FOMC day: no scalps until statement plus 10 minutes?
Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2026 9:34 pm
FOMC day: no scalps until statement plus ten minutes? My default is stricter.
FOMC is not NFP. The statement, press conference, and headline revisions can keep gold and majors untradable for a discretionary scalper long after the first print. My default: flat into the decision, stay flat through the initial statement, and only consider risk after spreads settle -- often well after "ten minutes."
Practical rules
1. No new risk from T-30 until I explicitly re-open the session with a checklist.
2. Size half for the first post-event ticket even if it looks clean.
3. If the press conference is live, I treat headline risk as ongoing -- not a closed event.
4. Permission to take zero trades on FOMC day and call it professional.
People who scalp the spike successfully are running a different business than I am. I do not need to compete with them.
When do you first allow a discretionary scalp on FOMC day -- if at all?
FOMC is not NFP. The statement, press conference, and headline revisions can keep gold and majors untradable for a discretionary scalper long after the first print. My default: flat into the decision, stay flat through the initial statement, and only consider risk after spreads settle -- often well after "ten minutes."
Practical rules
1. No new risk from T-30 until I explicitly re-open the session with a checklist.
2. Size half for the first post-event ticket even if it looks clean.
3. If the press conference is live, I treat headline risk as ongoing -- not a closed event.
4. Permission to take zero trades on FOMC day and call it professional.
People who scalp the spike successfully are running a different business than I am. I do not need to compete with them.
When do you first allow a discretionary scalp on FOMC day -- if at all?