The main difference: an FVG is empty space, an order block is a filled candle. An FVG marks a range price skipped without any trades, between the wicks of the first and third candle of a triple. An order block marks the range of one specific candle — the last one against the move, before the impulse that broke structure.
Everything else follows from that.
What they are built from
| FVG | Order block | |
|---|---|---|
| Candles involved | three in a row | one |
| What is marked | the space between wicks | the candle's body and wicks |
| Break of structure required | no | yes |
| Trading inside | none, the stretch is empty | yes, it is a real candle |
An FVG is found mechanically: it is enough that the third candle's low ends up above the first candle's high. An order block needs context — a break of structure has to happen first, and only then is the last candle before the impulse that caused it located.
Why they get confused
Because they often end up next to each other. The impulse that breaks structure usually moves fast and leaves a gap behind it. That impulse starts from some candle, and that candle becomes the block. On the chart the block and the gap then stand almost touching, sometimes overlapping.
But that is adjacency, not identity. There are gaps without blocks: price skipped a stretch without breaking anything. There are blocks without gaps: the impulse broke structure while moving tightly, leaving no empty space.
Different behaviour over time
An FVG is interesting while unfilled: it lives until price returns inside. A gap crossed all the way through stops being an event.
An order block has a longer life cycle. It can be fresh, touched, mitigated or broken, and its touches are counted. A block price has entered three times is still on the chart, but it is a different situation from an untouched zone.
Which one to choose
The question is put wrongly. They are not alternatives but two different observations about the same stretch of chart: one about how fast it was crossed, the other about where the move started.
On the Smart Money page they are drawn as separate layers and can be toggled independently — precisely because they answer different questions.