Trading & Markets
Gap
A jump between prices with no trading in between, most visibly between one session's close and the next's open. Gaps act as magnets and landmarks on futures charts.
In plain English
Futures gap mostly across the maintenance break and the weekend, when news lands while the market is closed. The resulting open away from the prior close leaves a zone traders watch: gap fill (price returning to the prior close) is one of the most traded phenomena in index futures.
Gaps also matter to prop rules: a position held into a gap (where allowed) can leap past stops and daily limits in one print, the core reason many firms simply ban holding through closes and major news.
- ES closes Friday at 5010 and opens Sunday at 5028.
- Monday morning traders short the failed push higher targeting the 5010 gap fill.