Fair value gap (FVG)
A fair value gap is a price range a fast move left untraded. Price often comes back to fill part of it.
Free plan · Sign in with MT4 or MT5 · Windows 10 and 11
On a real chart
How Arka Terminal marks it
- 01Breaks of structure in this stretch of gold.
- 02The gaps the breaking moves left, kept until price fills them.
XAU/USD 30m candles, Oct 20, 2026 to Oct 22, 2026. Every drawing is Arka Terminal's AI Structure Analysis of these candles. Nothing is placed by hand.
The shape
Three candles, one gap
Candle 1's high and candle 3's low do not meet. The range between them is the gap.
How to read it
01
Count three candles
In a bullish gap, the first candle's high stays below the third candle's low. Bearish is the mirror.
02
The middle candle does the work
It is a large candle in the direction of the move. The gap sits over its body.
03
Small gaps are noise
A gap a fraction of a normal candle's range carries little information.
04
Filled means finished
Once price trades back through the whole gap, it is filled and stops counting.
Common mistakes
Expecting a full fill
Many gaps are only partly filled before the move resumes. Some are never revisited.
Trading gaps against the trend
A bearish gap inside a strong uptrend is weak. Read the structure first.
Counting overlapping candles
If candle 1 and candle 3 overlap at all, there is no gap.
In Arka Terminal
One switch in the structure panel
- The three-candle rule
- The terminal finds every bullish and bearish gap where the middle candle moves in the gap's direction.
- Size and merging
- Gaps smaller than a quarter of the average true range are skipped. Gaps from back-to-back candles are merged into one.
- Only open gaps
- A gap is removed once price trades through it. The three nearest open gaps are drawn.
- Free on every plan
- The analysis runs on your PC. It uses no AI credits.
- Ask about it
- Arka Copilot reads the switches you have on and answers with the same prices the chart shows.
Fair value gap, marked on your own chart
- Free on every plan
- Sign in with your MT4 or MT5 account
- Nine structure switches, no AI credits
Questions
What is a fair value gap?
A three-candle pattern where the first and third candles do not overlap. The range between them was skipped by a fast move.
Do fair value gaps always get filled?
No. Many are filled in part, and some are never revisited. Treat a gap as an area to watch.
What is an FVG strategy?
Most use the gap as a place to look for an entry in the direction of the move that created it, with a stop beyond the gap.
Is there an FVG indicator for MT4 or MT5?
Arka Terminal marks open fair value gaps automatically on its charts for MT4 and MT5 accounts. It is free on every plan.
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Available for Windows 10 and Windows 11
