ICT concepts changed my trading for best

ICT concepts changed my trading for best. 

By KingDubie 

Leaving support/resistance behind in 2021 almost immediately put me on the right path. 

If you crave precision like me and want a faster, easier way to learn & trade ICT 

This thread breaks it down step by step

Walk with me 🧵

1/22

ICT is still support and resistance 

BUT is a more precise version of it.

Everything about trading is leaning to what feels easier and more trust worthy to you.

As a person ... I always liked sophistication and precision 

AND I never got that with support and resistance

Trying to figure out which zone to trade from in the midst of many other zones was like a torment to my psyche

When I started learning ICT , I was so happy that I can finally differentiate between certain zones because they looked distinct

Thanks to the Inner circle trader.

2/22

DISCLAIMER :

Now going straight to the point , every detail about ICT is on the official youtube channel of ICT himself.

BUT if you want a summarized understanding of ICT this thread will help you and also give you direction on things to focus on.

3/22

Just like support and resistance or any other concepts , ICT is a concept not a strategy

ICT concepts is a full deep library that explains market behavior from a unique perspective and this was master minded by ICT himself 

Many things explained in this concepts has their equivalent in support and resistance trading

These are simple example below

4/22

PD arrays ---------------------- S/R ZONES

Liquidity sweep --------- Rejection wicks on S/R zones

Breaker mitigation ------Break and retest on S/R zones

OTE ---------- Fibonacci retracement to golden levels

Killzones -----------------Overlap Session open 

5/22

There are many others .. but thats not the purpose of this thread alone ...

The primary purpose of this thread is to teach you a simple ICT Based strategy and why its more precise.

Now ,the first thing to learn when trying to understand ICT are ICT PD arrays.

6/22

This is same as POIs as some people call it AND equivalent to S/R zones in S/R trading.

The most popular of them are ;

FVG ; FAIR VALUE GAPS

OB ; ORDER BLOCKS

RB ; REJECTION BLOCKS

BB ; BREAKER BLOCKS

IFVG ; INVERSION FAIR VALUE GAPS

LQT ; LIQUIDITY

7/22

Everything listed above are all classified as IRL ( Internal range liquidity) EXCEPT LQT

LQT listed here can exist as ERL (External range liquidity) or IRL 

Dont get confused yet , I will break it down further

8/22

Take a look at this image

Took me a while to understand this , thats why I broke it down so you can understand faster

9/22

Moving forward, I will only focus on 3 PD arrays to make it easier to understand , also as a beginner ICT trader you should stick to 2 or 3 PD arrays 

The images below are arranged in this order 

FRAME 1 ; LQT

FRAME 2; FVG

FRAME 3; RB

10/22

How ever each of these PD arrays exist in pairs

1. LQT = BSL & SSL

2. FVG = SIBI & BISI

3.RB = +RB & -RB

LIQUIDITY;

This PD array exist in pairs

Just like support and resistance , support levels initiate buys while resistance levels serves as a roof and initiate a sell off.

This is same for LIQUIDITY , BSL is acronym for buyside liquidity it initiate sells

While SSL ( Sellside liquidity) initiate Buys

In S/R when price rejects a zone we see that as a reaction

In LQT we expect price to sweep the SSL (which is typically a low as you see in the image) to expect a buy move

In ICT theory this is called stop hunt , as ICT believes that market makers intentionally do this to run the stoplosses of most retail traders who keep sl directly under or above core S/R zones which are now called LQT pools in ICT

Same as BSL , we expect price to sweep a certain high before we expect a sell off 

observe image below

11/22

2. FVGs;

This PD array also exists in pairs too

SIBI & BISI

SIBI is [Sellside imbalance buyside inefficiency] 

Which I also call bearish FVG

The long name just describes the nature of what it entails .. 

FVGs are gaps and a gap on a bearish candle shows extreme sell orders in the market around that time without a corresponding or equal buy orders to balance price up at that period of time ... hence you hear that tag "Buyside inefficiency"

On the other hand , BISI is [Buyside imbalance Sellside inefficiency] and explanation is just inverse of what i explained above

So easy way to see it is SIBI = Bearish FVG , while BISI = Bullish FVG

Bearish FVGs initiate sell moves , while bullish FVGs initiates buy moves

12/22

BISI on left SIBI of Right

3.REJECTION BLOCKS

This is literally an isolated candle wick found around origin points of a price delivery swing

You find them at extreme high or low points. 

Check the Images below.

This also exist in pairs , we got bullish and bearish RB 

And Bullish RB initiate Buy moves , while bearish RB initiate sell moves

13/22

Now you have seen and understood the 3 PD arrays , how do you make use of them in analysis ?

First .. for every working technical strategy , there has to be strict criteria for these

- When to be on chart

- Deciphering market bias

-Choosing Areas of value to trade from ( in ICT we call area of value PD arrays)

- Confirming Valid Pd arrays to trade with lower timeframes

WHEN TO BE ON CHART is a very underrated skill by many struggling traders and ICT concepts teaches what we call KILLZONE.

14/22

Killzone is just a unique version of normal trading sessions

Its strictly selected during session overlaps

ASIAN - LONDON OVERLAP = LONDON KILLZONE

LONDON - NY OVERLAP = NY KILLZONE

NY - ASIAN OVERLAP = ASIAN KILLZONE

However the time is often 4 hours interval with london killzone being an exception with just3 hours interval

The Killzone concept is literally 1hr time before the actual session overlap , and 3hours into the overlap ( except london which is 2hours into the overlap)

London killzone = 2am EST - 5am EST

NY AM KILLZONE = 7am EST - 11am EST 

NY PM KILLZONE = 12pm EST – 4pm EST

Asian Killzone = 8am EST - 12am EST

ICT recommends that you stick with one killzone

15/22

UNDERSTANDING MARKET BIAS 

I remember a certain time the subject "Daily bias' was the most trendy topic on youtube because it attracted lots of views

Now , Daily bias can feel complicated.. especially if you watch videos that are short and not indepth 

The ideal way ICT taught daily bias is what am about to explain to you but I dont trade this way in real life because as at the time I was learning it , I found the ideal daily bias stuff too complicated.

So I decided to stick with a simpler method of finding my bias , which you will find in the video below

16/22

Ideal ICT daily bias method is literally trading from buyside to sellside

Or we can as well say , trading from ERL to IRL and vice versa

But the market can get way more complicated and this idea can be very difficult to carry out so there is a deeper explanation that can help you better

Each of the 3 PD arrays we working with now there is a reason they are all in pairs

To effectively get your daily bias right you have to TRADE FROM LEFT WING TO RIGHT WING OR VICE VERSA

Imagine all BSL , BEARISH FVG , BEARISH RB are all in a family called the LEFT WING and SSL , BULLISH FVG , BULLISH RB in the other family called the RIGHT WING

With this separation in your head ... its easier to understand the next tweet 

17/22

This diagram below shows you the two wings

LEFT wing (red) and RIGHT WING (green)

Always know that the left wing PD arrays always initiate sell moves while the right wing PD arrays always initiate buy moves

Now to effectively understand ICT ideal daily bias you need to know its all about 3 things on the DAILY TIMEFRAME

-Where is current price ?

-What PD ARRAY is price coming from?

-What PD array is price expanding to ?

Answering these questions requires you to apply the left to right wing theory I came up with

If price is coming from mitigating a bearish FVG its going to RIGHT WING which is either bullish FVG or SSL or Bulish RB.

So you mark the right wing pd arrays and use lower time frame entry models to trade towards the CLOSEST Right wing PD array

This is also done vice versa .... price coming from Bullish RB/SSL/Bullish FVG is usually moving towards BSL/BEARISH RB / BEARISH FVG

18/22

Look at this image below ....

what do you see ?

Price takes out BSL .... then repriced to Bullish FVG

Meaning , once the BSL is taken ,you are waiting for market structure shift on the MTF (medium timeframes) to know when price is ready to move to the next opposite wing pd array on the DAILY CHART

So another grand question .... 

Where else does price go from here ? 

What will the next daily candle do ?

Well .. the medium timeframes always give you the HINT 

Example if the 1hr chart trend remains bearish and keep respecting bearish pd arrays , it means this FVG wont hold to push price to another opposite wing pd array ... so it means price will keep falling to the next FVG lower

Having a smart entry model makes you know, and you trade towards the next bullish FVG lower.

If it doesnt hold price too ... it goes lower till the SSL beneath it , all of these are still opposite WING PD arrays in relation to the intial BSL run or sweep.... 

If such scenario happens , we say price is still in that initial order flow or price delivery .... this remains so until one of these bullish PD arrays Hold price and cause a reversal towards a bearish wing pdarray (left wing)

19/22

CHOOSING AREAS OF VALUE TO TRADE FROM

The MTF (medium timeframe) analysis is key

It shows you if a particular PD array on the dailychart is holding or not

You are to observe the price action in your MTF during your Killzone so that your cravings for a trade doesn't make you trade outside your killzone 

Best MTF for this is the 1H chart .

Once there is a market structure shift on the 1H and a return to a 1h pd array , you go to lower timeframes LTF to wait for the ICT 2022 entry model to show up

Observe Image in NEXT page.

20/22

Spend time with this image 

You can see the first MSS happening on DAY 1

You see areas marked GREEN are different ICT pd arrays influencing the sells

This is why you should learn other pd arrays because they become more important as you continue your journey

ON the MTF .. once its clear that price structure has changed in favour of a daily pd array ... it means its time to map out pd arrays that will support that move on the 1h chart.

That's where you look for trades.

In this case we bearish and all pd array marked green during NY killzone reinforced sells because the order flow is bearish ... repricing towards bullish FVGs as shown in image above.

21/22

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How to confirm valid PD arrays with lower time frames;

This is where the popular ICT 2022 model becomes handy

During your Killzone , wait for Pd array mitigation on the 1h chart

on the 5M chart that would always show up as a LQT Sweep 

Wait for MSS , and return to BB + fvg as you see in the picture

Target 1:2 / 1:3RR

That's all ... spend time with the image

22/22