buy and sell stop before weekend gap

I'm reading so many articles about how to trade the weekend gap and most of them explain that the gap will high likely (70%) close - so one should trade towards the closing price of the friday before.
I have another approach which seems at first glance way more profitable (like...100 % profitable...) and that's why I think that I forgot some important detail about it. I want to share it with you and hear what's good or wrong/bad about it (I haven't tried it out yet, just came into my mind today):

So just before the market closes on friday you open a buy stop order just a few pips above the current price (always bear in mind the spread+ a few more pips) and also a sell stop order a few pips below. no stop loss, no take profit.

So when the market opens on monday and you have e.g. a gap of 20 pips, that means that one of the orders got triggered and you're automatically like 15-18 pips in the money. And you immediately close the trade.

So I guess something's wrong with this strategy, right? Because this seems too easy.

Fibigero, this a dangerous approach. You stand to lose both ways. Have you heard about stop hunting? You can get hunted both ways!

KP

haven't heard of that. I'll go and read about it.

If the gap goes over your stops, they will be filled at the first available price at market open ... not at the price you set them on friday.

that explains it :/ thanks

I think one thing we should consider is the underlying factor behind the gap, for instance you will likely only see a gap on a weekend open when a significant event takes place that alters the underlying market that is being traded.
For instance, a current gap we can pry on is;
A gap in the US Dollar. This took place because of two main events over the weekend which had people worried and looking at hoarding money in treasuries i.e. US Dollar. The first was that the Syria deal was inked which many people feared could take US into another foreign conflict.
The second and more significant from a financial market point of view is that the front runner for the Federal Reserve Chairman spot, Larry Summers, who was seen a stern hawk meaning he would likely bring about a stronger dollar overtime withdrew his name leaving in the running candidates who were much less aggressive in bringing the dollar back to strength.

We can search out how use this gap in US DOLLAR to our advantage!

Hey there, I just wanted to reply to this because I have fallen into this mindset and trap before. First, i would like to say that it will not work. Sure there could be times that this would workl and it could even be rather profitable. However, I would not be willing to put even a micro lot on that trade. It just does not fit into my personal trading stratgey.

I will share with you my personal expereince. When i was new to the FX markets, I was studying the NFP and I had had the chance to see the market respond to the data release. So after I learned about Buy and Sell stops, I decided that i would be slick and place a buy and sell stop above and below the market price, then in my mind, as soon as the release came out, I would be a millionaire. Well the relase happened, it was a GREAT release, numbers far exceeding the expectation. I was so comfortable, I was watching the release on my TV, no where near my computer. After doing a victory lap around the living room, I went back into my home office and I was shocked to see that I lost my entire account, minus the margin. Then I read about slippage, wow, I felt like a fool but I gained a very good lesson, and a very expensive one.

So moral of the story, if you are somewhat new to the markets, maybe focus on developing a strategy that is based on more technical analysis and fundamental analysis, if you realy want to trade the weekend gaps, use very good risk management and have a plan to get out if things go the wrong way. Any type of trading where you are hoping for something to happen with a lot of unknown over the weekend is not for the faint of heart and I think most agree that it is not very profitable. Bu then again, there maybe a very successful stratgey that is in play out there, but it does not personally fit what I trade.

If anyone has had great success with these trypes of trades, I would love to know more about them, seems very risky.

Cheers
Patrick