Imbalances

What it measures

Besides the FVG, ICT traders look at other zones where price left an imbalance. This indicator marks five:

• the Inversion FVG (IFVG): an FVG that a candle fully crosses and that changes role;
• the Balanced Price Range (BPR): a bullish and a bearish FVG close together whose zones overlap;
• the volume imbalance (VI): the gap between the bodies of two consecutive candles;
• the NDOG and the NWOG: the opening gaps of the day and of the week.

Each zone is a box with its own life: it forms, price touches it, and it gets filled or invalidated.

It’s a Pro plan indicator. It marks what has happened; it isn’t a recommendation or a buy or sell signal.

How it’s calculated

• The starting FVG: three candles. It’s bullish if the low of the third is above the high of the first, and bearish the other way round. It is known when the third closes. Minimum size: “Minimum FVG size” (1 tick by default). The candles are those of “Time frame of the FVGs (for IFVG and BPR)”, which is “The chart’s” by default.
• IFVG: an FVG that a closed candle fully crosses, that is, closes beyond its far edge (below it, for a bullish FVG; above it, for a bearish one). It changes role with the same prices: the inverted bullish FVG becomes a bearish (sell) zone and the bearish one a bullish (buy) zone. It forms on the candle after the one that inverts it, and the box starts at the middle candle of the FVG.
• BPR: a bullish and a bearish FVG with no more than 30 candles between their middle candles (“Maximum candles between the two FVGs”) and whose zones overlap by at least 1 tick. The zone is the overlap and its side is that of the more recent FVG. Each FVG is paired with the nearest overlapping opposite FVG that already existed. It forms when both are known.
• Life of an IFVG or a BPR: it is touched when price re-enters the zone; it is filled when a closed candle closes beyond the other edge (below the zone, if it’s bullish; above it, if it’s bearish).
• VI: two consecutive chart candles, already closed, whose bodies don’t touch but whose wicks do (if the wicks don’t touch either, it’s an FVG, not a VI). The zone is the gap between the bodies, of “Minimum size” (1 tick by default) or more. It forms on the candle after the second one, and the box starts at the first. It is touched when price enters it, and filled when a candle crosses it entirely, even with its wick.
• NDOG and NWOG: the gap between the close of the last candle of the previous trading day (from 6:00 pm to 5:00 pm New York time) and the open of the first of the new one; for the NWOG, with the week, which starts on Monday. From 1 tick counts (“Minimum gap size”). They are reference levels: they aren’t filled and run to the last candle. They form when the first candle of the period opens.
• How many are shown: the 10 most recent of each type among IFVG, BPR and VI (“How many of each type (IFVG, BPR, VI)”), the filled ones too, up to where they were filled; and 5 NDOG (“How many NDOG”) and 4 NWOG (“How many NWOG”).
• How far back it looks: the last “Days back” with candles (3 by default), plus a margin for the previous weeks.
• Nothing repaints: a zone forms when the candles that make it are closed, and what happens to it afterwards (the touch, the fill) is the first time it happens.

How to read it

• Each zone is a box with its name and side at the top left, outside the box (IFVG · bullish, BPR · bearish, VI · bullish). On the NDOG and NWOG, only the name.
• The default colors: IFVG bullish in ice and bearish in pink; BPR in violet; VI in orange; NDOG in light grey and NWOG in orange. The opening gaps have a dashed border.
• A dashed line marks the midpoint of the zone (CE, “Draw the midpoint (CE)”).
• With “Cut each zone when it is filled or invalidated”, the box ends at the candle where the zone gets filled; without it, it runs to the last candle. Opening gaps are never cut.

Which chart to put it on

The IFVG and BPR zones are calculated with the time frame you pick in “Time frame of the FVGs (for IFVG and BPR)”, which can be higher than the chart’s (5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours or daily). The volume imbalance and the opening gaps are always calculated with the chart’s candles.

Built-in strategies

What the indicator already has inside and can mark for you on the chart. They show what has happened; they are not recommendations.

Adding it to the chart

In the chart bar, Indicators ▾ › More Indicators…. You’ll find it in the ICT category. It’s a Pro plan indicator. How to add and adjust an indicator is in Indicators.

Settings

Open them with the ⚙ on its row in Indicators ▾. All times are New York time.