What is FVG Mitigation?
When price returns to fill a previously-formed Fair Value Gap — typically a high-probability reaction zone if it occurs in the right context.
How FVGs get mitigated
An FVG represents an imbalance — a price zone the market never traded both sides of during the original move. Over time, markets tend to "rebalance" by returning to these zones and trading them properly. When this happens, the FVG is "mitigated" or "filled."
Three common outcomes when price returns: (1) Partial fill, then continuation — price taps into the FVG, reacts, and resumes the original direction. (2) Full fill, then continuation — price fully closes the FVG and still resumes the original direction. (3) Full fill, then reversal — the original move's premise has failed.
Trading the FVG mitigation
Bullish setup: after a strong bullish move that left an FVG, wait for price to retrace into the FVG. Look for a lower-timeframe reversal signal (bullish engulfing, structure shift). Enter long with stop just past the opposite side of the FVG.
The key context is the higher-timeframe trend. FVG mitigation entries work best when the higher timeframe is clearly trending in the direction of the FVG. In a range or counter-trend retracement, the same FVG may not hold.
Failed mitigation = thesis dead
If price closes fully through the FVG against the original direction (e.g. a bullish FVG that gets fully filled and price keeps falling), the trade thesis is dead. The market is telling you the original move was not real institutional buying — likely a sweep or weak rally that's now reversing.
This is one of the cleanest invalidation rules in price-action trading: FVG closure beyond the opposite extreme = exit, no questions. The risk-reward becomes negative after this point.
- Entering FVG mitigation against a clear higher-timeframe trend
- Not setting invalidation past the opposite end of the FVG
- Trading every 1-min FVG fill — most have insufficient context
- Holding after the FVG closes through the opposite extreme