Gap Zone Finder

The Gap Zone Finder indicator for MT5 draws each fair value gap (FVG) on the main chart as a colored zone with a 50% line, and adds a stats panel. In the Lab's repaint test on EURUSD M15, 0 of 813 logged signals changed after they appeared. It helps traders who already trade gap retests and want the zones found, graded and cleared for them.

What it puts on your chart

A fair value gap is a three-candle pattern where the wicks of the first and third candle do not overlap, so only the middle candle crosses that price range. The glossary explains the concept; this page covers the tool.

• Bullish / Bearish FVG zones: rectangles, green and red by default, each graded Strong or Weak.
• CE Line: the Consequent Encroachment (50%) level of every active zone.
• MTF FVG: dash-dot lines for the gaps of a higher timeframe, drawn only after you turn on EnableMTF.
• FVG Stats panel, row by row:
  • Last FVG with grade and strength: what just formed, and whether it is Strong or Weak, without searching the chart.
  • Active bullish and bearish zones with Strong/Weak split and average fill: which side has more open zones, and how much of them price has already filled.
  • Nearest zone distance in pips: whether a retest is close or still far away.
  • CE touches: how often price has reached the 50% level of a zone.
  • MTF bullish/bearish zone count: which way the higher-timeframe gaps lean.

How the Lab tested it

The Lab ran version 1.00 (111.9 KB) on MT5 build 6230 on 2026-10-04. The data was EURUSD M15 from 2026-07-06 to 2026-10-02, on Raw Trading Ltd real ticks.

Each signal is a new FVG, logged from the indicator's arrow buffers on the candle where the zone is confirmed.

For the repaint test, every signal was logged when it printed and checked again later. The maximum arrow delay was 0 bars, so a signal is not placed on the chart late and then made to look early.

What the numbers mean for you

The Lab then asked a harder question of the same signals: after a new gap, did price travel 1 ATR in the gap's direction before it travelled 1 ATR against it? The chart below shows the answer for each side.

Both sides are under half. A new gap on its own was slightly worse than a coin flip as a direction call, so treat the zone as a place to watch, not as an entry signal.

Three more numbers shape how you use it:

• Median of 2 bars to the hit. Half of the signals that reached a 1 ATR level did so within 2 M15 bars, so a retest entry often has little time to set up.
• 1.7% of signals reached neither level within 20 bars. Very few gaps were followed by a flat market.
• 63.9 signals per week (31.3 bullish and 32.6 bearish). That is far too many to trade one by one, so you need a filter: raise MinGapATRMultiple or set ShowWeakFVG to false. The Lab has not measured how much either one cuts the count.

To install it, open the data folder from MT5 (File > Open Data Folder), copy the Gap Zone Finder file into MQL5/Indicators, refresh the Navigator and drag it onto a chart. It draws on the main chart window, not in a subwindow.

How a zone forms

The indicator only looks at three closed candles.

• Bullish FVG: the low of the third candle is above the high of the first.
• Bearish FVG: the high of the third candle is below the low of the first.

The gap must also be big enough. Its size has to reach the larger of MinGapATRMultiple x ATR (default 0.1, with the ATR period set by DisplacementATRPeriod, default 14) and MinGapPoints (default 0, which means only the ATR rule is used).

With RequireDisplacementDirection on, the middle candle must close in the direction of the gap.

Each zone then gets a grade. It is Strong when the body of the middle candle is at least StrongBodyRatioThreshold (default 0.7) of that candle's range, and Weak otherwise. Weak zones are filled lighter.

The figure below is an illustration of a typical bullish zone: where the box sits, where the CE Line runs, and a later candle that touches the CE Line without filling the zone.

If a new gap overlaps or touches an active zone of the same direction formed within ConsolidateOverlapBars bars (default 10), it is merged into that zone. You get one box, not a stack of them.

Reading a zone that disappears

A zone is mitigated when a closed candle fills it according to MitigationMode. The default is FullTouch, which means a wick has to reach the far edge of the zone.

By default a mitigated zone is deleted at once. Turn on ShowMitigatedZones and it turns gray and stays for MitigatedZoneKeepBars bars (default 50).

The common misread is to assume that a zone which vanished was filled. A zone is also removed in two other cases:

• It is older than MaxZoneAgeBars (default 500 bars).
• It is the oldest active zone when there are more than MaxZonesPerDirection (default 20).

To tell the cases apart, switch ShowMitigatedZones on. Filled zones go gray; aged-out and dropped zones simply go. With the default MaxZoneAgeBars of 500 on M15, a zone ages out after roughly five trading days, so that case only applies to zones price has left alone for about a week.

The CE Line exists only while its zone is active and is removed with it.

Reading the MTF lines

MTF FVG lines follow the higher timeframe's own clock. They are mitigated on closed MTFTimeframe candles, and their age is counted in MTFTimeframe bars.

So a higher-timeframe line can stay on your chart for a while after lower-timeframe candles have traded through it. Wait for the higher-timeframe candle to close before you call that gap filled.

The inputs to change first

• MinGapATRMultiple (0.0-1.0) is the main filter. Raise it to keep only larger gaps and cut the number of zones.
• ShowWeakFVG set to false creates Strong gaps only.
• EnableMTF adds the higher-timeframe lines.
• MitigationMode decides how a fill is confirmed, and so how long zones survive. Stay on the FullTouch default until you have checked the other options in the input's dropdown.
• ZoneFillAlpha (default 40%) and PanelScale (0.6-2.0) only change how the chart looks.

Alerts

There are three alert events, and all of them fire on closed candles:

• AlertOnNewZone (on by default): a new FVG zone is confirmed.
• AlertOnCETouch (off by default): a candle touches the CE level of a zone.
• AlertOnMitigation (off by default): a zone is mitigated.

Out of the box you get a popup alert window in MT5 (UsePopupAlert) and a sound (UseSoundAlert). UsePushAlert is off by default; turn it on to get the same alerts as push notifications in the MT5 mobile app. The sound plays alert.wav from the terminal Sounds folder, and SoundFile lets you pick another.

A decision rule for each element

These rules are one way to use the drawings. They are not Lab-tested entries.

• Bullish FVG zone: look for longs only, and only when price comes back into the zone while it is still active. Skip it if price is running away from the zone, or if the zone is Weak and you have no other reason for the trade.
• Bearish FVG zone: the mirror image. Look for shorts on a return into an active zone, and skip the chase.
• CE Line: a touch tells you price has arrived at the middle of the gap, not that it will turn. Take it only with a rejection candle you would trade anyway.
• MTF FVG line: use it as context. Prefer chart-timeframe zones that point the same way as a nearby higher-timeframe gap, and be careful with zones that point against one.
• Mitigated zone: done. Do not trade a gray box.