How to add a news filter to a trading bot with one API call

Craig | CryptoRetirement — Thu, 12 Nov 2026 22:19:43 +0000

Most trading strategies have a rule that never makes it into code: do not trade into the news. Spreads widen around CPI, payrolls and central bank decisions, and stops get hit by moves that have nothing to do with the setup. A human trader glances at a calendar. A bot needs the calendar as data.

This post shows a news filter that takes one HTTP call.

The question a bot asks

Before placing an order on EURUSD, the bot needs one answer: is a high-impact release for EUR or USD within 30 minutes of now, before or after?

The Forex News Filter & Economic Calendar Actor on Apify returns this week's events for nine major currencies. Every row carries two fields that do the work:

minutesUntil: minutes to the event, negative once it has passed
inNewsWindow: true when the event is high impact and inside your window

The call

You need a free Apify account and its API token.

const res = await fetch(
  'https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/cryptoretirement~forex-news-filter-economic-calendar/run-sync-get-dataset-items',
  {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json', Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.APIFY_TOKEN}` },
    body: JSON.stringify({ currencies: ['EUR', 'USD'], minImpact: 'high', upcomingOnly: true, newsWindowMinutes: 30 }),
  },
);
const rows = await res.json();

const blocked = rows.filter(r => r.inNewsWindow);
if (blocked.length) console.log('Stand aside:', blocked.map(r => `${r.currency} ${r.title}`).join('; '));
else console.log('Clear to trade');

The same thing in Python:

import os, requests

rows = requests.post(
    "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/cryptoretirement~forex-news-filter-economic-calendar/run-sync-get-dataset-items",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['APIFY_TOKEN']}"},
    json={"currencies": ["EUR", "USD"], "minImpact": "high", "upcomingOnly": True, "newsWindowMinutes": 30},
    timeout=120,
).json()

if any(r["inNewsWindow"] for r in rows):
    print("Stand aside")

What comes back

One row per event, oldest first:

{
  "time": "2026-11-13T13:30:00.000Z",
  "currency": "USD",
  "title": "Core PPI m/m",
  "impact": "high",
  "forecast": "0.3%",
  "previous": "0.7%",
  "status": "upcoming",
  "minutesUntil": 2175,
  "inNewsWindow": false
}

Times are UTC. With upcomingOnly: true the first row is the next event, so rows[0].minutesUntil also tells the bot how long it has.

Where to put it

On demand: call it right before each order. A run takes a few seconds.
On a schedule: run it every 5 to 15 minutes and cache the answer. Schedules can change during the week, so poll again close to the time that matters.
Once a week: run it on Monday with minImpact: "medium" and post the week's events to Slack or Telegram.

Cost and limits

A two-currency, high-impact check returns a handful of rows and costs about a cent. There is no subscription.

Know the limits before you rely on it. The calendar covers the current week only, so late on Friday nothing is upcoming until the new week is published. It carries forecast and previous values but no actual results. The data is ForexFactory's public weekly export, including its impact ratings.