ICT is a discretionary framework, not a proven edge. No independently verified backtest. Many concepts are renamed prior art (OB ≈ supply/demand, premium/discount ≈ Fib zones, liquidity sweeps ≈ stop-hunts). Treat it as useful vocabulary and structure — not a verified system.
Sources: ICT-HUB-RESEARCH-2026-06-29 (alansmith/guy-vault); innercircletrader.net; Phidias Propfirm "Is ICT Legit?" (2025)
Order blocks are where institutions historically placed large orders. The key is the last opposite-color candle before a displacement — that's the zone where unfilled institutional orders sit.
The last bearish (down) candle before an up-move. Institutions were accumulating on the sell side — when price returns, they buy again.
→ Price returns here → look for long entries
Source: ICT-HUB-RESEARCH-2026-06-29; innercircletrader.net
The last bullish (up) candle before a down-move. Institutions were distributing on the buy side — when price returns, they sell.
→ Price returns here → look for short entries
Source: ICT-HUB-RESEARCH-2026-06-29; innercircletrader.net
A Breaker Block is a failed Order Block that flips polarity — price returns, sweeps it, and reverses, turning the OB into support-turned-resistance (or vice versa). It's a reversal signal.
A Mitigation Block is a continuation signal — price returns and passes through without sweeping. Don't conflate the two.
A FVG is a 3-candle imbalance where price moved too fast in one direction to trade in the middle zone. It's a void — institutional activity left a gap that price often returns to "fill" before continuing.
Candle-1 high → candle-3 low on a 5-min chart. Institutions pushed up fast; the space between didn't get traded.
Price often returns to fill the gap before continuing up.
Source: ICT-HUB-RESEARCH-2026-06-29; innercircletrader.net
Same structure, opposite direction. Measured wick-to-wick — candle-1 high to candle-3 low (the space is below the bodies, not between).
Price often returns to fill the gap before continuing down.
A displacement candle leaves behind both an FVG and an OB (the candle just before the displacement is the OB; the gap it creates is the FVG). They often appear together — use both to confirm the entry zone.
The OB gives you the fair price zone; the FVG confirms institutional displacement confirmed the direction. You want both in the same area.
Market structure describes the sequence of highs and lows — how you label them determines whether you're seeing a trend continuation or a reversal signal.
| Term | What it means | Signal type |
|---|---|---|
| BOS Break of Structure |
Price breaks a prior high/low with the trend. A bullish BOS = price makes a higher high after a higher low. | Trend continuation |
| MSS Market Structure Shift |
A counter-trend break of structure — price breaks a prior high/low against the trend direction, with displacement (a strong candle that closes beyond the structure level and leaves an FVG). MSS is ICT's primary reversal signal. A break without displacement is not an MSS.
|
Reversal |
| CHoCH Change of Character |
An SMC-community term, not Huddleston's own. Broadly means the same thing as MSS — a shift in market character/structure. However, the distinction between CHoCH and BOS is inconsistently defined across ICT tutorials. ICT practitioners: use MSS as your reversal label; use CHoCH as a secondary/variation label and know the community meaning differs from any single canonical definition. | Reversal (community) |
Institutional orders are parked at predictable locations — above highs and below lows. Price targets these zones to "sweep" stops before reversing. Identifying liquidity pools is the first step in every ICT setup.
Stops and buy orders sitting above equal highs, swing highs, or the high of a prior range. Price sweeps upward through these stops, triggering the buy orders, then reverses down.
→ Look for shorts when price grabs BSL
Stops and sell orders sitting below equal lows, swing lows, or the low of a prior range. Price sweeps downward through these stops, triggering sell orders, then reverses up.
→ Look for longs when price grabs SSL
Source: ICT-HUB-RESEARCH-2026-06-29; innercircletrader.net tutorials
Premium and discount describe where price is relative to equilibrium (the 50% midpoint of the dealing range). ICT practitioners prefer to sell in premium and buy in discount — institutional flow runs against retail positioning.
| Zone | Definition | Bias |
|---|---|---|
| Premium | Price above 50% of the dealing range (equilibrium) | Sell setups preferred |
| Discount | Price below 50% of the dealing range (equilibrium) | Buy setups preferred |
| Equilibrium | 50% retracement of the chosen range (prior session, daily range, or custom range — specify what range you're using) | Reference only — not a magnetic target |
Source: ICT-HUB-RESEARCH-2026-06-29; innercircletrader.net
| Killzone | Window (ET / NY local) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| London Open | 02:00–05:00 AM ET | First Asian range highs/lows broken; volume fades as London fades |
| NY AM (Indices) | 08:30–11:00 AM ET | Highest volume of the day; NYSE open + 30 min = peak inefficiency ★ |
| London Close | 10:00 AM–12:00 PM ET | Common liquidity grab window |
| Silver Bullet — London | 03:00–04:00 AM ET | Liquidity grab within London killzone |
| Silver Bullet — NY AM ★ | 10:00–11:00 AM ET | Prime sub-window of NY AM; most reliable Silver Bullet |
| Silver Bullet — NY PM | 2:00–3:00 PM ET | Third official Silver Bullet; afternoon range grab |
Source: ICT-HUB-RESEARCH-2026-06-29; ICT Kill-Zone PDF (community-verified)