To all,
Actually, I know "many" traders who typically trade the ES or the Bund and they trade the forex ONLY when there are news announcements. Some been doing it for years. As far back as calling in there orders before the announcement. I have met one gentlemen in particular, in fact hes a regular et'er himself, that usually drops around 25-50 standard lots every friday, except NFP, on the U.S. Friday 8:30EST News Release. Some consider it the most easy times to trade, during news. I have found it to be quite annoying myself. When I was working with a flat pip rate broker (i.e. InterbankFX) I could never get filled around a news release, and I mean never. The closest i could get filled would be within 20-50 pips of the price I wanted to get in on. When I moved to a variable spread (i.e. real forex broker..lol) the spread during a news release can be as high as 15-20 pips alone and I have also had to set my slippage to accept up to 10 pips on top of that to make sure the order gets filled.
However, most I know that trade the news have some sort of bracket system, which usually includes some kind of safety net for reversing there position and taking a quick profit, etc. By this I mean typically, IMO, most traders trading the news are in before the announcement or have it bracketed for a breakout trade, with a limit or stop..etc.
Is the strategy good? Up for debate. Do I do it? no. Do others do it? yes. Are they profitable? some, more or less the same average of traders that are generally profitable. So it is possible? yes, yes it is. Can I do it sitting in my parents basement on my dads computer? Probably not. lol.
NOTE: Although, someone mention FX Futures earlier. And that is absolutely correct without a doubt. Fills on the FX Futures, around news releases, are alot easier.
Just my 2 cents, but Im a raving lunatic, dont take me word for it. lol.
- secXces