Home › Guides › Markets & the economy

Weekend gaps explained: why Monday can open somewhere else

The market closes Friday. The world doesn't. When trading starts again, price can open far from where it stopped. Here's why that happens, and how to plan for it before Friday's close.

Beginner guide · 7-minute read · Updated 2026-10-21

What a weekend gap is

A Gap is a jump on the chart. One candle closes at one price. The next opens somewhere else, with empty space in between.

A weekend gap is the jump between Friday's close and the first price after the weekend.

Here's a picture in words. EUR/USD closes Friday at 1.1000. Over the weekend, big news breaks. On Sunday evening, the first trades happen at 1.0950. There were no trades in between. The chart just skips.

Why it happens

Prices only change when people trade. Over the weekend, most markets are closed, so nobody can.

But news keeps coming:

• elections and votes
• central bank or government statements
• wars, disasters and other world events
• company news

When trading opens again, buyers and sellers start at the price that makes sense now. If the news was big, that price can be far from Friday's.

When each market reopens (ET)

Our market hours tool shows which markets are open right now.

Stocks gap every morning, not only Mondays. A weekend just gives news more time to pile up.

What about crypto?

Crypto trades 24/7, so the coins themselves don't have a weekend close.

But some crypto products do. Spot bitcoin ETFs trade on stock exchanges, so they open Monday at a new price. CME's crypto futures used to close for the weekend, and the empty space on their charts was called "the CME gap." Since May 29, 2026, CME runs crypto futures and options around the clock, with a short weekend maintenance break. So that gap mostly comes from the past now.

How a gap can skip your stop

This is the part that matters most.

A Stop loss is an order to exit at a price. But it can only fill where trades actually happen. If price jumps right over your stop, there's no trade at your stop. A normal stop order turns into a market order and fills at the next price available.

A math example. Your account is $10,000 and you risk 1%, so $100.

• You buy, with your stop 20 pips below your entry. That's 1 unit of risk, $100.
• Over the weekend, news hits. Price opens 50 pips below your entry.
• Your stop fills at the open price. The loss is 50 pips, which is 2.5 units, or $250.

A math example, not a promise. Real gaps can be smaller or much larger. That's why your planned risk is the most you expect to lose, not the most you can lose.

Gaps don't always "fill"

You'll hear that "gaps always fill," meaning price comes back to close the empty space. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn't, for a long time.

Treat a gap fill as a possibility, not a rule. See gap trading explained for how traders handle gaps on purpose.

How to plan for the weekend

Here's a simple Friday routine. It's a process, not a promise.

1. Check the weekend calendar. Any elections, central bank meetings or big events? Write them down.
2. Look at every open trade. For each one, ask: "Am I okay holding this through a gap?"
3. If not, close it or cut the size before the Friday close.
4. If you hold, size for a gap. Some traders use half their normal size on trades held over a weekend.
5. Keep the stop on. It won't promise the price, but it still caps a normal move.
6. Don't trade the first minutes Sunday or Monday. Spreads are often wide at the reopen. Let them settle.

Use the position size calculator to see what half size looks like for your stop.

Day traders vs swing traders

• Day traders close everything before the day ends, so weekend gaps mostly don't reach them.
• Swing traders hold for days, so gaps are part of the job. Their sizing should allow for it. See swing trading for beginners.

Neither is better. They just carry different risks.

Common mistakes

• Thinking the stop is a guarantee. It fills at the next real price, which can be worse.
• Holding full size into a big weekend event. An election weekend isn't a normal weekend.
• Trading the Sunday open. Few traders, wide spreads, jumpy prices.
• Assuming every gap fills. Some never do.

Try it today

1. Open a 1-hour chart of EUR/USD or the S&P 500 futures.
2. Scroll back and find 5 Mondays. Mark the Friday close and the first price after the weekend.
3. Measure each gap in pips or points.
4. Ask: "If my stop had been inside that gap, what would I have lost in units?" Write it in your trading journal.

Questions