As the largest financial marketplace, forex is affected by an incredibly diverse amount of factors. These market fundamentals are the key pieces to determining when a currency is going to rise in value and when it's going to fall. Trading on the fundamentals – also referred to as trading the news, is the study of news events and economic statistics to determine trading opportunities. These traders pay close attention to changes in economic indicators such as interest rates, employment rates, and inflation.

Around the world, various governmental and non-governmental agencies report on a regular basis certain pieces of economic information. Consumer Price Index (CPI) is an index that measures the change in the price of a representative basket of goods and services such as food, energy, housing, clothing, transportation, medical care, entertainment, and education. It is also known as the cost-of-living index. The CPI Core is a key indicator to measure inflation and changes in purchasing trends.

Economic data releases are essential for each forex trader, especially reports of utmost importance like the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of a country, which reflects the overall state of the respective economy. Market players monitor this critical piece of economic data to either enter a new position or add to a current one, but in most cases, they use it in combination with other trend-defining factors.