A Fundamental Basics Course Taught by "Market Storyteller" Koichiro Amaya: Episode 4 – FOMC Statement and U.S. Employment Data

In FX, many people use technical analysis for market analysis, but to analyze and judge the market accurately, fundamentals are also indispensable. Here, we will have Koichiro Amaya explain the depth of fundamentals and how to utilize them, so let's learn properly together with the trend-following expert Icchan.

Lecturer: Koichiro Amaya

Amaya, Koichiro. For over 20 years, he has held key foreign exchange positions at major foreign banks such as UBS, JP Morgan, and BNP Paribas. He has a history of ranking high on the Tokyo foreign exchange market popular dealer rankings in the financial specialty magazine “EuroMoney.” In 2006, he became a freelance financial analyst, providing FX market information to FX companies and portal sites from his own sharp perspective.

Participant: Icchan the Trend-Follower

Icchan, the beloved apprentice of Ketty, a mother of twins who loves trend-following. He is active to convey the wonders of trend-following. But sometimes he also does contrarian trading.

Official site：Icchan’s FX Blog

*This article is a reprint/edit of an article from FX攻略.com, September 2019 issue. Please note that the market information written in the main text may differ from current market conditions.

Two Important Indicators, FOMC and Employment Data

IcchanLast time we learned about the breath of the market. This time, we would like Amaya to specifically tell us “what fundamentals should we watch.”

AmayaFundamentals is a vast field, so this time I’d like to explain representative indicators that you should look at. Those representatives are the Federal Reserve’s FOMC statements and the U.S. employment statistics. If you are watching fundamentals, you should definitely keep an eye on these two. By the way, does Icchan trade on U.S. employment data days?

IcchanIndicator trading is dangerous because rates move sharply, so I don’t do it much.

AmayaIn recent U.S. employment data releases, moves aren’t as big as before, but there used to be moments when movement was about 1 yen, which caused technical indicators to become unreliable.

Skilled traders tend not to trade much during big events like U.S. employment data releases. If you trade in the usual extension, you risk large losses.