Hi Folks.

I got a pair of emails today from newer traders asking why price action sucks so much right now compared to last week, and I figured maybe it's a good time to refresh everyone on how to forecast price action a week in advance.

All you do is go to Forex Factory and look at the upcoming week of economic news releases on their Calendar.

This is a Monday morning ritual for me because I want to be able to at least take an educated guess as to which days may be better trading days than others.

And this week screamed "sucky price action" because of two entries.

Monday: No news during the US session, so likely sucky price action.

Tuesday: Actually a lot of news, but none of it was anything special.

Wednesday: Morning news was nothing noteworthy, but at 2:00 p.m. eastern the Fed announces their latest interest rate decision, with a 2:30 press conference

Thursday: Nothing significant during the US session.

Friday: US Non Farm Payroll report.

Since I named them by name you can probably guess the two events that will have a stranglehold on the market this week.

There is no one, even those who can't spell the word economics, who thinks the Fed is going to cut the interest rate at this meeting, in spite of earlier statement by Powell and other Fed members about 3-4 rate cuts this year.

All the inflation numbers have come out hot the last few weeks indicating inflation is still with us and the Fed has been backtracking on their rate cut promises ever since.

But the big traders, the ones who move the markets, will sit on their hands all this week until after Powell announces the rate desicion at 2 and has his press conference at 2:30.

So things will pick up after 2:30 on Wednesday then?

Not likely. Maybe for a very bried period during and after the presser, but things will likely die down again after Powell walks away from the podium.

The Non Farm Payroll number is set for release Friday morning at 8:30 eastern. The NFP doesn't have the same prestige these days that it once did, but a big number will be one more indicator the economy is running hot and make a future interest rate cut that much less likely. A lousy number will create hope in the hearts of the traders for a rate cut and would be the basis for some big moves.

But either way, you're going to likely see some action, first at 8:30 when the number drops, and again at 9:30 when the big players in the Indices open for business.

So trading had been fairly flat overall in the charts I've been mentioning (Oil and Gold), and I don't see much of a chance that will change aside from some unscheduled event rocking the markets

Tomorrow I expect more flat trading while the big guys wait for 2 p.m., and then Thursday will likely be slow as well as traders wait for Friday and the NFP.

So don't panic if it looks like things have come to a near stop on your chart. The large Renko box settings may be flat, but the smaller box sizes can still be used for smaller trades if you are so inclined, especially tomorrow and Thursday.

But things should pick up at 8:30:01 Friday morning and maybe enough to make you forget the previous 4 days even existed. Just have a plan and stick to the plan and you'll be fine.

And remember you can still pick up the Renko-HMA at a discount price at http://fxgoldminer.com/lite for a couple more days.

Back later with more.

Jeff