Your NQ Pre-CPI Playbook: 5 Risk Rules Before the Number Drops
What's your plan when CPI hits at 8:30 AM Eastern on Monday?
If the answer is "I'll figure it out when I see the candle," you're already behind. The traders who survive macro events aren't the ones who predict the number — they're the ones who decided what they'd do before the chaos started.
CPI day is coming May 12th. Here's how we think about it at HTA — and the exact risk framework we teach our students. (Want the full macro framework? Download our free Macro Playbook.)
Why CPI Days Are Different for NQ Traders
Consumer Price Index releases move NQ futures like few other events. We're talking 50-100+ point candles in the first 60 seconds. That's not a normal trading environment — it's a volatility event that changes every assumption your strategy was built on.
Your backtested edge? It was probably validated on normal-session data. Your stop loss? It was sized for average daily range. CPI days aren't average. They're outliers — and outliers break strategies that weren't designed...