Intraday price gaps in a market that never closes
Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2026 8:51 pm
Gaps are associated with weekends, but they appear within the day too. A sudden announcement, a liquidity void, or a feed interruption can produce a jump with no trades in between.
Most commonly, these gaps show up around news and in thin periods, such as the rollover window. A pair can move several pips between two ticks, with nothing in between to trade.
For scalpers, they matter because stops and limits do not work like a continuous path. A stop at 1.0850 does not get filled at 1.0850 when price jumps from 1.0852 to 1.0840. The fill is at the first available quote, or a worse one.
Entries have similar issues. A limit order might be skipped, with price passing through without filling, because the quotes never printed at that level.
Thinking of price as a series of discrete quotes, not a smooth line, helps with risk planning. The worst case is always worse than the stop distance.
How often do intraday gaps show up on the pairs and sessions you trade?
Most commonly, these gaps show up around news and in thin periods, such as the rollover window. A pair can move several pips between two ticks, with nothing in between to trade.
For scalpers, they matter because stops and limits do not work like a continuous path. A stop at 1.0850 does not get filled at 1.0850 when price jumps from 1.0852 to 1.0840. The fill is at the first available quote, or a worse one.
Entries have similar issues. A limit order might be skipped, with price passing through without filling, because the quotes never printed at that level.
Thinking of price as a series of discrete quotes, not a smooth line, helps with risk planning. The worst case is always worse than the stop distance.
How often do intraday gaps show up on the pairs and sessions you trade?