Rate decisions, minutes and projections, external balances, housing — and how to plan a week around them.
Data changes what a central bank is expected to do; policy events are the bank answering. This course covers the rate decision and the documents around it, the trade and current-account releases that drive commodity and funding currencies, housing as the earliest read on whether policy is transmitting, and a closing lesson on turning the economic calendar into a weekly plan.
intermediate · 5 lessons · 55m
What you'll cover
The Interest Rate DecisionThe decision is usually priced. Everything around it is not.A rate decision is the single highest-impact scheduled event for a currency, and the number itself is almost never the reason. By decision day the market has usually priced the…
FOMC Minutes and the Dot PlotTwo documents that reprice the curve without a single rate changing.Between meetings, two documents can move the dollar as much as a decision does: the minutes, which reveal how the argument actually went, and the dot plot, which is the committee…
Trade Balance and Current AccountSlow-moving flows that set the structural backdrop rather than the daily move.Trade data rarely produces a memorable intraday move, which is why most traders skip it. Over longer horizons it is one of the few genuinely structural forces in currency markets…
Housing Data: Permits, Starts and SalesLow direct currency impact, and the earliest place to see whether policy is working.Housing releases sit near the bottom of most impact rankings and are usually skipped. They deserve a place in a fundamental process anyway, because housing is the most…
Turning the Economic Calendar Into a PlanThe one habit that converts everything in this path into a repeatable weekly process.Knowing what every release measures is worth very little if you still discover them mid-position. This closing lesson turns the whole course into a routine: how to build a week…
Who this course is for
Policy, Trade and Housing Events is a intermediate course in the Fundamental Analysis track of the FX Terminal Academy. It assumes you already know what a currency pair is and how an order is placed. There are 5 lessons, about 55m of reading in total.
Every lesson is free to read, and no account is needed to read one. Signing in only records which lessons you have finished, keeps your place across devices and issues the completion certificate at the end.
How to work through it
Read the lessons in the order they are listed: each one builds on the vocabulary and the ideas of the one before it. Each lesson ends with a short quiz that checks you took the point rather than the wording, and links straight into the FX Terminal screen that puts it to work — so the idea is tested against live market data instead of staying on the page.
You can stop between lessons and come back; nothing here expires, and the course quiz at the end covers the whole set rather than the last thing you read.
Common questions
Is Policy, Trade and Housing Events free?
Yes. Every lesson is free to read in full. There is no paywall, no trial and no card required, and the live FX Terminal screens each lesson links to are free as well.
Do I need any trading experience to start?
Some. It takes for granted that you know what a currency pair is, what a pip is and how an order reaches the market — the beginner courses in the Academy cover all three.
How long does the course take?
5 lessons, roughly 55m of reading. It is self-paced — there is no schedule and no expiry, so stopping between lessons costs you nothing.
Do I need an account?
Not to read. An account is free and only exists to remember which lessons you have finished, carry that across devices, and issue the certificate when you complete the course.
Is there a quiz or a certificate?
Each lesson ends with a short quiz, and the course has its own assessment covering the whole set. Completing it while signed in issues a certificate you can share.
Will this course tell me what to trade?
No. The Academy teaches how the market works and how to read the data; it does not issue signals or recommendations. Nothing on FX Terminal is investment advice.