Fair Value Gap (FVG) Scanner for Futures

A fair value gap scanner does the tedious part of ICT-style chart work: it checks every candle on every market you follow and tells you when price returns to a gap. This one watches NQ, ES, YM, RTY, MNQ, MES, MYM, M2K, GC, MGC, SI, CL, MCL, NG, 6E and 6J on the 1, 3, 5, 15 minute, 1 hour and 4 hour charts.

It only looks at closed candles, ignores gaps too small to matter, and alerts once per gap, the first time price genuinely trades back into it. You can watch the live feed below for free, or set up alerts from your account.

What is a fair value gap?

A fair value gap (FVG) is a three-candle pattern that leaves an imbalance on the chart. In a bullish FVG the first candle's high sits below the third candle's low, so the middle candle moved so fast that a stretch of prices barely traded. In a bearish FVG the first candle's low sits above the third candle's high. The empty space between those two prices is the gap.

Traders following ICT and smart-money concepts treat that gap as a level worth watching. The idea is that price often returns to fill part of the imbalance, and that the gap can then act as support (bullish) or resistance (bearish). It is a level to watch, not a guarantee: plenty of gaps get run straight through.

Bullish and bearish FVG examples

In both drawings the shaded box is the gap, the blue line marks the candle where the alert fires, and the faded candle is what might follow. It is not something the alert predicts.

Bullish FVG touched

Price shot up so fast that a stretch of prices barely traded: the first candle's high sits below the third candle's low, and the box is the empty space between them. Later price dropped back into that box for the first time. Traders watch it as a possible support zone where buyers step in.

Bearish FVG touched

The mirror image: price dropped so fast it left a gap, then rallied back up into it. Traders watch it as a possible resistance zone where sellers step in.

How our FVG scanner decides what counts

Most scanners mark every three-candle gap, which buries the useful ones. These are the rules this scanner applies:

Closed candles only. A gap that price is still filling can never alert and then disappear.
A minimum size. A gap narrower than a quarter of the recent average candle size is ignored. A one-tick gap on a 5-minute chart is noise.
A real retest. Price has to trade at least one tick inside the gap. Merely reaching its edge does not count.
One alert per gap, at the first retest, sent when the candle that retested it closes.
If a candle closes all the way through the gap, it stops being an FVG and becomes an inverse FVG (see the IFVG scanner).

What an FVG alert looks like

Alerts are named like the drawings above, for example "MES 5m · Bearish Fair Value Gap touched". The public scanner shows that line. An alert sent to your email or Discord adds the zone, the price, the time of the candle and a list of the other structures overlapping that price, so you can see what else is stacked at the level.

How traders use FVG alerts

An alert saves you from watching a screen. What you do with the level is your own trading plan. Common habits are to check which way the higher-timeframe trend runs, to see whether a gap agrees with other levels nearby, to look at the session (a gap retest in a quiet hour is different from one at the open), and to decide the stop before entering, not after.

A scanner should never replace that judgment. It tells you where to look. It does not tell you what will happen.

What an FVG scanner cannot tell you

A retest is not a confirmation. Price can touch a gap and keep going, and the smaller the timeframe, the more often that happens. Alerts fire after the candle closes, so you are always at least one candle behind the touch. The scanner marks levels. It does not measure whether they work, and nothing on this page is a claim that they do.

Setting up fair value gap alerts

Set up an alert from your account and choose "Fair Value Gap" as the alert type. Then pick the markets you trade, the timeframes you use and whether you want bullish gaps, bearish gaps or both.

Timeframe changes the character of the alerts a lot. The 15 minute chart and above produce fewer, larger gaps. The 1 and 3 minute charts produce many, and a busy market can fill a phone with them. If you are new to the scanner, start with one or two markets on the 5 or 15 minute chart and widen from there.

Choose the alert type: Fair Value Gap.
Pick your markets and timeframes.
Optionally set a minimum confluence, so you only hear about gaps that overlap other structures.
Choose email, Discord or both. Discord needs a webhook URL from your server's integration settings.
Press Send test to see exactly what an alert looks like.

The alert this scanner sends

Alert	Sent when
Fair Value Gap touched	Price trades at least one tick into an open gap for the first time.

Frequently asked questions

What is an FVG scanner?

An FVG scanner automatically checks the charts of many markets and timeframes for fair value gaps (three-candle imbalances) and tells you when price returns to one, so you do not have to watch every chart yourself.

Is this fair value gap scanner free?

The live scanner page is free and needs no login. Alerts you set up to reach you by email or Discord are free with a Signal Trade App account.

Which markets and timeframes does it cover?

Sixteen futures markets (NQ, ES, YM, RTY, MNQ, MES, MYM, M2K, GC, MGC, SI, CL, MCL, NG, 6E and 6J) on the 1, 3, 5, 15 minute, 1 hour and 4 hour timeframes.

Does the scanner repaint?

No. It only evaluates closed candles, so an alert is never withdrawn. The trade-off is that an alert arrives after the candle that touched the gap has closed.

What is the difference between an FVG and an inverse FVG?

An FVG is an unfilled gap. When a candle closes fully through it, the zone flips polarity and becomes an inverse FVG, which traders watch as support or resistance in the opposite direction.

Why does the scanner ignore some gaps?

Gaps narrower than a quarter of the recent average candle size are treated as noise, and a touch of the very edge is not a retest. This keeps the feed to gaps that matter on that timeframe.

Can I get FVG alerts on Discord?

Discord is one of the delivery options for alerts you set up. You add a Discord webhook URL from your server settings, and alerts are posted to that channel. Email is the other option.

Learn more and use it on a chart

ICT trading concepts for futures — Market structure, fair value gaps and liquidity explained for futures traders.
OTE trading strategy for futures — How optimal trade entry works, and where the 61.8% to 88.8% zone fits.
Open the charting page — The chart tools, including fair value gap and inverse FVG drawing, live here.

Related scanners

Inverse FVG (IFVG) Scanner — Free live inverse fair value gap scanner for 16 futures markets. See IFVG retests as candles close, how a gap flips, and set up alerts.
Order Block Scanner — Free live order block scanner for 16 futures markets. Displacement-validated bullish and bearish order blocks, with alerts you can set up.
Rejection Block Scanner — Free live rejection block scanner for 16 futures markets. Alerts when a block forms, is retested, or price returns to the rejection wick or its 50%.
CRT (Candle Range Theory) Scanner — Free live CRT scanner for 16 futures markets. See candle range theory sweeps the moment they are confirmed, and set up alerts for them.
Liquidity Sweep Scanner — Free live liquidity sweep scanner for 16 futures markets. Alerts when price sweeps the previous 1H, 4H, day, Asia or NY session high or low.
Live futures chart scanner — every alert type, updated as candles close.

Alerts are informational and are not trading advice. They show that a pattern was detected, not where price will go, and patterns often fail. Futures trading involves substantial risk of loss.