Vacuum Block — Opening Gaps as Trading Zones (FOMC, Weekends, Geopolitics)

When the FOMC announces a rate decision, or a geopolitical crisis erupts over the weekend, price can open hundreds of points away from the previous close — with not a single transaction between those two levels. That empty space is a vacuum block: a gap with a liquidity vacuum inside, which the market very often revisits before moving on. In this article I show how a vacuum block differs from a regular FVG, what the bullish and bearish variants look like, where exactly the entry level lies, and why the fate of the whole setup is decided not on the chart, but in the macro calendar.

What Is a Vacuum Block

A vacuum block is a gap in price action created by a high-volatility event. The catalyst can be an FOMC decision, an NFP or CPI print, a geopolitical event — war, sanctions, the collapse of a major institution — or simply the open of a new session, day or week after a break in trading.

The mechanics are always the same: price opens well above or below the last traded price and leaves behind an area in which nobody transacted. Nobody could — at the moment of the shock there was no one, and nothing, to trade at those levels. Hence the name: a liquidity vacuum reigns inside the gap. There are no orders there, no volume, no trace of turnover.

And that is exactly why the gap acts like a magnet. In the ICT framework, the market seeks to deliver fair value — and an area with no trading whatsoever is by definition unfair, one-sided pricing. Price tends to return into the vacuum block, react through it fully or partially, and then continue in the direction consistent with the original gap.

It is worth setting the relationships with the related concepts straight away. A regular Fair Value Gap is an imbalance between the wicks of three candles during normal trading — transactions did occur inside it, just one-sided ones. A vacuum block is a true gap: a physical discontinuity in price with not a single transaction inside. NDOG and NWOG — the new day and new week opening gaps — are specific, calendar-based subtypes of the vacuum block. The general category covers every gap caused by a volatility shock, regardless of the time of day.

The Bullish Vacuum Block

A bullish vacuum block forms when price opens above the previous traded price and leaves a gap beneath it. A typical scenario: the FOMC surprises with a dovish statement, indices shoot higher, and between the pre-announcement close and the new price there is a hole several hundred points wide.

Such a gap says two things at once. First — the market is in a strongly bullish mode, because the shock repriced it upward in a single jump. Second — a liquidity vacuum remains beneath price, and the market will probably want to visit it.

The game plan goes like this. First you assess the catalyst: does the event have a chance of affecting the market long term? If so, you wait for price to retrace into the gap. You mark the consequent encroachment level — the midpoint (50%) of the vacuum block's range, statistically the most reactive level inside the gap. When price reaches the vicinity of that level, you drop to M5 or M1 and wait for bullish confirmation: a Market Structure Shift to the upside. After confirmation you go long with the stop loss below the lower edge of the vacuum block, and you take profit at the nearest liquidity magnet above — an old high, equal highs, or from an ICT Fibonacci projection.

The Bearish Vacuum Block

The bearish variant is the mirror image: price opens below the previous traded price and leaves a gap above it. The classic example — a weekend geopolitical escalation, after which index futures open on Sunday evening (6:00 PM ET) deep below Friday's close.

You trade it symmetrically. Assess the durability of the catalyst, wait for the corrective move up, into the gap. Mark the midpoint of the range. On the touch of the 50% level, look for a bearish MSS on M5–M1. After confirmation, enter short with the stop above the upper edge of the vacuum block, targeting the nearest liquidity pool below.

The Catalyst Decides Everything

This is the most underrated element of the setup. Two identical-looking gaps can carry radically different probabilities of working — and the difference sits in the cause, not on the chart.

A durable catalyst — an interest rate change, a structural pivot in central bank policy, a war reshaping the balance of power — creates a vacuum block that is respected on the retest. The market repriced for a reason that will not vanish within an hour, so it treats the return into the gap as an opportunity to add in the direction of the shock.

A one-off catalyst — a single headline, a rumor, a print in line with forecasts whose effect fades within the session — creates a gap that frequently breaks on the retest. Price not only fills the vacuum block entirely, but passes through it without reaction.

A practical tip: watch how price behaves in the first hours after the gap. If the market holds on the shock's side and builds structure in its direction, the catalyst is working. If it immediately starts giving back the entire move — treat the gap with suspicion.

The Trade Plan Step by Step

1. Identify the catalyst. FOMC (statement at 2:00 PM ET), NFP and CPI (8:30 AM ET), a geopolitical event, or the open of a session or a new week.
2. Mark the vacuum block. The full range from the previous close to the new open, best done on H4 or D1.
3. Mark the consequent encroachment. The 50% level of the gap — with a Fibonacci tool set to 0, 0.5 and 1.
4. Assess the durability of the catalyst. A structural event = a credible setup. A one-off headline = pass, or trade with reduced risk.
5. Wait for the retrace. Price must come back into the gap. No retest, no setup — do not chase the market.
6. Drop to a low timeframe. M5 or M1 for the entry trigger.
7. Wait for the MSS. A clean structure break at or near the 50% level confirms the reaction.
8. Enter after confirmation. Long on a bullish vacuum block, short on a bearish one.
9. Set the stop. Beyond the opposite edge of the gap, with a small buffer — not against the body of the gap, because that is where wicks hunt stops.
10. Take profit at the nearest liquidity magnet in the direction of the original gap. Do not hold the position past the first target without a structural reason.

Where Vacuum Blocks Work Best

The cleanest setups come from instruments sensitive to scheduled releases and weekend closes: NQ and ES futures (weekend CME gaps and FOMC days), gold (XAU/USD gaps on NFP, CPI and FOMC, with retests that can arrive weeks later), and the major forex pairs around central bank decisions.

And crypto? Spot BTC and ETH trade 24/7, so classic opening gaps do not exist there — there is no break during which price could "jump". Vacuum blocks in crypto do, however, form on CME Bitcoin futures, which have a daily pause and a weekend close. The famous "CME gaps" on BTC are exactly this mechanism — and spot respects them surprisingly often, even though it never printed the gap itself. The second crypto counterpart is the gaps left by shock candles during sudden events — but that is the domain of regular FVGs and the liquidity void, not the vacuum block sensu stricto.

Common Mistakes

• Treating every gap as a vacuum block. Small intraday gaps without a clear volatility catalyst are not this setup. A vacuum block requires a specific cause: news, geopolitics, or an open after a trading break.
• Ignoring the durability of the catalyst. A gap after an event whose effect fades within an hour often fails to defend the retest. The catalyst filter is not an add-on — it is the core of the setup.
• Entering without an MSS. A mere touch of the 50% level is not a signal. The trigger is the structure break on a low timeframe — it filters out the retests that go straight through the gap.
• A stop against the body of the gap. A stop too tight inside the vacuum block gets collected by a wick on the second approach. The stop belongs at the opposite edge, with a buffer.
• Overstaying past the first target. A vacuum block trade has a clear first target — the nearest liquidity pool. Holding longer for no reason regularly gives back the profit earned.
• Confusing a vacuum block with an NWOG. The NWOG is a specific, weekly subtype. The vacuum block is the general category — it can form on any volatility shock, not just over the weekend.

The vacuum block is one of those ICT tools that connect the chart to the calendar: the technique says where, the macro says whether. The calendar-based varieties of this gap — daily and weekly — are dissected in the article on NDOG and NWOG. The mirror case, a gap price deliberately never returns to, is covered in the piece on the Breakaway Gap, and the mechanics of the most reactive level inside a gap — in the article on consequent encroachment. Start with a simple exercise: mark the last three post-FOMC gaps on the NQ or gold chart and check how price behaved at the midpoint of each one.

FAQ

Rafał — Krypto Bez Ściemy

Trader and founder of Strefa Tradingu. He’s been breaking crypto down on YouTube for years — no hype, no signals, with a focus on market structure and risk management.

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