Fair Value Gaps, traded with rules.
WS Terminal looks for a specific candle pattern called a Fair Value Gap — a gap the market tends to come back and fill, which makes it a forward-looking setup rather than a lagging signal. When one forms, the bot places a limit order into the gap and manages the trade with the stop-loss and take-profit logic you control. It's a discretionary strategy made systematic — no signals service, no black box, just rules running on a schedule.
What's a Fair Value Gap?
A Fair Value Gap (FVG) is a 3-candle pattern. Look at any three consecutive candles on a chart. If the high of the first candle is below the low of the third candle (with the middle candle's body bridging them), there's a gap between candle 1's high and candle 3's low that the market "skipped over." That gap is a bullish FVG — a zone where the market moved up too fast and tends to come back to fill.
Bearish FVGs are the mirror — candle 1's low is above candle 3's high, the market dropped too fast, and tends to rally back into the gap before continuing down.
Traders use FVGs as retracement entry zones. Instead of chasing the breakout, you wait for price to come back into the gap and enter at a more favorable level.
What the bot does, minute by minute
Detect
Scans the configured timeframe (1, 2, or 3-minute candles) during your trading window for new FVG formations.
Wait for retracement
Places a limit order at your chosen depth into the gap (aggressive edge, 50% midpoint, or conservative far edge).
Manage the trade
On fill, immediately submits the configured stop-loss and take-profit. Optionally moves stop to breakeven and trails the take-profit as price advances.
Pyramid (optional)
If additional same-direction FVGs form while you're in profit, adds contracts up to your configured maximum.
End-of-day flatten
At your configured cutoff (typically 4 PM ET), closes any open positions so you don't carry overnight exposure.
Built-in risk management
Every layer of the strategy has a configurable safety net. Set these values once, and the bot enforces them on every trade — no judgment calls, no override.
- Stop-loss types: fixed dollar amount, ATR-based (volatility-scaled, Pro only), or candle-based
- Take-profit types: fixed dollar amount, R-multiple of the stop, or trailing on activation (Pro only)
- Daily caps: max trades per day, daily net stop on either P&L direction
- Pyramid limits: max contracts, in-profit gate before adding
- Time windows: only trade during your defined hours; ignore openings, closings, or known event blackouts
- End-of-day flatten: hard cutoff time when all positions are closed regardless of P&L
What this is, and what it isn't
What WS Terminal IS
- A configurable software bot that executes a documented FVG-pyramid strategy
- Software you run on your own machine, connected to your own broker
- A faster, more disciplined way to execute a strategy you understand
- Configurable down to every parameter — not a black box
What WS Terminal IS NOT
- A signals service — there are no human signals or alerts
- A managed account or hedge fund — your capital, your broker, your risk
- A guaranteed profit machine — every strategy has losing periods
- A replacement for understanding the market you're trading
Every value the bot uses is yours to set
Symbol (any IBKR-supported futures contract), timeframe, FVG size filter, entry depth, stop type, take-profit type, breakeven trigger, trailing-stop activation, daily caps, position size, add-on quantities — all editable through the dashboard, no code, no config-file editing.
Both tiers ship with two operator-curated presets — WS Terminal Standard (the equity-curve preset, recommended default) and WS Terminal Max (the higher-PnL alternative) — each a parameter set we've validated against years of /NQ data. Pro buyers additionally get the in-app backtester to sweep their own configurations against history before going live, plus the ability to save and manage custom presets.
Specifics on every config parameter live in the user docs.
HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS HAVE MANY INHERENT LIMITATIONS, SOME OF WHICH ARE DESCRIBED BELOW. NO REPRESENTATION IS BEING MADE THAT ANY ACCOUNT WILL OR IS LIKELY TO ACHIEVE PROFITS OR LOSSES SIMILAR TO THOSE SHOWN.
IN ADDITION, HYPOTHETICAL TRADING DOES NOT INVOLVE FINANCIAL RISK, AND NO HYPOTHETICAL TRADING RECORD CAN COMPLETELY ACCOUNT FOR THE IMPACT OF FINANCIAL RISK IN ACTUAL TRADING. FOR EXAMPLE, THE ABILITY TO WITHSTAND LOSSES OR TO ADHERE TO A PARTICULAR TRADING PROGRAM IN SPITE OF TRADING LOSSES ARE MATERIAL POINTS WHICH CAN ALSO ADVERSELY AFFECT ACTUAL TRADING RESULTS. THERE ARE NUMEROUS OTHER FACTORS RELATED TO THE MARKETS IN GENERAL OR TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ANY SPECIFIC TRADING PROGRAM WHICH CANNOT BE FULLY ACCOUNTED FOR IN THE PREPARATION OF HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS AND ALL OF WHICH CAN ADVERSELY AFFECT ACTUAL TRADING RESULTS.
That's the whole strategy.
Detect → wait → enter → manage → flatten. The hard work is in the parameter choices. We've done a lot of that for you in the WS Terminal Standard and Max presets — both ship with every license.