What is a balanced price range (BPR)?

First, a sharp drop leaves a bearish gap. Then a sharp rally the other way leaves a bullish gap that overlaps the first. The shared part of the two gaps is the balanced price range: both sides have already been “offered” there, so price often reacts on the return.

In a bullish BPR — formed by the rally — traders look for longs on the pullback into the overlap; in a bearish one, shorts.

EURUSDBearish FVGBullish FVG
A drop leaves a bearish gap and the rally leaves a bullish one over the same prices; the pullback into the overlap holds.

The example in numbers

Balanced price range1.08480–1.08560 · 8 pips · 50% at 1.08520
Entry (long)1.08520 — middle of the overlap
Stop1.08460 — 2 pips below the overlap (6 pips)
Target1.08720 — the next high (20 pips)
Reward to risk3.33R · breaks even at a 23% win rate

EURUSD prices from the chart above (Balanced price range), entry at 1.08520. At 3.33R, this setup needs to win more than 23% of the time to make money before costs. Try your own levels in the risk/reward calculator.

Balanced price range: how to spot it

  1. Mark a bearish fair value gap from a fast drop.
  2. Mark the bullish fair value gap from the rally that followed.
  3. Shade only where the two gaps overlap: that is the BPR.
  4. Trade the return into the overlap in the direction of the last move, with the stop beyond it.

Definitions differ

Some traders need the overlap to be at least a few pips wide; others take any overlap. A few use the full span of both gaps rather than only the shared part.

Common mistakes

  • Using the whole gaps

    The BPR is only the overlap. Drawing the whole of both gaps makes the zone too wide and the stop too far.

  • Ignoring which move came last

    The direction comes from the second gap. A BPR left by a rally is a long zone, not a short one.

  • Old overlaps

    A balanced range from last week matters less than one from today’s move.

Your win rate on BPR

A definition does not tell you whether your BPR trades pay. Your own record does: in the journal, open a trade from MT4 or MT5 and add it once as your own entry criterion with “+”, then press the key of BPR under Entry criteria — the most used criteria get keys 1–9.

Reports then show BPR by itself: trades, win rate without breakeven trades, average R and P&L, and BPR in each ICT killzone, which is set on every trade by itself. Combinations such as BPR with another criterion appear once they have 15 trades, so a lucky streak does not look like an edge.

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Questions

›What does balanced price range mean?

Price has been delivered efficiently in both directions there — a gap down and a gap up at the same prices — so the area is “balanced”.

›Is a BPR stronger than a single fair value gap?

Many ICT traders think so. Your own record decides: tag BPR and FVG trades separately and compare.

›Where is the entry on a BPR?

Inside the overlap, often at its middle, with the stop a few pips beyond the far edge.

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