inside that window. A robot doesn’t know those rules on its own: read them before you connect it. We go deeper in using an Expert Advisor on a prop firm.

The expensive mistake: stepping in by hand after the release

The most dangerous moment isn’t the release itself but the minutes after it. The price spikes, the robot’s trade swings from a profit to a loss, or the other way around, and you’re tempted to close it, move the stop or open another trade “to catch the move.” You’d be doing any of those things with the widest spread of the day and the least clear head.

On top of that, the backtest statistics stop describing your account the moment you start filtering trades by hand: that’s why intervening is one of the costliest mistakes when using an Expert Advisor.

If you’re going to make any decision about the news, make it beforehand, with a cool head, and write it down: “I pause for Fed meetings” or “I never touch anything.” What doesn’t work is deciding with the chart in the red. And if every release keeps you up at night, the problem may be your position size, not the news. In short: check the calendar at the start of the week, mark the high-impact US events, adjust the times if you’re in a mismatch week and decide in advance what you’ll do with the robot.