Yes, that's the gap. QQQ is what you want to use. Nasdaq futures trade for an additional 15 minutes past the equity close. The gap won't be visible on your chart so you can place horizontal lines as shown in my chart. If you use MT4 there's a "Daily Open Line" indi that could be set to start @ the closing time of the prior day. See example below.
NDX futures trade for an hour after the equity close, from 4PM to 5PM ET. About 3 years ago the CME dropped the whole 15 min halt from 4:15-4:30 PM.
Hello, Thanks for helping. So if I`m looking at bars, I wait for the 5-minute bar to create and the information that is to the right of the bar is the last value either higher or lower, and I put the mouse to see the exact level and the different(points, or pips) is how big the gap is? I`m always looking at the part that I`ve circled with red
I don't work with time bars much, but with an OHLC candle, the following is what I believe the gap is. You focus on the yellow circles... The difference between close of 1st bar to open of 2nd bar.
Ok so I look up on yahoo finance at what price did the market close the day before. Then on the current day I wait for the first bar to form. Do I look at the left of the bar or the right of the bar to determine the size of the gap? I put my cursor on the yahoo finance number and after the first bar if formed I look to the right or the left of the body of the bar?
I just illustrated it for you. I know about ebonics, but did not know there needs to be "eyebonics". Can someone else help this lad? I don't follow Yahoo Finance.
***If you're looking at a bar chart rather than candlestick then the left side is Open price and right side is Close price. Overnight showed it correctly in his drawing.
Hello, so I`m getting from yahoo finance the closing price. And then let the first bar chart to form the 5-minute bar and then trade the gap to close from the right side the close side? And I don`t look at the left, which is the open price, because the price would have moved, and I can`t get in on that trade because I have to let the first bar to form. So I`m looking at the right side the close price and place in my trade
You're getting the correct answers for what a gap is, whether you agree with it or not. Gap = previousbarClose to currentbarOpen Some traders will trade barClose to barClose, but that includes any gap plus the time interval the chart is based upon.
You don't have to wait for the first bar to close. Your entry isn't some EXACT price. As soon as the new day starts, the gap close trade can be taken. I think most gap traders will use the market open price as Sprout explained above. Some will place a buy/sell stop above/below the first 1 minute bar so price is moving towards the gap before entering. I think statistics show the gap fills 70-80% of the time but what do you do if it doesn't fill? You need some plan or likely get burned. Looking at the chart above, Monday the gap filled after about 20 minutes but Tuesday the gap never filled and Wednesday it took 3/4 of the day to fill.