New Week Opening Gap
Also: NWOG, new week opening gap actual, NWOG actual
Visual Context Required
This concept requires chart visuals for full understanding.
The New Week Opening Gap (NWOG) is the price gap formed between the closing price of the previous week's Friday session (at 4:59pm Eastern) and the opening price of the Sunday futures session (at 6:00pm Eastern). It represents a real liquidity void — there is no trading printed between those two price points. The gap is defined by two horizontal levels: Friday's close (high) and Sunday's open (low), or their inverse if Sunday opens above Friday's close. The midpoint is consequent encroachment (CE). ICT distinguishes two variants: NWOG Actual (Friday 4:59pm close to Sunday 6:00pm open) and NWOG (Friday 4:59pm close to Monday 9:30am RTH open, ignoring Sunday's electronic trading entirely). Algorithms refer back to old NWOGs as fair value reference levels for weeks and months after formation. A minimum of four NWOGs (preferably five) should be maintained on chart, covering a rolling ~30-day look-back. The 60-day IPDA look-back is the maximum. Market behavior relative to the current week's NWOG signals trending vs. consolidating conditions: sharp willingness to move away = trending; repeated return to the same NWOG = consolidation. Multiple NWOGs converging in a tight range signals a range-bound environment.
Identification7
- Identify Friday's closing price at 4:59pm Eastern on a 1- or 5-minute chart with regular trading hours toggled off (electronic trading hours on).
- Identify the very first tick/opening price on Sunday at 6:00pm Eastern.
- The gap between those two price points is the NWOG. If Friday close is above Sunday open, Friday close = high of gap; Sunday open = low of gap. Reverse if Sunday opens above Friday close.
- Mark consequent encroachment (CE) at the 50% midpoint of the gap range.
- Optional: mark upper and lower quadrants (25% and 75% gradients) for finer reference.
- Maintain minimum 4–5 NWOGs on chart (up to 60-day look-back per IPDA data range rules).
- NWOG Actual = Friday 4:59pm close to Sunday 6:00pm open. NWOG (standard) = Friday 4:59pm close to Monday 9:30am RTH open.
Entry3
- NWOGs are not direct entry triggers; they function as draw-on-liquidity targets and fair value reference zones.
- When price retraces into an old NWOG, look for confluence with other PD arrays (FVG, order block, breaker) for entry.
- If bearish, look for shorts above CE of an old NWOG; if bullish, look for longs at or below CE of an old NWOG.
Stop1
- Stop placement is determined by the entry PD array used in conjunction with the NWOG, not by the NWOG itself.
Target4
- The CE (midpoint) of the current NWOG is the first target when price is inside the gap.
- The opposing boundary (high or low) of the NWOG is the second target.
- If price has reached the CE of one NWOG, probabilities favor it reaching the next NWOG in the series.
- Use NWOGs as mile markers or ultimate targets depending on higher-timeframe bias.
Invalidation2
- Once the week closes, the NWOG for that week transitions to a historical reference level but is NOT discarded — the algorithm refers back to old NWOGs weeks and months later.
- No structural invalidation of the price level exists; levels remain relevant within the 60-day IPDA look-back window.
Inferred Conditions (Unvalidated)
- Gap size must be meaningful — ICT notes that very small separations (one or two ticks) are not worth annotating for NDOG; same logic applies to NWOGs.
- Trending condition: market aggressively moves away from current NWOG without returning = trending week.
- Consolidation condition: market repeatedly returns to current week's NWOG and refuses to move away = range-bound week.
ICT Quotes
"The new week opening gap, the closing price on the previous week's Friday close and the opening price on the next Sunday's opening price. So if there's a difference between those two price points, that gap is a real liquidity void. There's no trading there."
"The ICT Newick opening gap is a tool that I utilized to give me large fund fair value, meaning that the markets will generally gyrate a little bit higher timeframe pulling back to old new week opening gaps."
"I like to have a minimum of five weeks worth of it. Having at least four new week opening gaps on your chart for proper perspective of large fund fair valuation."
"Range expansion or trending is when we leave the new week opening gap and don't return back to it. When we're close to the new week opening gap, we're in consolidation."
"Opening prices are not random price events. Wherever the first opening trade is the first tick of the marketplace when a new week opens at 6pm New York time, that price is absolutely not random. The proof of that is to watch how price respects it throughout the week and in the future weeks and months ahead."
"Whatever today is, I look back 60 days. Whatever new week opening gaps have formed in the last 60 days, that's how far I'll look back. And that's the maximum I have on my charts."
"The gap is not a random event. It's engineered, it's designed. And then Smart Money uses these old reference points throughout the future week of trading the future month of trading and for several months in the future."
Timeframes
Version History4 versions
ICT YT - 2023-02-01 - January 31 2023 PM Session Example - New Week Opening Gap.srt
"That's the low end of the new week opening gap. What that is is the gap opening on Sunday trading so wherever we opened up from Friday's close the difference between the opening price the very first t…"
First public introduction of NWOG as a named concept in live trading context.
ICT YT - 2023-03-09 - NWOG - New Week Opening Gap.srt
"This lecture is going to be on my ICT new week opening gap, which is abbreviated NWOG. This concept that I released on Twitter in February 2023."
Formal lecture with full definition, CE marking, quadrant subdivision, and 4-5 NWOG minimum rule introduced.
ICT YT - 2023-05-08 - NWOG - New Week Opening Gap - Part 2.srt
"NWOG actual is the actual opening on Sunday because there's trading going on there. New week opening gap actual where it's Friday's close price to Sunday's opening price. Then we have new week opening…"
Introduced NWOG Actual vs NWOG (RTH) distinction. Extended look-back to 60-day IPDA rule. Confirmed trending vs. consolidation signatures.
ICT YT - 2024-08-07 - ICT 2024 Mentorship - Lecture 03.srt
"new week opening gap, go back with a life cycle of five weeks. So you're always going to have five weeks of new week opening gap... They tend to be very sensitive still five weeks back. Now that's not…"
SHELF LIFE GUIDANCE REFINED: ICT provides explicit guidance that 5 weeks is the starting rule for NWOG validity — but notes that NWOGs can remain sensitive 6-9 months later. This adds nuance to the 2023 "4-5 NWOGs minimum" rule: maintain 5 weeks as a starting floor, with awareness that older NWOGs may still act. The 60-day IPDA rule remains but ICT indicates algorithmic sensitivity can extend beyond it. This is consistent with but more specific than the prior guidance.
Notes
Concept introduced publicly on Twitter in February 2023, formalized in March 2023 lecture. ICT explicitly states he taught this to private students earlier but presents it here for public mentorship. The concept is distinct from a standard gap analysis — the key insight is that algorithms continue to reference old NWOGs as fair value even after the gap is filled, contrary to conventional gap analysis which discards filled gaps. The two-variant approach (NWOG Actual vs NWOG RTH) reflects the distinction between electronic futures trading (Sunday open) and regular trading hours (Monday open). Apply to: NQ, ES, Dow, Dollar Index, EURUSD, GBPUSD per ICT's stated usage.
Asymmetry Notes
No directional asymmetry in formation, but directional bias determines whether the NWOG high or low is the more likely first target for any given week's price delivery.