An economic calendar refers to the scheduled dates of significant releases or events that may affect the movement of individual trading instrument prices or markets as a whole.

Investors and traders use the economic calendar to plan trades and portfolio reallocations, as well as to be alert to chart patterns and indicators that may be caused or affected by these events. 

The majority of the events listed fall into one of two categories: projections of future financial or economic events, or reports on recent financial or economic events.