The 'OOPS' Pattern: How a Gap Down That Recovers Can Signal ASX Leaders Are About to Run
Written by Christopher Hall, AdvDipFP | Authorised Representative, AFSL 526688 | 18 September 2026
A stock gaps down at the open, then recovers to fill that gap within the same session — a pattern veteran commodities trader Larry Williams named "OOPS" decades ago. Gary Glover flagged two live examples of it in a single session review on 18 September 2026: Mastermyne Group (ASX: MYE) and Ramsay Health Care (ASX: RHC). Both were already-strong names, not stocks bottoming out of weakness — and that distinction is the pattern's most important qualifier.
Christopher Hall and Gary Glover review the FMP Top 30 and Launch Pad, 18 September 2026 — both OOPS pattern examples below are drawn from this session.
Remember that past performance is no guarantee of future results, and all trading involves risk.
What Is the OOPS Pattern?
The OOPS pattern is a gap down that opens beyond the prior session's range and then recovers to fill that gap within the same trading session. Larry Williams, a commodities and futures trader with a long public track record, first named and popularised the setup in his own trading writings. The mechanism: a sharp gap down triggers stop-losses and short-covering pressure, but if genuine sellers are not actually present in size, the stock recovers the ground just as quickly — leaving a wide-ranging bar that closes back near, at, or above the opening level.
Gary Glover's anecdotal observation, developed across his trading career, is that a leader gapping down and then fully recovering within the session is normally a positive sign — but only in a stock that was already showing strength, not one attempting to bottom out of weakness. A gap-and-fill in a strong uptrend reads as exhausted sellers being absorbed; the same pattern in a weak or declining stock does not carry the same implication and was not the context either example below occurred in.
Two Live Examples From the Same Session
Gary Glover identified the pattern twice in his 18 September 2026 review, in two unrelated names.
Mastermyne Group (ASX: MYE). The stock had briefly undercut its 20-day moving average — a technical negative Gary flagged the week before — but held the prior high, and light volume through the pullback suggested genuine sellers were not present. What followed was a gap-down bar on no volume that recovered the same session. Gary's read: "that's actually probably not — that's probably a good price bar in some regard," directly citing the Larry Williams OOPS trade as the reference point.
Ramsay Health Care (ASX: RHC). Already extended into a strong rally and forming cup-and-handle structure on both the daily and weekly chart (see Finer Market Points' cup-and-handle guide for the base pattern), Ramsay produced a gap-down bar that filled the same session — "that's probably our tell here... there's that little oops pattern again." Gary described the mechanism as the stock being pushed under before popping back through, comparable to a washout that clears sellers rather than confirms them. Ramsay went on to extend the rally Gary was tracking, closely hugging its 10-day moving average — the tightest of the moving-average tiers Finer Market Points' moving averages framework associates with a stock's fastest-moving leadership phase.
What the OOPS Pattern Does Not Signal
The pattern is a continuation tell in an already-strong stock, not a standalone reversal or bottoming signal. Neither Mastermyne Group nor Ramsay Health Care was picked out of weakness — both were already-established, trending names when the gap-and-recover occurred. Applying the same read to a stock in a confirmed downtrend, with no prior relative strength, is a different situation the pattern was not observed to apply to in this session.
Remember that past performance is no guarantee of future results, and all trading involves risk.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the OOPS pattern in trading?
The OOPS pattern is a gap down that opens below the prior session's range and recovers to fill that gap within the same trading session. It was named and popularised by commodities trader Larry Williams. The recovery signals that the initial gap was driven by stop-losses and short-term positioning rather than genuine, sustained selling.
Does the OOPS pattern always mean a stock will go higher?
No. Gary Glover's session observation was that the pattern is a positive continuation signal specifically in a stock that is already showing relative strength — it was not observed as a reversal signal in a weak or declining stock, and applying it outside that context is a different read the session did not support.
Which ASX stocks showed the OOPS pattern in September 2026?
Gary Glover identified the pattern in Mastermyne Group (ASX: MYE) and Ramsay Health Care (ASX: RHC) during his 18 September 2026 session review — both already-strong names at the time the gap-and-recovery occurred.
Sources
# | Source | Type |
1 | Gary Glover, Finer Market Points session recording, 18 September 2026 | Gary Glover anecdotal observation |
2 | Larry Williams — OOPS pattern, as referenced by Gary Glover in the 18 September 2026 session | Practitioner reference (Gary-cited) |
Statistics and figures attributed to Gary Glover above are his anecdotal observations, developed across his trading career — not a formal study.
Related Finer Market Points Educational Resources:
This article includes a general trading observation made by Gary Glover (AR 259215), Authorised Representative of Novus Capital Limited (AFSL 238 168), during a recorded Finer Market Points session on 18 September 2026. The observation reflects Gary Glover's general approach and his anecdotal observations developed across his trading career — it is general commentary only, and is not a formal study, not financial advice, and not a recommendation to trade any security. It was made in the course of that session and not in response to any individual's circumstances. Content has been edited and summarised by Finer Market Points for educational purposes.
This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
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