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Fair Value Gap strategy on Alpaca
Buy the imbalance bar of a fresh bullish FVG; short the mirror. Exit when the gap fills.
Is the Fair Value Gap strategy the best on Alpaca?
There's no universal answer. Whether the Fair Value Gap strategy is the 'best' on Alpaca depends on the pair you trade, the timeframe, the period, and β critically β Alpaca's trading fees. A strategy that looks great on a fee-free chart can bleed out once Alpaca's real costs are applied.
So instead of a number we can't honestly promise, this page gives you the strategy's exact mechanics, what Alpaca's fees and data mean for it, and how to run the backtest yourself on real BTC/USDT history β then read the robustness score to see whether the edge survives out-of-sample, not just in a curve-fit.
How the Fair Value Gap strategy works
Entry
- Long on the bar a bullish FVG opens (bull_signal > 0).
- Short on a bearish FVG.
Exit
- Position closes the bar the gap is filled (rebalanced).
- 4% trailing stop, 3-bar cooldown.
Indicators it uses
Want the full rules, runnable YAML and expected behaviour? See the Fair Value Gap strategy page β
Running the Fair Value Gap strategy on Alpaca
Here's what matters when you take this strategy to Alpaca specifically β the markets it supports, its trading fees, and how good its historical data is for an honest backtest.
- Spot trading
- Supported
- Futures / perps
- Not available
- Maker fee (spot)
- 0.00%
- Historical data
- Supported
What Alpaca's fees do to this strategy
Alpaca's spot maker fee is 0.00%, so a full round-trip costs roughly 0.00% before slippage. For the Fair Value Gap strategy that's a high-impact factor β it trades often, so every basis point of fee compounds. Fee drag is the difference between an edge that survives live and one that only existed on a zero-fee chart β so always backtest with Alpaca's real costs switched on.
How to backtest the Fair Value Gap strategy on Alpaca
- 1Open the strategy in the visual builder β no code β or start from the Fair Value Gap template and adjust the thresholds to your taste.
- 2Set the symbol to a Alpaca-listed pair like BTC/USDT, pick your timeframe, and enable realistic fees so the test reflects Alpaca's actual 0.00% maker cost.
- 3Run the backtest over years of history, then read the robustness score β walk-forward and out-of-sample β to see whether the edge holds up beyond the period you happened to pick.
Frequently asked
- Does the Fair Value Gap strategy work on Alpaca?
- Mechanically, yes β the indicators it uses are computed from Alpaca's OHLCV candles like on any other venue. Whether it's profitable on Alpaca is exactly what a backtest with the right fees is for; don't assume, measure.
- What's the best timeframe for this on Alpaca?
- There isn't a single answer β it's a parameter to test, not guess. Run the strategy across several timeframes on BTC/USDT and compare the robustness scores rather than the raw returns, which flatter whichever timeframe you over-fit.
- Can I run this live on Alpaca?
- Noon Barbari is a backtesting and validation platform; live real-money execution is testnet-only by design today. You can connect Alpaca API keys for data and paper trading, validate the strategy thoroughly, then deploy it with your preferred live-execution tool.
Try the Fair Value Gap strategy on another exchange
Prove it on Alpaca β don't take our word for it
Build the Fair Value Gap strategy in minutes, backtest it on real Alpaca data with fees on, and read the robustness score for yourself.
Backtest results are historical and not a promise of future performance. Nothing here is financial advice.