FVG — the gap that holds
A Fair Value Gap is a three-candle imbalance left by a strong move. Price tends to return to it, react, and continue in the original direction. Think of it as the level holding.
IFVG — the gap that fails and flips
An Inverse Fair Value Gap is what an FVG becomes when price trades cleanly back through it. The zone inverts: old support becomes resistance (or vice versa), and the retest is traded against the prior direction. Think of it as the level breaking and being re-used.
Side by side
| FVG | IFVG | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An imbalance that is respected | An FVG that failed and flipped |
| Trigger | Price returns to the gap | Price closes through the gap |
| Role | Support / resistance holds | Support ↔ resistance flips |
| Typical read | Continuation | Shift / reversal |
| Best used with | Bias + liquidity + sessions | Sweep + structure shift |
Which to use when
If your bias is intact and price is pulling back into an imbalance in the direction of the trend, you're watching an FVG for continuation. If price has swept liquidity and broken structure the other way, the failed gap becomes an IFVG you can trade into the new direction. Same building block — opposite stories — and context decides which one you're looking at.