Imbalance
Imbalance is a trader's word for a stretch of price where one side moved the market and the other side barely traded.
Definition
Imbalance is a trader's word for a stretch of price where one side moved the market and the other side barely traded.
The word is used loosely. Some traders mean a fair value gap, some mean any strong run of candles that left little overlap, and some mean an order-flow imbalance read from volume data.
On this site the word stands for the three-candle pattern only when a page says so. The rule behind a fair value gap is exact, and the word imbalance is not.
Educators disagree on whether imbalance and fair value gap are the same thing. The page on fair value gap versus imbalance lists the differences.
On a real chart
- 1Bearish1.12036 to 1.12084formed 07:30 UTCTraded through at 12:45 UTC
- 2Bearish1.12003 to 1.12035formed 07:45 UTCTraded through at 08:15 UTC
- 3Bearish1.11939 to 1.11971formed 09:00 UTCTraded through at 09:30 UTC
- 4Bullish1.11953 to 1.11975formed 10:00 UTCTraded through at 10:30 UTC
- 5Bullish1.11932 to 1.11955formed 12:45 UTCTraded through at 16:15 UTC
- 6Bearish1.11964 to 1.11965formed 16:45 UTCTraded through at 16:45 UTC
EURUSD, 23 October 2026, 15 minute candles, 06:00 to 18:00 UTC. The rule finds 6 gaps in this window. A bearish gap whose third candle opens at 07:15 UTC runs from 1.12036 to 1.12084, a size of 0.00048 in price. A candle opening at 12:45 UTC traded through its far edge, so it is filled.
The window was chosen because it shows the term clearly. It is one chart, and it says nothing about what the next gap will do.