Trading News Hub: Turn Headlines Into Confident Decisions
Learn how to filter market headlines, macro releases, and earnings into clear trading rules you can backtest and automate with Obside.
What you’ll learn
- How news shifts expectations and prices
- A step-by-step workflow from source to order
- Rules you can automate and backtest fast
- Macro, micro, and sentiment playbooks
- Risk controls that survive real events
Table of contents
- What trading news means and why it moves prices
- How trading news works under the hood
- The essential map: macro, micro, sentiment
- Build your trading news workflow
- From headline to rule: automated examples
- Strategy archetypes
- Backtesting without bias
- Macroeconomic news: what to watch
- Company news: earnings and catalysts
- Crypto and 24/7 markets
- Turn your process into automation with Obside
- Benefits and key considerations
- Practical examples to deploy
- FAQs
What trading news means and why it moves prices
Trading news is any new information that shifts expectations about future cash flows, risk, or liquidity, and therefore moves asset prices. This spans macro releases, central bank updates, earnings and guidance, sector supply shocks, and credible social signals that shift sentiment quickly.
Price moves reflect the gap between consensus and outcome. A hotter than expected inflation print can raise yields, pressure growth stocks, and lift the currency. A revenue beat with weaker guidance can still sink a stock because forward expectations anchor value.
In practice, you care about surprise versus consensus, direction of revisions, positioning and liquidity into the event, and cross-asset confirmation. The edge comes from turning this context into a repeatable process you can execute consistently.
- The surprise factor versus consensus and trend
- Revisions and forward guidance
- Positioning and liquidity around the event
- Cross-asset confirmation or contradiction
How trading news works under the hood: expectations, surprises, and positioning
The path from headline to price follows a sequence. Understanding the sequence helps you design rules that act at the right moment with the right guardrails.
1) Consensus forms
Before the event, analysts and market makers set a baseline. For macro, calendars and surveys capture expectations. For companies, earnings estimates and implied volatility reflect the range the market prices in.
2) A shock arrives
A CPI print or central bank decision shifts the perceived path for inflation and policy. A product launch or supply issue changes a company outlook. The larger the deviation from expectations, the faster and stronger the initial move.
3) Second-order effects
Markets test persistence, watch revisions, cross-check with other data, and weigh liquidity and positioning. Stretched positioning can extend moves, while deep liquidity can absorb them.
4) Execution quality
Slippage, spreads, and speed decide outcomes. Automation compresses the gap between idea and order and enforces consistent rules.
For definitions and primary sources, see the Consumer Price Index at BLS, Nonfarm Payrolls explained, and FOMC policy materials.
The essential map of trading news: macro, micro, and sentiment
Think of trading news as three streams that interact. Macroeconomic news changes the background for all assets through rates, growth, and inflation. Company news drives idiosyncratic moves via earnings, guidance, and product cycles. Sentiment and attention accelerate or dampen trends depending on alignment with fundamentals.
Great traders build a workflow that sees all three streams and turns them into explicit rules. If you are new to price action and indicators, start with our guide on reading markets with technical analysis to anchor your confirmations.
Building your trading news workflow, step by step
A professional workflow has five parts: sourcing, filtering, interpretation, decision rules, and execution. Each benefits from structure and automation, especially during peak news windows.
1) Start with high-quality sources
Use primary sources whenever possible. For macro: BLS, BEA PCE, ISM PMI, Federal Reserve, and ECB. For companies, monitor investor relations and the SEC EDGAR feed. For energy, watch OPEC press releases.
2) Use calendars and alerts
Macro calendars keep you ahead of releases. Track earnings and corporate events. For 24/7 assets, add network upgrades, listings, and known liquidity catalysts. A trading simulator can help rehearse event scenarios.
3) Filter for actionability
Route only actionable triggers. “Alert me if CPI YoY is at least 0.3 percentage points above consensus” beats a generic reminder. Document your thresholds and the rationale behind them.
4) Translate interpretation into rules
Write If this then that instructions before the event. Example: “If CPI surprises higher and the 2-year yield breaks last week’s high, reduce duration and hedge growth.” Keep logic explicit so it can be tested.
5) Execute consistently
Put rules into a system that acts fast and precisely. With Obside trading automation, you describe your intent in plain language and convert it into alerts, conditional orders, or portfolio rules that your connected brokers can execute.
Instantly move from idea to execution, validate rules with fast backtests, and enforce guardrails automatically. See also our guide to fast day trading platforms.
From headline to rule: examples you can automate today
Turning headlines into rules is the crucial leap. Express conditions in one line, then let automation handle monitoring and execution.
Alert me if Bitcoin rises above 150000 dollars and daily volume doublesNotify me if RSI crosses 70 on EUR/USD and MACD turns bearishAlert me if Apple announces a new productTell me when OpenAI announces a new AI modelYou can chain alerts to actions. For instance, “Buy 50 dollars of Tesla if Elon Musk tweets about it,” or “Sell all my positions if the S&P 500 drops by 10 percent.” For disciplined entries, “Buy 1000 dollars of Bitcoin if the price is below 100000 dollars.”
Strategy archetypes for trading news
Most news strategies map to a few archetypes you can tailor to your assets and risk profile. Event-driven momentum rides repricing after surprises, with tight risk controls to avoid chasing. Mean reversion fades overreactions when liquidity gaps push price away from value. Volatility breakouts treat events as catalysts for range expansion with volatility stops and time exits. Calendar strategies exploit seasonality and known cycles like earnings drift or post-FOMC patterns. Cross-asset confirmation uses one market to validate another to reduce false starts.
Obside makes these archetypes practical by turning plain language into testable, executable rules you can iterate quickly.
Backtesting news strategies without fooling yourself
Validation is mandatory. To avoid hidden biases, ensure your backtest respects data timing, survivorship, and realistic execution costs. Do not let signals see information that would not have been available at the time. Include delisted tickers in equity tests. Model slippage and wider spreads during news windows.
Use conservative settings and stress different regimes. A good workflow: draft the rule in plain language, test across cycles, review event-level results, add guardrails like volatility filters or time-of-day windows, then retest. See our guide on how to backtest a portfolio for deeper techniques.
Macroeconomic trading news: what to watch and how to react
Inflation reports like CPI and PCE steer rate expectations. Markets react to surprise versus consensus, breadth of price pressures, and sticky components like shelter. Track CPI at BLS and PCE at BEA. A common rule is to trade directionally when the surprise exceeds a threshold and short-term yields confirm with a range break.
Employment data led by Nonfarm Payrolls and unemployment shape growth and wages. See NFP definitions. PMI surveys provide timely reads on activity via ISM. Central bank decisions and guidance from the Federal Reserve and ECB can shift rates and risk sentiment.
Energy supply and policy, especially OPEC, affect oil and inflation. GDP, retail sales, and housing add depth. Context matters: the same surprise plays differently near the end of a tightening cycle versus the start.
Company trading news: earnings, guidance, and catalysts
Earnings season compresses many catalysts into crowded weeks. Focus on earnings quality, guidance, unit economics, and capital allocation. Filings and press releases are the fastest official sources via EDGAR. Product launches can reset sentiment and growth expectations. Define rules ahead of time and automate with risk controls to handle wider spreads and gaps.
If you need a primer on building rule sets, start with our trading strategy guide and practice with a paper trading setup before going live.
Crypto and 24 by 7 trading news
Crypto trades nonstop and reacts to on-chain events and social catalysts. Watch network upgrades, listings, security incidents, stablecoin health, and large on-chain flows. A robust approach combines on-chain triggers with technical confirmations, then uses automation to execute predefined responses.
To choose and test tools for automation, explore our roundup of the best automated trading platforms.
Turning your news process into automation with Obside
Obside turns plain language into market actions. Describe what to monitor or do, and the platform creates alerts, conditional orders, or full strategies, then connects to your broker for execution.
- Clarify the objective.
- Select markets and instruments.
- Define triggers in plain language.
- Add actions linked to triggers.
- Include guardrails like time and volatility filters.
- Backtest quickly across regimes.
- Paper trade to validate behavior.
- Go live with modest size.
- Iterate based on data.
New to automation and bots? See our overview of what automated trading is and how it works.
Benefits of trading the news, and the key considerations
Done well, news trading delivers rapid feedback, rule-based consistency, diversification across catalysts, and alignment with the biggest market movers. The flip side is headline risk, data quality issues, latency, and slippage during volatile windows. Focus on high-quality sources, clear rules, and measured sizing.
Practical examples you can deploy this week
FX macro surprise capture: “Alert me if US CPI core YoY beats consensus by at least 0.3 percentage points.” Add “If DXY breaks its 20-day high within 15 minutes, buy EUR/USD weakness with a 0.5 ATR stop and 1 ATR take profit.” Backtest on past CPI dates, then go live small.
Earnings two-stage: Pre-call, “Alert me if the company beats revenue and EPS by 3 percent versus consensus.” Live filter, “If guidance is raised and gross margin expands, enter on a 5-minute closing breakout, else pass.” Automate partial profit taking and a trailing stop under pre-earnings support.
Crypto catalyst plus technicals: “Tell me when OpenAI announces a new AI model,” then place conditional orders on an AI-linked basket if volume is at least 1.5 times the 20-day average. Exit with an ATR trailing stop. Practice first in a simulator.
Portfolio hedge: “Sell all my positions if the S&P 500 drops by 10 percent,” refined by time windows and exclusions. For deeper automation patterns, review our guide to choosing an algorithmic trading platform.
Conclusion: from reading trading news to acting on it
The goal is not to read more headlines, but to act better. Build a workflow that turns headlines into triggers, confirms with market data, and executes with discipline. Start with one market and one catalyst, write down your rule, express it in Obside Copilot, backtest it, paper trade, then scale gradually.
Create your free Obside account
FAQs about trading news
What is trading news and how is it different from market analysis?
Trading news is new information that shifts expectations and therefore prices, such as macro releases, central bank updates, earnings, or credible company announcements. Market analysis interprets information to form a view. In practice, news is the input, analysis is the interpretation, and trading is the decision and execution.
How fast should I react to news events?
Speed matters, but so does context. For scheduled events like CPI or FOMC, plan scenarios and automate reactions with thresholds. For surprise headlines, add a brief confirmation window or a volume expansion rule to reduce false starts while keeping delay small.
Can I automate trading the news without coding?
Yes. With Obside, you describe rules in plain language and the platform creates alerts, conditional orders, or full strategies that run with your connected brokers and exchanges. You can backtest in seconds, paper trade, then go live when ready.
How do I avoid being whipsawed by fake or low-quality headlines?
Use trusted sources first, such as official agency releases and company investor relations. Add filters like multiple sources, specific keywords, or confirmation from price and volume. Avoid acting on single-source rumors and let automation enforce your rules.
Which indicators work best after news releases?
There is no universal best. Momentum and volatility measures help with continuation setups, such as MACD turns, RSI rollovers, or ATR-based breakouts. Mean reversion tools help with fade setups, such as Bollinger Band pierces or volume exhaustion. Validate by asset and event type with backtests.
Does news trading work in crypto markets?
Yes. Crypto is sensitive to catalysts like network upgrades, exchange listings, liquidations, and influential announcements. Because markets run 24/7, alerts and automation help you react when away from the screen. Combine on-chain or social triggers with technical confirmation.
What risks are unique to trading news?
Key risks include slippage and spread widening during events, data errors or fake headlines, and regime shifts that change reactions to the same catalyst. Manage with conservative execution assumptions, quality sources, clear rules, and measured position sizing.
Written by Thibaud Sultan. Edited by Benjamin Sultan.