What is the FOMC?

The FOMC, the Federal Open Market Committee, is the part of the US Federal Reserve that sets interest rates: it decides the target range for the federal funds rate. It holds eight scheduled meetings a year and publishes each decision in a statement at 2:00 p.m. New York time on the last day; the Chair’s press conference follows at 2:30 p.m.

Who sits on it

The committee has twelve members, according to the Federal Reserve:

• the seven members of the Board of Governors
• the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
• four of the other eleven Reserve Bank presidents, who serve one-year terms in rotation

Its goals are set by Congress: “maximum employment and stable prices” (Federal Reserve). That is why traders read NFP and CPI, the jobs and inflation reports, for clues about the next decision.

What comes out, and when

For the 2026 meetings, as published on the Fed’s meeting calendar:

The upcoming meeting dates, with times in UTC, are in high-impact news in forex. The forex market hours tool converts the times to your zone.

Why forex reacts twice

The first reaction comes at 2:00 p.m., to the decision and to the wording about what comes next. Thirty minutes later, the Chair’s answers at the press conference can move the market again. A rate decision that matched expectations can still move the dollar if the outlook changes.

Brokers warn about the cost side. OANDA, for one, says spreads can increase “following news announcements” (OANDA). A wider spread costs more on entry and can trigger stops that the chart never showed touching; see why a stop loss is hit at the bid or ask.

Where you see it in MT5

On the Calendar tab of the Toolbox (Ctrl+T), filter by the US dollar. The MT5 help says each event shows its release time, priority, and current, forecast and previous values.

The common mistake

Watching only the statement. The press conference is a second event, 30 minutes later, and the minutes three weeks on can move the market again. The other is the hour: 2:00 p.m. in New York falls in the evening in Europe and in the middle of the night in East Asia.

FOMC and automated trading

By default, PipWarden opens no new trades from 60 minutes before to 30 minutes after a high-impact event for the currencies involved; for an FOMC decision, every enabled pair that contains USD. The window is yours to change, as in the example above, and the news blackout can be switched off. Skipped signals appear in the log as “High-impact news”. Trades already open stay open with their stops at the broker. See the features page.