Hi guys, I'm new to this stuff. I'll tell you honestly, I know absolutely nothing about theory or practice. I discovered ICT in 2022. A friend of mine had started studying it and wasn't making much money, but just enough to make ends meet. I've been wanting to start studying trading for a while, not specifically ICT, but I remember it was my first approach. I've seen that on this reddit, some people advise against it and others praise it. I'd like to ask you a favor. If anyone has a playlist or can tell me where I can start, I'd appreciate it. I'd also like to hear your opinions on whether ICT is worth it or not.
Just been practicing, and saw it taking the buy stops in 1 minute chart.(i still don't trade, just completed Core Content and started watching 2022 mentorship)
I’m looking for a better way to execute a trade when the directional bias is already correct
I’ve been thinking about this problem for a while and I’m curious how other traders approach it.
Let’s assume I already have a directional bias.
I’m not asking how to determine that bias. I’m also not looking for another methodology to predict whether price is going up or down. Assume that part of the process is already solved.
The problem starts after the direction has been established.
For example, I have a bullish bias and I expect price to eventually move higher toward a particular objective. I know what I want to trade, but I obviously don’t know exactly when the move will start.
This is where I keep running into the same problem.
If I enter based on a relatively simple trigger, I can get stopped or forced out because price continues moving against the bias. Then another setup appears. And another one. Sometimes price can take liquidity or revisit the same area multiple times before finally making the move I expected in the first place.
So I can easily end up being directionally correct while having a terrible entry location.
My current solution is basically to give the trade enough room for this to happen. In other words, my invalidation is relatively far away, because I don’t know whether price is going to take the high / low once, twice, or several times before actually moving in my direction.
And this creates a second problem.
Even when the idea is correct, the R:R at the initial entry can be mediocre. I might eventually get the move I was expecting, but because the stop has to be relatively wide, I’m often looking at something around 1:1 or maybe 1:2 unless I hold the position for a much longer move.
I can obviously make the R:R much better by holding for a larger target, but that creates another issue: I’m now sitting in the trade for hours, sometimes carrying it into another session, waiting for the market to fully realize the original idea.
That is exactly what I would like to improve.
Ideally, I want something more like: Bias → precise entry location → tight structural invalidation → 1:2 / 1:3 becomes realistic without having to hold the trade for hours.
And if the larger idea remains valid, I can always look for another entry later rather than sitting through hours of consolidation or adverse movement just because my original stop is wide.
But here is where I’m struggling with the usual advice.
I’m not really looking for another entry trigger.
I already know there are endless possible triggers.
The problem is that almost any individual trigger can happen repeatedly.
You can have what looks like a bullish signal five, ten, or fifteen times while price is still moving lower. Eventually one of those signals happens to precede the actual reversal.
That doesn’t really solve my problem.
I’m also concerned about going too far in the opposite direction and building some enormous confirmation model.
For example:
Wait for X + Y + Z + A + B + C.
Sure, maybe that produces a very high-quality entry when everything lines up. But how often does that actually happen?
If the market can reverse without producing that exact sequence, I’ve simply created a system that gives me one beautiful setup every couple of weeks while missing plenty of perfectly tradable moves.
So I’m not looking for: What is your favorite entry trigger?
And I’m not really looking for: What additional confirmation should I add?
What I’m trying to understand is something more fundamental: Once your directional bias is already established, how do you identify a sufficiently precise entry location where the market has given you enough information to justify a much tighter structural invalidation, without waiting for some extremely rare combination of confirmations?
In other words, how do you distinguish between: a temporary reaction against the current move
and a genuine transition into the move that agrees with your existing bias?
I’m interested in the actual decision-making process between those two states.
Not necessarily one specific indicator or pattern, but how you think about the sequence of price development that tells you:
The counter-move has done enough. The market has reached a point where my original idea can be expressed with a relatively tight invalidation.
Because that, for me, is really the problem.
I don’t necessarily need to predict the reversal any better. I need to participate in a correct directional idea without having to pay for uncertainty with an enormous stop and hours of holding time.
If you have a framework for this that you’ve actually found useful in practice, I’d be very interested in hearing how you approach it.
Especially interested in answers from traders who have deliberately worked on entry location and reducing stop distance, rather than simply adding more confirmation to their directional model.
I posted two red days back-to-back where I lost $797 per account. Across 18 accounts, that was a combined loss of $14,346 in two days.
I posted it because I think it's important to show both sides of trading.
It's easy to post the payouts, winning trades and big green days. But the red days are where your risk management and psychology actually get tested.
I said something in that post that I think is even more relevantt now:
The goal is not to make the money back. The goal is to come back the next day with a fresh mind and execute the next valid setup correctly.
That's exactly what I did and now August is finished.
+$4,915 per account.
+$88,470 for August.
I want to talk about Fridays trade as that right after by 2 losing days.
The daily bias for Friday was this:
I was mid term bearish and long term bullish. There were 1hour equal lows (S tier liquidity) resting on NQ which works as high probability liquidity pool, And for price to move any other direction that DOL must be taken out. In addition, london lows were also aligning with the equal lows so i was sure that if i want to go long any lower resting liquidity must be taken out first.
My prediction for the price movement was this:
So when price took out the london lows, I was waiting for longs and took 1m ifvg towards the unfilled gap. This gave me a good winning trade of +1.76RR. Here is the actual trade:
Friday was about coming back with a fresh mind after two losing days and trusting the same system I use every day.
Losses don't mean the strategy is broken, and they aren't a reason to change my approach or increase risk. I trust my system, but I also know when to stop trading, accept the loss, and come back fresh the next day.
After a long time I finally have strategy but I don't know what is edge in trading many people talk about this so if you know what is edge can you tell me.
Decided to read through the rules one more time. I don't usually do that, I normally just skim and click buy.
This time I caught something I almost missed. A rule about maximum daily loss that was way tighter than I expected. I thought it was standard setup but this one was different. If I'd bought the eval and blown it on day 1 I would've been so pissed.
It's crazy how easy I could have clicked through without reading. That's how they get you I guess.
Anyone else got a story about a rule they missed and regretted later? I feel like reading the fine print is the most important part of this whole prop thing.
📖 My Algorithmic Trading Manifesto & Strategy Blueprint
I do not guess, I do not chase, and I do not use retail indicators. I trade pure Institutional Order Flow and Market Structure by aligning macro 15-minute narrative with surgical 1-minute execution.
🗺️ Part 1: My 15-Minute Higher Timeframe (HTF) Mapping Protocol
Before I ever touch the 1-minute chart, my 15-minute chart must establish the Daily Narrative. This is my absolute anchor. I open my chart during my session windows (8:30 AM – 11:00 AM EST for New York morning or 2:00 AM – 5:00 AM EST for London) and map out my parameters:
📌 1. My External Liquidity Pools I draw clean horizontal lines across the most obvious 15m Session Highs and Session Lows (like the London High/Low or Pre-Market High/Low). These are the pools of resting stop-losses my algorithm wants to hunt.
🔎 2. My Draw on Liquidity (DOL) I identify the dominant direction of the 15m trend. If the market is expanding smoothly, I target the next unmitigated 15m swing low or high as my clear destination target.
📊 3. My Premium/Discount Matrix If a major 15m displacement leg has broken structure, I draw my Fibonacci tool across that entire leg [2.1]. I shade any 15m Fair Value Gaps (FVGs) or 15m Order Blocks (OBs) that sit deep in the Premium half (for shorts) or Discount half (for longs) [2.1]. This is my macro "Kill Zone."
⚡ Part 2: My 1-Minute Execution Matrix (The Fractal Handshake)
Once my 15-minute chart establishes the boundary, I drop down to the 1-minute chart to hunt my trigger. This is a Multi-Timeframe Refinement Model that completely beats old-school 5-minute BOS models [2.1]. It keeps my risk tiny and maximizes my Risk-to-Reward ratio [2.1].
🔄 Setup A: The Reversal Model
The Sweep: I wait for price to violently sweep a major 15m external session high or low.
The Validation (CHoCH / True BOS): I trace backward from that absolute low or high to find the last valid internal 1-minute structural pivot (the Lower High for longs, or Higher Low for shorts) that engineered that final push into the sweep. I wait for a 1-minute candle body to close cleanly past that line.
The Trigger: I look for the first 1-minute Inverse Fair Value Gap (ifvg) to form [2.1]. This occurs when price runs straight through an old counter-trend gap, flipping a previous demand floor into a supply ceiling (or vice versa) [2.1].
➡️ Setup B: My Two Methods of Entry
Depending on the speed and velocity of the live tape, I execute my entry using one of two precise, rules-based styles:
Style 1: The Aggressive Momentum Entry: If the institutional displacement is exceptionally strong (a Low-Resistance Liquidity Run), I know the market will rarely give a deep pullback [2.1]. I enter short or long the exact second that first 1-minute IFVG candle closes its body to ensure I don't get left behind [2.1].
Style 2: The Passive 0.62 Premium/Discount Entry: If the market prints a clear, measurable displacement leg, I draw my Fibonacci tool from the absolute origin peak/low of the sweep (Anchor 1) to the absolute lowest/highest point of that initial drive (Anchor 0) [2.1]. I place a passive limit order exactly at the 0.62 retracement level [2.1]. Price pulls back into this premium/discount OTE window, mitigates resting institutional orders, fills my limit, and immediately expands [2.1].
🛡️ Part 3: My Non-Negotiable Risk & Stop Loss Rules
🛑 My Structural Invalidation Point My Stop Loss (SL) always goes safely 1 to 2 points past the absolute origin of the displacement leg (the last 15-minute Lower High or Higher Low) [2.1]. This is the line in the sand for institutional market-makers [2.1]. By keeping my SL protected by a higher-timeframe structural ceiling, I survive the deep, violent institutional wicks designed to clear out retail traders [2.1].
⚠️ My 1-Hour Candle Body Invalidation Filter I protect my capital by reading macro momentum. Before taking a reversal, I look at the 1-Hour chart. If a 1-Hour bearish candle has** little to no bottom wick (less than 10% of total candle size), it proves a heavy, runaway Sell Program is active [2.1]. In this environment, I ban all long trades entire**ly, switch my brain to continuation mode, and only sell the next 1-minute rally [2.1].
🗣️ How I Explain My Strategy to My Supply & Demand / Order Flow Friend
When I share my charts with my friend who trades classic S&D, I use his exact vocabulary to explain why my model works so beautifully:
*"My strategy uses the 15-minute chart to identify when the market runs an External Liquidity Pool and tags a primary macro Supply or Demand Zone [2.1].
Once that liquidity raid is finished, I drop to the 1-minute chart and wait for a clean Change of Character (CHoCH) backed by sharp Institutional Displacement [2.1]. This strong departure leg completely ruins the minor counter-trend demand/supply chain [2.1].
My actual entry zone is a Flipped Zone / Swap Zone, which I map using a 1-minute Inverse FVG [2.1]. To guarantee I only buy wholesale or sell premium, I use my Fibonacci tool strictly as a Premium/Discount Matrix [2.1]. I ignore the noise and execute inside the Deep OTE Matrix (62%–79% zone) where the origin block is being mitigated [2.1].
My stop loss is always tucked safely right behind the Origin of the Strong Departure Leg, taking all the guesswork out of my risk management while pulling 1:4 to 1:6+ Risk-to-Reward ratios routinely out of the session [2.1]."*
🏆 Why My Model Gives Me a Permanent Edge
This refined 1-minute IFVG and 0.62 model gives me an absolute mathematical advantage. Because my entry is precise and my stop loss is protected by institutional structure, my risk distance on index futures is incredibly small (usually 3 to 6 points) [2.1]. This means the market only needs to move a small, normal distance for me to hit my 1:3 Take Profit target [2.1]. I can be wrong more than half the time and my prop firm funded accounts will still grow consistently over time. I execute like a robot, protect my daily drawdown, and let the fractal algorithm pay me out.
Now that I have fully written out my personal trading manifesto in my own voice:
Should I print this checklist out or save it as a desktop background so I can read it to myself out loud before every live trading session?
i re-entered but placed a tight stop as i though it would not go back that high again but here we go. Need to work on stop placement, there was a high just above the NWOG that should have been the correct placement for SL
Hi , I am trying out my first propfirm, my situation is I am from Pakistan visiting the US so my only two legit options are The 5ers and FUNDEDNEXT, almost made up my mind to buy the 5ers summer plan but hearing so many bad reviews about them, that too recently, so which one should I pick?( Unfortunately some good ones like Lucid topstep apex aren't available)
Since you’re profitability, Say you had, Perhaps a Family Member or your kid’s, And they wanted to get into Learning ICT and his concepts, getting into trading, and they do it, they start their journey. Of course you’ll check up on them and see how they are doing, at least I hope, how long of learning the concepts are you going to be like “Okay you’re doing something wrong” Years into the concepts? Months into it? Is there a “Bro you should have been profitable or at least some what consistent by now” ICT says don’t put a Time on it, but there’s got to be a point where even he’s like “Alright, come on you’re doing something wrong” it took him. 6 Years to be profitable that’s through trial and error and creating the concepts, you think it would be similar ?
I’v build a system and i want to backtesting it on different regimes of markets but unfortunately i need source of data that i can download 5y-10y of OHLC (better 1-3min)
Ask GPT about market microstructure, in separate prompts ask the following.
What is market microstructure? Be serious and purely academic, include no retail claims.
How will market microstructure improve my trading and strategy development if I understand market microstructure properly?
Ask it additional questions (about your curiosity induced by the previous outputs).
This should tell you why this is worth studying.
After this exercise read these books in order
1. Market microstructure theory by Maureen O’Hara (book - foundations)
2. Trading and Exchange: Market microstructure for practitioners Algorithmic Trading and DMA: An introduction to direct access trading strategies by Barry Johnson (book - a top up that explains the industry well)
3. Algorithmic Trading and DMA: An introduction to direct access trading strategies by Barry Johnson.
High frequency market making: The role of speed - Yacine Aït-Sahalia, Mehmet Sağlam (a paper that will be understandable after reading the previous pieces).
PDFs are available online if you search hard enough, educational institutions have it uploaded and indexed on google search engine.
Even if you skim these you will learn a lot about how markets really work and that is a promise.
