Non Farm Payroll Offers Multiple Market Trading Opportunities Friday

Two reports released one after the other on Friday will provide multiple trading opportunities from multiple markets to trade.

The reports are the Non Farm Payroll (NFP) or Employment Change and the US Unemployment Rate.

Unemployment usually follows the NFP which measures the change in the number of employed people during the previous month excluding the farming industry.

This is important to traders because it is vital economic news and released early in the month. The unemployment rate measures the percentage of workforce that is unemployed and actively seeking employment.

Friday, March 6, 2015, at 8:30 AM EST, both reports will be released. It’s very difficult to trade scheduled news events because you don’t know which way the market will move or how far.

Apex Investing, however, has reviewed the markets for the last 12 months after these reports and found that the markets moved in a somewhat consistent number of pips to make a trade plan for future news releases.

Multiple Markets Nadex Spreads

Trading Nadex Spreads will give you multiple markets to choose from. An Iron Condor can be set up on any of the below markets as early as 7:00 AM EST for the widest spread floor to ceiling, expiring at 3:00 PM EST.

With this expiration you have lots of time on your side giving your trade time to profit. You can also enter as early as 8:00 AM EST for a 10:00 AM EST expiration.

This spread won’t be as wide requiring less capital upfront to enter the trade, but also has less time on your side. However, you may not need the time. Most of the movement happens within the first 15 minutes after the reports are released.

How to Set Up the Iron Condor Strategy

To set up your Iron Condor sell the upper spread with the floor being at the then current underlying market price. Then, buy the lower spread with the ceiling being at the then current underlying market price.

Ideally after the reports have come out, the market will make its move and then pull back and settle close to the center of your Iron Condor making you the most profit.

Apex Investing reviewed the below markets in the last 12 months after the reports and determined these were the average moves and best numbers to look for planning your profit potential. When setting up your Iron Condors look first for spreads with the ideal profit amount in the table below, but at least the minimum profit potential also shown below.

If unable to find the minimum profit potential amount then don’t place the trade. After the markets have made their big move they can pull back. Using the Iron Condor strategy, the closer the market settles to the middle directly between your spreads the higher your profit potential.

Straddles Also A Good Strategy

Another way to trade this news event is to do a Straddle. A Straddle is the opposite of an Iron Condor. You essentially are straddling the market with two spreads with the expectation the market will take off in one direction.

To straddle you would buy the upper spread with the floor at the then current market underlying price and sell the lower spread with the ceiling at the then current underlying market price. When the market makes large moves, straddles can be a better trade.

You would enter the same markets as above, also at 7:00 AM EST for a 3:00 PM EST expiration time or at 8:00 AM EST for the 10:00 AM EST expiration time. Once entered and filled, be sure to get your limit take profit orders entered. To set your take profit orders, you can use the minimum profit potential as the range or expected pip move.

Often the market will remain flat after 11:00 AM EST to 3:00 PM EST after NFP, so this can be a great time to do butterfly trades using Nadex Binaries. To do a butterfly trade, you would sell an In The Money (ITM) binary with a strike above the current market price for around $25 - $35 and buy an (ITM) binary with a strike below the current market price for around $75 - $65.

The wider the distance between your binary strikes the better. Since the market tends to be flat after NFP then there is good potential your binaries will expire in the money and be profitable.

A complete monthly news plan is available at Apex, to trade a variety of markets based on numerous news events. If you would like to learn more on how to trade Iron Condors or trade other news events, go to www.apexinvesting.com.