Why I don't trade on economic news

1) Most of it seems to come out while I'm asleep. It's very hard to trade while you're asleep, and there's no way in hell I'm changing my sleep schedule to wait for a US Treasury or Commerce Dept press release.

2) Half the time it seems like everyone knows what the news is going to be already, so it's already factored into the price. In short, sometimes the news isn't even news.

3) The only thing more boring than reading economic reports is reading the phone book, and I don't have to get up at 4:00 AM to read the phone book.

4) I'm no good at figuring out exactly how much a currency price is likely to move after a particular type of report. So if I ever tried to trade on economic data I'd go crazy trying to guess when the trend had maxed out.

5) Major news ends up being reflected in the technical data anyway, so by analyzing the technical data you're in effect analyzing the impact of the news. And I find it much easier to do technical analysis than gauging the effect of a particular report or press release.

6) I'm lazy and hate having to keep track of exactly when this, that or the other government agency is issuing what report and how it compares to the last report and whether it's above or below expectations and What It All Means For The Market. Man, I tired myself out just writing that sentence.

7) I am not a trained economist and am not even remotely qualified to understand half of what's being said in these reports.

8) I'm an ignoramus and have no idea what I'm missing out on by not trading on economic news.

I think that pretty much covers it. Now, back to my nice big comfy spreadsheet of price data.