A Fair Value Gap (FVG) — also called an imbalance, BISI, or SIBI — is a three-candle pattern where price moved so fast it left a gap in trading: the wicks of candle 1 and candle 3 don't overlap, leaving an unfilled zone in the middle of candle 2.
Fair Value Gap — a 3-candle imbalance price often returns to fill.
Why it matters. The market dislikes inefficiency. Price frequently returns to "fill" a fair value gap — to rebalance the area it skipped — before continuing. That return is your entry opportunity.
A bullish FVG (BISI — Buy-Side Imbalance, Sell-Side Inefficiency) forms in an up-move; price often dips back to fill it, then continues up.
A bearish FVG (SIBI) is the mirror.
How to trade it. Mark the gap. When price retraces into it — ideally into an order block sitting in the same spot, in discount/premium, after a sweep — you have a precise, low-risk entry with your stop just beyond the origin.
FVGs are also a displacement tell: a fresh gap is proof the last move had real intent. No gap, weak conviction. A clean FVG is one of the most reliable, mechanical entries in the whole toolkit.
Now grade a setup with it.
Reading it is the easy part. Tick this against the ICT / SMC list before your next entry, log what happened, and find out whether it actually pays for you. Free while TradeFern is in beta.