What is gap up and gap down in trading?
In this article, I will teach you how to trade gap up and gap down opening. You will learn a simple and profitable gap trading strategy that works perfectly on Forex, Gold or any other financial market.
First, let's start with a theory.
What is a Gap? Gap Up
A gap up after the market opening is the situation when the market opens higher than it was closed without any trading activity in between.
Above you can see the example of a gap up after the market opening on EURGBP.
The price level where the market closed is called gap opening level.
The price level where the market opened is galled gap closing level.
Gap Down
A gap down after the market opening is the situation when the market opens lower than it was closed without trading activity in between.
Here is the example of a gap down after the market opening on WTI Crude Oil.
Why Such Gaps Occur?
There are various reasons why opening gaps occur.
One of the most common one is the release of positive or negative news while the market was closed.
The market opening price will reflect the impact of such news, causing a formation of the gap.
What Gap Opening Means?
Gap openings reflect the sudden change in the market sentiment.
Gap up will indicate a very bullish sentiment on the market while
a gap down will imply very bearish mood of the market participants.
However, the markets do not like the gaps.
With a very high probability, the gaps are always filled by the market very soon.
We say that the gap is filled, when the price returns to the gap opening level.
Above, you can see that after some time, EURGBP successfully closed the gap - returned to gap opening level.
Such a pattern is very reliable and consistent among different financial markets. For that reason, it can provide profitable trading opportunities for us.
You can see that a gap down on WTI Crude Oil was quickly filled and the price returned to the gap opening level.
How to Trade Gap Opening?
Gap Up Trading Strategy
Once you spotted a gap up after the market opening, you should wait for a bearish signal before you sell.
You should look for a sign of strength of the sellers.
One of the most accurate signals is a formation of a bearish price action pattern:
Double top,
Triple top,
Inverted Cup and Handle,
Head and Shoulders,
Symmetrical or Descending Triangle,
Rising Wedge...
Bearish breakout of a trend line / neckline of the pattern will be your signal to sell.
Look at a price action on EURGBP before it filled the gap.
At some moment, the price formed a double top pattern and broke its neckline. That is our signal to sell.
Your stop loss should lie above the highs of the pattern.
Take profit - gap opening level.
Safest entry is on a retest of a broken neckline/trend line of the pattern.
Safest entry point on EURGBP is the retest of a broken neckline of a double top pattern. Stop is lying above its highs. TP - gap opening level.
Gap Down Trading Strategy
Once you spotted a gap down after the market opening, you should wait for a bullish signal before you sell.
You should look for a sign of strength of the buyers.
One of the most accurate signals is a formation of a bullish price action pattern:
Double bottom,
Triple bottom,
Cup and Handle,
Inverted Head and Shoulders,
Symmetrical or Ascending Triangle,
Rising Wedge...
Bullish breakout of a trend line / neckline of the pattern will be your signal to buy.
Let's study the price action on WTI Crude Oil before it filled the gap.
You can see that the price formed a cup and handle pattern.
Bullish breakout of its neckline is a strong bullish signal.
Safest entry is on a retest of a broken neckline/trend line of the pattern.
Your stop loss should lie below the lows of the pattern.
Take profit - gap opening level.
Following this strategy, a nice profit was made.
Always remember that probabilities that the gap will be filled are very high. However, it is not clear WHEN exactly it will happen.
For that reason, you should carefully analyze a price action and wait for a signal, before you open the trade.
That will be your best gap opening trading strategy.
