Forex Factory Events

Polls the ForexFactory weekly economic calendar JSON feed and draws a styleable vertical line at every event's scheduled time, with an optional rotated text label.

Overview

Economic releases (CPI, NFP, FOMC, GDP, central-bank rate decisions, etc.) drive volatility windows on index futures, FX, and metals. This study fetches the official ForexFactory "this week" JSON, parses every event, and renders each one on the chart as a vertical line so you can see at a glance where the high-impact prints land in your chart timezone.

Default source: https://nfs.faireconomy.media/ff_calendar_thisweek.json — the same feed used by the public ForexFactory calendar page.

How It Works

1. HTTP poll — issues an HTTPS request to the JSON URL on study load and every Poll Interval minutes thereafter (default 60).
2. JSON parse — flat scan of the response extracts title, country, date, impact, forecast, previous for every event in the array.
3. Timezone normalization — each event timestamp carries its own offset (publisher ships NY local time). Parser converts to UTC, then shifts to the chart's configured timezone. Lines render at the correct wall-clock instant regardless of chart TZ.
4. Filter — events run through impact, currency, title-include, title-exclude, and chart-time window filters.
5. Draw — surviving events get a vertical line plus an optional text label. Drawings never save to the chartbook.

Data Fields

The ForexFactory JSON ships flat objects with these fields:

Inputs

Filter Logic

For each event, all of the following must pass:

1. Impact — its impact level must have its Show toggle = Yes.
2. Currency — if the Currencies CSV is non-empty, the event's country must be in the list.
3. Title include — if the include keyword CSV is non-empty, the title must contain at least one keyword (case-insensitive substring match).
4. Title exclude — title must not contain any exclude keyword.
5. Time window — if enabled, the event's chart-time-of-day must be inside [WindowStart, WindowEnd]. Overnight wrap (e.g. 22:00-06:00) supported.

Styling Recommendations

ES / NQ Scalper

Currencies:           USD
Show:                 High=Yes, Medium=Yes, Low=No, Holiday=No
Title Exclude:        Speaks,Bank Holiday,Bond Auction
High Color:           bright red,   width 2
Medium Color:         amber,        width 1
Line Style:           Dash
Transparency:         40
Show Labels:          Yes, size 8, Top, Vertical=Yes, Currency=Yes

FX Day Trader

Currencies:           (blank = all)
Show:                 High=Yes, Medium=Yes, Low=No, Holiday=Yes
Title Exclude:        Speaks
Color per currency:   use Impact colors (High/Med separately)
Line Style:           Solid for High, Dash for Medium
Transparency:         20
Labels:               Currency=Yes, Impact Tag=Yes, F/P=Yes

Minimal Background Marker

Show:                 High only
Currencies:           USD
Show Labels:          No
Transparency:         70

Displaying Future Events

Sierra Chart clips drawings to the loaded bar range. ForexFactory ships events for the entire current week, so future events render correctly only if the chart has enough forward bars.

Chart Settings → Display → "Number of Bars to Add to End of Chart":

Without enough forward bars, all future events stack at the rightmost X position. Past events always render correctly.

Timezone Handling

The study converts every event time through UTC and out to the chart's configured timezone. Examples for 2026-05-26T21:30:00-04:00:

ISO-8601 Z / z suffix (UTC literal) and +HH:MM / -HH:MM offsets all parsed correctly. DST transitions are handled because the publisher updates the offset twice a year.

Log Messages

The study logs these lines:

ForexFactory: GET https://nfs.faireconomy.media/ff_calendar_thisweek.json
ForexFactory: response received, 14237 bytes.
ForexFactory: parsed 91 events from JSON.

On failure:

ForexFactory: HTTP error / empty response.
ForexFactory: body[0..200]=<first 200 bytes of whatever came back>

The body snippet helps diagnose redirects, HTML error pages, or Cloudflare blocks.

Installation

1. Place ForexFactory_64.dll (or ForexFactory_ARM64.dll) in your Sierra Chart Data folder.
2. Add study to chart: Analysis > Studies > Add Custom Study
3. Search for "Forex Factory Events"
4. Set chart's Display → Number of Bars to Add to End of Chart high enough for your bar period (see table above) so future events render correctly.

Requirements

• Sierra Chart with internet access for HTTPS calls
• ForexFactory JSON feed reachable (publicly hosted by FairEconomy)
• Chart must be in Graph Region 0 (overlay on price)

Notes

• The study draws into chart drawings rather than subgraphs — does not occupy a subgraph row.
• Drawings are not saved to the chartbook — your chartbook file stays clean.
• HTTP polling is asynchronous; the first batch of lines may appear a few seconds after study load.
• Holidays often share the same time (08:00) across currencies. Disable Holiday or restrict Currencies to avoid stacked overlap.