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Sessions and events

The FOMC:who sets US rates, and when.

FOMC stands for the Federal Open Market Committee, the part of the US Federal Reserve that sets the target range for US short-term interest rates. It holds eight scheduled meetings a year. The decision, released with a statement and followed by a press conference, can move every dollar-priced market, including currencies, gold and stock indices.

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Who is on the FOMC

The Committee has twelve voting members: the seven members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and four of the other eleven Reserve Bank presidents, who serve one-year terms on a rotating basis. The presidents who are not voting that year still attend and take part in the discussion.

Its main tool is the target range for the federal funds rate - the rate banks charge each other overnight - which feeds into borrowing costs across the economy and into the value of the dollar.

When the FOMC meets

The FOMC holds eight regularly scheduled meetings a year, published well in advance on the Federal Reserve's calendar, and can meet at other times if needed. Four of the scheduled meetings - usually in March, June, September and December - also publish a Summary of Economic Projections, including each participant's rate expectations, often called the dot plot.

Minutes of each meeting are published about three weeks later, and can move markets on their own.

How a decision day unfolds

On the final day of a scheduled meeting, the statement and decision are released at 14:00 New York time, and the Chair's press conference usually begins half an hour later. Markets often react in two waves: first to the decision and the statement's wording, then to the answers in the press conference, which can move price further or reverse the first move.

Because the event lasts well beyond the headline, volatility on an FOMC day is not confined to the minutes around 14:00. See the glossary entry on the interest rate decision for how rate changes are expressed.

A scheduled decision day in three clocks
EventNew YorkUK (usual)India (US summer / winter)
Statement and decision14:0019:0023:30 / 00:30 next day
Press conference begins14:3019:3000:00 / 01:00 next day

UK times shift an hour earlier in the weeks when the US and UK clocks are out of step.

Step by step

How to identify it

Treat an FOMC day as a scheduled event with a known timetable, and plan around it before the day starts.

  1. Check the Federal Reserve's published calendar for the meeting dates, and whether this meeting carries projections.
  2. Convert 14:00 and 14:30 New York time to your clock.
  3. List the positions you hold that are priced in dollars or sensitive to US rates - most major pairs, gold and US indices.
  4. Decide in advance whether you will be flat, hold, or trade after the press conference, and write the rule down.
  5. Check the news trading rule for your account stage before the day.

Worked example

The concept,walked through

An FOMC afternoon, described

An illustrative sequence in words. It is not a record of any real meeting, decision or price.

  1. 1. Before 14:00Price drifts in a narrow range as traders wait. Spreads start to widen in the minute before the release.
  2. 2. 14:00The statement is released. Price moves sharply in one direction within seconds.
  3. 3. 14:30 onwardThe press conference begins. An answer about future policy reverses most of the first move over the next half hour.

A trader who took the first move and held it would have given most of it back. The event's timetable was known; its direction was not.

Common mistakes

Where tradersgo wrong

Watching only the headline

The press conference half an hour later often moves markets as much as the decision.

Assuming only the dollar pairs move

Gold, indices and most crosses react to US rate expectations too.

Forgetting the minutes

Minutes published three weeks later are a second, smaller scheduled event.

Limitations

What it cannottell you

No chart concept predicts price. These are the limits worth keeping in view.

  • What the Committee decides, and how markets interpret it, cannot be known in advance; expectations are often wrong.
  • The two-wave pattern described here is common but not reliable, and some decision days are quiet.

In an evaluation

Using it on asimulated account

FOMC decisions are high-impact releases. On a funded GFN account, profits from trades opened or closed within 3 minutes either side of a relevant release may be removed. Instant accounts start at the funded stage, so the rule applies to them from day one.

Volatility on the day often outlasts that window. On a $100,000 account the daily loss limit is $3,000 on Instant or $5,000 on 1 Step and 2 Step, and a stop that slips in the first seconds counts at its fill.

Trading rule

Can I trade the news?

The window around high-impact releases, and when it applies.

Trading rule

What is the daily loss limit?

The daily ceiling a slipped stop is measured against - 3% on Instant and 5% on 1 Step and 2 Step.

Trading rule

Does slippage excuse a breach?

Why fills around a release differ from the quoted price.

Questions

Asked aboutthis concept

Federal Open Market Committee. It is the Federal Reserve body that sets the target range for the federal funds rate, the benchmark for US short-term interest rates.

Eight scheduled meetings a year, published in advance on the Federal Reserve's calendar. It can also meet between scheduled meetings if needed.

The statement is released at 2:00 p.m. New York time on the final day of a scheduled meeting, and the Chair's press conference usually begins at 2:30 p.m.

Keep learning

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Sources

What this pagerelied on

  1. Federal Open Market Committee - Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Retrieved 22 September 2026. The Committee's composition, voting rotation and remit.
  2. Meeting calendars and information - Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Retrieved 22 September 2026. The 2026 meeting dates, which meetings carry a Summary of Economic Projections, and the publication of minutes.

Educational content only, not investment advice or a recommendation to trade. Chart concepts describe what price has done; none of them predicts what it will do, and trading any strategy can lose money. Get Funded Now accounts are simulated and trade virtual funds. Last reviewed 22 September 2026.

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