News-Driven Trading Example$

At the time of the release of the October 2023 U.S. non-farm employment data, I seized this news opportunity to execute a short position in gold. At 8:30 AM Eastern Time, the Labor Department announced that the number of new jobs reached 336,000, far exceeding the market expectation of 170,000, with the unemployment rate remaining stable at a low of 3.8%.

The moment the data was released, I quickly sensed its impact—strong employment data increased the likelihood of the Federal Reserve maintaining a hawkish stance, providing strong support for interest rate hikes. The U.S. Dollar Index jumped 0.8% at the news, putting pressure on gold, which has a zero-yield characteristic. With a pre-set news alert, I made a trading decision within 5 minutes. First, I verified the accuracy of the data source to eliminate the risk of data errors, then I observed gold futures’ 1-minute candlestick charts breaking through the key support levels of 1880 and 1875, while the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield surged 12 basis points, breaking through 4.8%. Under the resonance of multiple signals, I decisively established a short position at $1,873 per ounce and set a $20 floating stop loss.

This news stirred the market in three ways: first, it directly reversed interest rate expectations, with the CME FedWatch Tool showing that the probability of a rate hike in November surged from 28% to 56%; second, it triggered algorithmic trading programs to act according to preset strategies, with programmed sell orders amplifying the effect; third, the breaking of key technical levels triggered a wave of stop-loss orders. Ultimately, the gold price fell sharply by $40 to $1,828, and I closed my position at $1,850, earning $23 per ounce.

This trade fully validated the feasibility of a macro data-driven strategy. However, such trades often come with the risk of sudden liquidity shortages, making strict adherence to stop-loss discipline and reasonable position control essential. #交易故事