Gap Tracker - NinjaTrader 8 Indicator

The Gap Tracker Indicator for NinjaTrader 8 makes gap analysis simple by automatically finding, showing, and watching price gaps between session closes and opens. The main feature uses smart algorithms that find important price gaps when markets open, turning these gaps into clear shaded boxes that stay visible on your chart all day.

As shown in Image 1 (pointed by yellow arrows), gap-up zones are shaded in lime green when price opens higher than yesterday's close. The green box shows the space from the old close to the new open price. These bullish gaps show where buyers pushed price higher overnight. They often work as support when price comes back down, or they flip to support after price fills the gap. Gap-down zones are shown in crimson red (Image 2, pointed by white arrows) when price opens lower than yesterday's close. These show where sellers were strong. These red zones often work as resistance when price tries to go back up. The shading uses 50% transparency by default, so you can see the gaps clearly but still read the price bars easily. You can change the transparency to match your chart style.

The indicator helps you by sending smart alerts for gaps. When price gets close to any gap edge (default is 2 ticks away), Gap Tracker shows you an approach alert. This early warning tells you that price is testing an important gap level. This helps you get ready for bounce trades, fade setups, or breakout trades before price actually touches the gap. When price goes all the way through a gap and closes it completely, the system sends a fill alert. This tells you the gap is closed, which can mean a reversal is coming, a breakout is happening, or it's time to exit your trade. All alerts show up in NinjaTrader's Alerts Log window (find it in Control Centre), so you can see all your alerts in one place even if you watch many charts.

Gap Tracker gives you many ways to customise how it looks and works. The Appearance section, highlighted by a red rectangle in Image 3, lets you control gap colours and bar painting. Paint Bars, when turned on, colours your candles based on which type of gap is active right now. This makes it easy to see market direction without thinking. Bullish Bar Brush sets the colour for candles when a gap-up is active—default is purple. Purple bars remind you that bullish power is working, so you should look for long trades or avoid short trades. Bearish Bar Brush sets the candle colour when a gap-down is active—default is gold. Gold bars tell you sellers are strong, perfect for short setups or staying out of long trades. This bar colouring turns your whole chart into a visual guide where colour alone tells you the direction.

Gap Up Fill controls the background colour for bullish gap boxes—default lime green makes clear boxes that show price gaps above yesterday's close. This helps you watch for price coming back to test the gap or see unfilled gaps that might pull price back later. Gap Down Fill sets the colour for bearish gaps—default crimson red makes it easy to spot downside gaps. This is great for watching how price reacts when trying to move back up into the gap. Fill Opacity changes how see-through the shaded boxes are. Default is 50%, which gives good balance between seeing the gap and reading price clearly. Lower numbers (20-30%) make subtle background shading for clean charts. Higher numbers (70-80%) make bold boxes if you want gaps to stand out more. These colour controls make sure Gap Tracker works with any chart colour scheme and keeps your chart looking professional.

The Gap Tracker Settings section, shown in Image 4 (highlighted by a green rectangle), controls how the indicator finds gaps and sends alerts. Minimum Gap Ticks sets the smallest gap size to track—default is 2 ticks. This filters out tiny overnight price moves from spread or small changes, so you only see real gaps. You can make this bigger (like 5-10 ticks) for higher timeframes or volatile markets to see only major gaps. Or make it smaller (1 tick) for forex or fast scalping where small gaps matter. Maximum Age Bars sets how long unfilled gaps stay on your chart—default is 200 bars. This keeps old gaps visible even if price takes a long time to come back to them. Good for swing traders who watch longer-term levels. Make this smaller (like 50-100 bars) to keep charts cleaner for day trading. Make it bigger to keep very old gaps for long-term study. Proximity Ticks sets how close price needs to get before you get an approach alert—default is 2 ticks. This gives you early warning as price gets near gap edges, so you have time to get ready, move orders, or watch for reactions. Use 1 tick for last-second alerts with exact timing. Use 3-5 ticks for earlier warning in fast markets. Alerts on Approach, when turned on, shows you alerts when price enters the warning zone. Alerts on Fill shows you alerts when gaps close completely. These two alert types make sure you never miss important gap action, even if you're watching many instruments or step away from your screen.

The indicator manages gaps smartly—unfilled gaps show with full opacity and stay easy to see. Filled gaps can disappear right away (keeps charts clean) or stay visible with lower transparency for studying history. This smart display keeps your chart focused on what matters now but still lets you study patterns later.

With full NinjaScript source code included, advanced users can study how the indicator finds session gaps, change the gap size rules and filters, adjust how proximity alerts work, change the bar painting logic, add gap data to automated strategies for gap-fill or gap-fade trading, create custom alerts with sounds or emails, add tracking for gap-fill statistics and timing, or build completely new indicators that use gap data—all with no restrictions. The source code has clear notes explaining gap detection methods, alert logic, bar painting code, and how to customise it. This makes it easy for NinjaScript beginners to learn and for experienced coders to add it to bigger trading systems quickly.

If you have questions about the best minimum gap tick settings for different markets and timeframes, good maximum age bar settings for different trading styles, proximity settings for different market speeds, strategies for trading gap fills versus gap fades, using Gap Tracker with volume or order flow tools for better confirmation, or systematic ways to manage trades around unfilled gaps, watch the detailed video tutorial above for complete guidance on using Gap Tracker effectively in your gap trading approach.