Non-Farm Payrolls (Employment Change)
First Friday of the month · 08:30 ET
The monthly count of new US jobs outside agriculture, released with the unemployment rate and average hourly earnings. It is the single most-watched print of the month because employment feeds directly into the Fed's rate path: a hot number argues for tighter policy, a miss for cuts.
The first minutes routinely produce two-sided whipsaws — the headline, revisions and wage growth can point in different directions, and algorithms trade each of them. Spreads widen sharply at 8:30 ET; the tradeable trend, when there is one, usually forms only after the initial sweep of both sides.
What it measures
Net change in US paid employment outside agriculture, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as part of the monthly Employment Situation report. The report is a bundle — the headline never travels alone.
- Headline payrolls — net jobs added, plus revisions to the prior two months (revisions regularly flip the market's read of the headline)
- Unemployment rate — from the separate household survey, so it can disagree with payrolls outright
- Average hourly earnings m/m — the wage-inflation input; in inflation-focused regimes it can outrank the headline
Why the economy cares
Employment is the half of the Fed's dual mandate that moves first. A strong labor market keeps consumption and wage pressure up, arguing for tighter policy; sustained weakness is the classic trigger for cuts. That direct line into the rate path is why one number repriced everything dollar-denominated.
How it maps onto the chart
Mechanically: hot payrolls/wages → rate expectations up → USD bid, XXX/USD down, indices and gold pressured. A miss inverts it. In practice the three components often point different directions — strong headline with soft wages reads dovish — so the durable move follows the composite read, not the first print.
Price behavior around the release
Before
The sessions ahead of NFP typically compress: Asia and London build a narrowing range as desks flatten, and both sides of that range accumulate resting stops — a liquidity pool waiting for the release. A pre-news drift that 'starts the move early' is usually positioning, not information.
During
The release minute regularly takes BOTH sides of the pre-news range before choosing a direction — even when the number is unambiguous. Spreads widen several-fold at 8:30 ET, fills slip, and the first two candles are algorithmic territory. Our measurement: the post-release hour runs ~1.4x an ordinary 8:30 hour on EURUSD (median over 23 releases).
After
Once the sweep resolves, delivery tends to continue toward the nearby untouched targets — prior session extremes, the week's open, unfilled gaps — at elevated speed while the liquidity burst lasts. The cleaner entry is usually the first pullback after direction is established, not the release candle itself.
Who lets you trade it
News-trading policy of every firm in our verified catalog, read off the firm's own pages. Details and per-program exceptions live in the firm's rules.
| Firm | Policy | Window | If violated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha Capital | Restricted (funded) | ±5 min | Profit removed |
| Apex Trader Funding | Allowed | — | — |
| AquaFunded | Allowed | ±5 min | Profit share reduced |
| Atlas Funded | Restricted (funded) | ±5 min | Profit removed |
| Blue Guardian | Restricted (funded) | ±5 min | Profit removed |
| BrightFunded | Restricted (funded) | ±5 min | Profit removed |
| Bulenox | Allowed | — | None |
| E8 Markets | Allowed | — | — |
| Earn2Trade | Allowed | — | None |
| FTMO | Restricted (funded) | ±2 min | Account breach |
| Funded Trading Plus | Allowed | — | None |
| FundedNext | Allowed | ±5 min | Profit share reduced |
| FundingPips | Restricted (funded) | ±5 min | Profit removed |
| FXIFY | Allowed | — | — |
| Lucid Trading | Allowed | — | — |
| MyFundedFutures | Restricted (funded) | ±2 min | — |
| Take Profit Trader | Restricted (funded) | — | — |
| The5ers | Allowed | — | — |
| Topstep | Allowed | — | — |
| Tradeify | Allowed | — | — |
Policies verified 2026-08-22 and re-checked weekly. Restricted usually applies to funded accounts only — evaluations are commonly exempt; open the firm's rules for the exact split.