There are two groups of traders: fundamentalists and technicians. Fundamentalists are traders who use fundamental analysis to predict price action, and technicians are traders who use technical analysis to predict price action. Of course a lot of traders use both types of analysis.
Lets talk today about fundamental analysis, which is based on economic factors.
Fundamentalists assume that the supply and demand for currencies is a result of economic processes that can be observed. So, they observe economic, social, and political forces that drive supply and demand. They believe that by observing all kinds of indicators they can predict price actions.
Because currency prices are a reflection of the balance between supply and demand for currencies, by analyzing different data, such as interest rates, balance of trade, foreign investment, GDP and many others, traders can predict price actions. The problem is that there is huge amount of data to analyze. Fundamentalists can study any criteria except price action. Different fundamental analysts look at different economic indicators, but the most important are economic growth rates, inflation, unemployment and...