and all through the house,
not a creature was stirring,
except you,
because you forgot to exit your trade before the markets closed for Christmas.

The Christmas and New Year's holidays are the time of year that cause the most havoc for almost every market's trading schedule. Some markets are closed completely, some markets are closed some days but are open other days, and some markets have modified opening and closing times on several days. Knowing when your markets are open and closed is essential, otherwise you may find that you are stuck with an active trade, which you can't manage or exit until trading resumes after the holidays (during which anything could happen to affect your trade's profit and loss).

The holiday schedules for every market can be found at the appropriate exchange web sites. However, sometimes the holiday calendars are difficult to find, as they are often hidden several web pages deep. To save you the frustration of finding them yourself, the following are the direct links to the various exchanges' holiday calendars:

US Markets

• CME Group
• NASDAQ
• NYSE

European Markets

• Euronext
• DTB
• SWX

Asian Markets

• HKEX
• ASX

Note that some of the above holiday calendars include all of the necessary information (e.g. completely closed days, partially closed days, and modified trading times), but some of them only include the days that their markets are completely closed, with the days that their markets are partially closed shown separately (e.g. under the calendar). In other words, make sure that you check your markets' holiday schedules carefully, so that you know about all of the modifications to their trading times.

There are only a few news releases from the US this week, but many news releases from Europe and Asia. The US has five high volatility news releases, while Europe has eleven high volatility news releases, and Asia has ten high volatility news releases. US markets will probably experience some significant volatility and price movement at some point this week, while European and Asian markets will probably experience significant volatility and price movement throughout this week.

The US, European, and Asian news releases for this week are as follows (all times are Greenwich Mean Time, which is one hour behind Central European Time, and five hours ahead of US Eastern Time) :

US

• Monday: Central Bank News Conference at 5:00 PM, Consumer Credit at 8:00 PM, and FOMC News Conference at 10:45 PM
• Tuesday: Economic Optimism at 3:00 PM
• Wednesday: FOMC News Conference at 1:40 PM, Wholesale Inventories at 3:00 PM, and Oil Inventories at 3:30 PM
• Thursday: Trade Balance, and Unemployment Claims at 1:30 PM, Natural Gas Storage at 3:30 PM, FOMC News Conference at 6:45 PM, and Budget Balance at 7:00 PM
• Friday: Retail Sales, and Import Prices at 1:30 PM, Consumer Sentiment, and Inflation Expectations at 2:55 PM, and Business Inventories at 3:00 PM

• This week's US news releases that should cause high volatility are shown in bold type. There are only a few US news releases this week, and five high volatility news releases. The US markets will probably experience some significant volatility and price movement at some point this week.

Europe

• Monday : EU Central Bank News Conference at 8:00 AM, Switzerland Retail Sales at 8:15 AM, UK HPI at ??:?? ?? (Unknown Time), EU Investor Confidence at 9:30 AM, Germany Factory Orders at 11:00 AM, and EU Central Bank News Conference at 1:00 PM
• Tuesday : UK Retail Sales at 12:01 AM, France Budget Balance at 7:45 AM, UK Manufacturing Production, and Industrial Production at 9:30 AM, Germany Industrial Production, and UK Industrial Order Expectations at 11:00 AM, and UK GDP at ??:?? ?? (Unknown Time)
• Wednesday : UK Consumer Confidence at 12:01 AM, UK Shop Price Index at ??:?? ?? (Unknown Time), Switzerland Unemployment Rate at 6:45 AM, Germany CPI, and Trade Balance at 7:00 AM, France Trade Balance at 7:45 AM, UK Trade Balance at 9:30 AM, Germany Bundesbank News Conference at 11:00 AM, and UK Pre Budget Release at 12:30 PM
• Thursday : Germany WPI at 7:00 AM, France Non Farm Payrolls at 7:45 AM, France Industrial Production at 7:50 AM, Switzerland Libor Rate, Monetary Policy, and Central Bank News Conference at 8:30 AM, EU Central Bank Bulletin, and Italy Industrial Production at 9:00 AM, UK leading Index at 10:00 AM, UK Asset Purchase Facility, and Official Bank Rate at 12:00 PM, and MPC Rate at ??:?? ?? (Unknown Time)
• Friday : UK PPI at 9:30 AM, and EU Central Bank News Conference at 12:15 PM

• This week's European news releases that should cause high volatility are shown in bold type. There are many  European news releases this week, and eleven high volatility news releases. The European markets will probably experience significant volatility and price movement throughout this week.

Asia

• Monday : Australia Job Advertisements at 12:30 AM, New Zealand Manufacturing Sales at 9:45 PM, and Japan Bank Lending, Current Account, and Money Stock at 11:50 PM
• Tuesday : Australia Current Account, and Business Confidence at 12:30 AM, Japan Economy Watchers' Sentiment, and Leading Indicators at 5:00 AM, Australia Central Bank News Conference at 8:15 AM, Australia Consumer Sentiment at 11:30 PM, and Japan GDP at 11:50 PM
• Wednesday : Australia Home Loans, and Trade Balance at 12:30 AM, Japan Machine Tool Orders at 6:00 AM, New Zealand Cash Rate, Central Bank News Conference, Central Bank Rate, and Monetary Policy at 8:00 PM, New Zealand Manufacturing Index at 9:30 PM, New Zealand Overseas Trade Index at 9:45 PM, and Japan Machinery Orders, and CGPI at 11:50 PM
• Thursday : Australia Inflation Expectations, Employment Change, and Unemployment Rate at 12:30 AM, Australia Central Bank News Conference at 1:45 AM, and New Zealand FPI at 9:45 PM
• Friday : China Industrial Production, CPI, Fixed Asset Investment, National Bureau of Statistics News Conference, PPI, and Retail Sales at 2:00 AM, China New Loans, Money Supply, and Trade Balance at ??:?? ?? (Unknown Time), and Japan Household Confidence at 5:00 AM

• This week's Asian news releases that should cause high volatility are shown in bold type. There are many Asian news releases this week, and ten high volatility news releases. The Asian markets will probably experience some significant volatility and price movement throughout this week.

The fifth pair of the japanese candlestick patterns that require two separate candlesticks are based upon the same concept, but have completely different (and quite poetic) names. The piercing line and the dark cloud cover are very easy to identify on a price chart, and in the appropriate context they can be used as trade entry and trade exit signals.

There are only a few news releases from the US and Asia this week, but several news releases from Europe. The US has eight high volatility news releases, while Europe has six high volatility news releases, and Asia has five high volatility news releases. Markets from all three regions will probably experience some significant volatility and price movement at some point (US markets) or throughout this week (European and Asian markets).

The US, European, and Asian news releases for this week are as follows (all times are Greenwich Mean Time, which is one hour behind Central European Time, and five hours ahead of US Eastern Time) :

US

• Monday : PMI at 2:45 PM
• Tuesday : PMI ISM Manufacturing, Pending Home Sales, Construction Spending, and ISM Manufacturing Prices at 3:00 PM, and Vehicle Sales at ??:?? ?? (Unknown Time)
• Wednesday : Job Cuts at 12:30 PM, Non Farm Employment Change at 1:15 PM, Oil Inventories at 3:30 PM, FOMC News Conference at 5:30 PM, and Beige Book at 7:00 PM
• Thursday : Unemployment Claims, Non Farm Productivity, and Unit Labor Costs at 1:30 PM, Central Bank News Conference, and PMI ISM Non Manufacturing at 3:00 PM, and Natural Gas Storage at 3:30 PM
• Friday :Non Farm Employment Change, Unemployment Rate, and Average Hourly Earnings at 1:30 PM, and Factory Orders at 3:00 PM

• This week's US news releases that should cause high volatility are shown in bold type. There are only a few US news releases this week, but eight high volatility news releases. The US markets will probably experience some significant volatility and price movement at some point this week.

Europe

• Monday : UK Consumer Confidence at 12:01 AM, UK Lending To Individuals, and Mortgage Approvals at 9:30 AM, and EU CPI, and Italy CPI at 10:00 AM
• Tuesday : Switzerland GDP at 6:45 AM, Germany Retail Sales, and UK HPI at 7:00 AM, Switzerland PMI at 8:30 AM, Germany Unemployment Change at 8:55 AM, EU PMI Manufacturing at 9:00 AM, UK HPI at ??:?? ?? (Unknown Time), UK PMI Manufacturing at 9:30 AM, EU Unemployment Rate at 10:00 AM, and UK MPC News Conference at 2:15 PM
• Wednesday : UK MPC News Conference at 8:20 AM, UK PMI Construction at 9:30 AM, and EU PPI at 10:00 AM
• Thursday : EU PMI Services at 9:00 AM, UK PMI Services at 9:30 AM, EU Retail Sales, and GDP at 10:00 AM, EU Minimum Bid Rate at 12:45 PM, EU Central Bank News Conference at 1:30 PM, and Germany Bundesbank News Conference at 3:00 PM
• Friday : Switzerland CPI at 8:15 AM

• This week's European news releases that should cause high volatility are shown in bold type. There are several  European news releases this week, and six high volatility news releases. The European markets will probably experience significant volatility and price movement throughout this week.

Asia

• Monday : Australia Private Sector Credit, and Operating Profits at 12:30 AM, Japan Central Bank News Conference at 1:00 AM, Japan Average Cash Earnings at 1:30 AM, Japan Housing Starts at 5:00 AM, and Australia Manufacturing Index at 10:30 PM
• Tuesday : Australia Building Approvals at 12:30 AM, China PMI Manufacturing at 1:00 AM, Australia Cash Rate, and Central Bank Rate at 3:30 AM, Australia Commodity Prices at 5:30 AM, and Japan Monetary Base at 11:50 PM
• Wednesday : Australia Services Index at 10:30 PM, and Japan Capital Spending at 11:50 PM
• Thursday : Australia Retail Sales at 12:30 AM, and New Zealand Commodity Prices at 2:00 AM
• Friday : No News Releases

• This week's Asian news releases that should cause high volatility are shown in bold type. There are only a few  Asian news releases this week, but five high volatility news releases. The Asian markets will probably experience some significant volatility and price movement throughout this week.