Guides
ICT glossary: the terms, explained simply
Every ICT (Inner Circle Trader) term a new trader runs into, in one or two plain sentences. Times are New York time. Where a full guide exists, the term links to it.
The ideas are ICT’s; the explanations are ours, written from his public lectures.
Time and sessions
- Kill zoneKZ
- A window of a few hours, on the New York clock, when the market is most likely to make an important move. Time only, never a price area. Read the guide
- London open kill zoneLOKZ
- 02:00–05:00 New York time. On trending days it often sets the day's high or low. Read the guide
- New York kill zone
- The New York morning window, from 07:00 New York time in ICT's forex lessons; index futures traders often focus on the hours after the 09:30 stock market open. Read the guide
- London close kill zone
- 10:00–12:00 New York time, when European traders take profits and price often pulls back. Read the guide
- Asian range
- The high and low price makes in the quiet Asia evening session. The next sessions often run above or below it first.
- New York lunch
- The midday hours in New York (about 11:30–13:30) when volume thins out and price tends to drift or pull back. Many traders stop here.
- New York PM session
- The afternoon window after lunch, roughly 13:30–16:00 New York time, with its own smaller swing.
- Macro
- A short window of about twenty minutes, usually around the top of the hour (09:50–10:10, 10:50–11:10), in which ICT expects a quick move toward liquidity or a gap.
- Silver bulletSB
- A one-hour window (03:00–04:00, 10:00–11:00 or 14:00–15:00 New York time) in which the trader looks for one fair value gap entry toward nearby liquidity. Read the guide
- Opening range
- The high and low of the first block of trading after an open, such as 09:30–10:00. Its edges are levels where stops gather.
- Electronic trading hoursETH
- The almost round-the-clock futures session, 18:00 to 17:00 New York time, as opposed to the stock market's regular hours.
- Midnight opening price
- The price at 00:00 New York time. ICT uses it as a reference line: above it is expensive for the day, below it cheap.
- Time and price
- ICT's core rule: a good setup needs the right time (a window) and the right price (a level) together. Read the guide
Gaps, blocks and PD arrays
- Fair value gapFVG
- In a three-candle move, the space where the first and third candles do not overlap. Price crossed it in one direction only and often comes back to it. Read the guide
- Consequent encroachmentCE
- The middle (50%) of a gap or a wick. Traders watch whether price respects it or closes through it. Read the guide
- BISI
- Buy-side imbalance, sell-side inefficiency: ICT's name for a bullish fair value gap, left by a fast move up. Read the guide
- SIBI
- Sell-side imbalance, buy-side inefficiency: a bearish fair value gap, left by a fast move down. Read the guide
- Inversion fair value gapIFVG
- A fair value gap that price closed straight through. It can then act from the other side, as support turned resistance or the reverse. Read the guide
- Balanced price rangeBPR
- Where a gap up and a gap down overlap: price has now traded both ways through it, and it often holds as a firm level.
- Volume imbalance
- A small gap between two candle bodies where only the wicks touch. Like a fair value gap, price tends to return to it.
- Liquidity void
- A stretch price crossed so fast, in long one-way candles, that little trading happened there. Price often comes back to fill it.
- Order blockOB
- The last candle against the move before a strong push: the last down candle before a rally, or the last up candle before a drop. Price often returns to it. Read the guide
- Mean threshold
- The middle of an order block's candle. A strong order block usually holds above (or below) it. Read the guide
- Breaker blockBB
- An order block that failed: price ran a high or low, then broke through the block, and the block is now watched from the other side. Read the guide
- Rejection block
- A swing high or low with long wicks. The level of interest is where the candle bodies end, not the tip of the wick.
- PD arrayPDA
- Premium and discount array: any price level where a reaction is expected, such as an old high or low, an order block or a fair value gap. Read the guide
- Equilibrium
- The exact middle of a range, its 50% line, which separates premium from discount. Read the guide
- Quadrants
- A range or gap split into quarters (25%, 50%, 75%). ICT grades price against these lines.
- New week opening gapNWOG
- The gap on futures between Friday's close and Sunday evening's open. Its high, low and middle are used as levels in the weeks after. Read the guide
- New day opening gapNDOG
- The gap between the futures close at 17:00 New York time and the reopen at 18:00. Read the guide
- Opening range gapORG
- The gap between the previous day's regular-hours close and the next 09:30 open on index futures. Price often trades back into it. Read the guide
Liquidity
- Liquidity
- Resting orders, mostly stop losses, that sit above old highs and below old lows. Price is often drawn to them. Read the guide
- Buy-side liquidityBSL
- Buy orders resting above a high: short sellers' stop losses and breakout buyers' entries. Read the guide
- Sell-side liquiditySSL
- Sell orders resting below a low: buyers' stop losses and breakdown sellers' entries. Read the guide
- Buy stops and sell stops
- Stop orders that turn into market orders when touched: buy stops above highs, sell stops below lows. Read the guide
- Old highs and old lows
- Earlier swing highs and lows on the chart, where stops gather and price often returns. Read the guide
- Equal highs and equal lowsEQH / EQL
- Two or more highs (or lows) at nearly the same price. They look like strong resistance or support; ICT reads them as a pool of stops waiting to be taken. Read the guide
- Previous day high and lowPDH / PDL
- Yesterday's high and low. Stops rest beyond both, and price often takes one of them before turning. Read the guide
- Liquidity sweep
- Price trading just past an old high or low, triggering the stops there, then turning back. ICT usually calls it a raid or a run on stops. Read the guide
- Turtle soup
- A false breakout: price breaks an old high or low, runs the stops, then reverses. ICT treats it as one form of stop run. Read the guide
- Draw on liquidityDOL
- Where price seems to be heading next: a pool of stops or an open gap. A working assumption, not a promise. Read the guide
Structure and models
- Swing high and swing low
- A swing high is a candle with a lower high on each side; a swing low has a higher low on each side.
- Displacement
- A fast, strong move in one direction, usually with large candles, that often leaves fair value gaps behind.
- Market structure shiftMSS
- After a sweep of liquidity, price breaks the last short-term swing in the other direction, ideally with displacement: a sign the short-term direction changed.
- Dealing range
- The current range between a clear high and a clear low, used to decide what counts as premium and discount. Read the guide
- Optimal trade entryOTE
- A pullback entry zone between about 62% and 79% of the last swing, with 70.5% as the middle. Read the guide
- Judas swing
- An early false move near an open that runs the wrong way, trips traders into the wrong side, then reverses into the day's real direction.
- Accumulation
- The phase where large traders build positions quietly, often near the open, before the real move.
- Market maker buy and sell modelsMMBM / MMSM
- ICT's map of a full reversal: price runs one side's liquidity, turns, and works back through its own earlier range toward the other side.
- SMT divergenceSMT
- Two related markets disagree: one makes a new high or low and the other does not (NQ and ES, for example). ICT reads it as a warning the move may fail.
- Institutional order flow
- The direction large traders seem to be pushing price. ICT reads it from which candles hold: down candles holding in an uptrend, up candles capping a downtrend.
Trading and review
- Partials
- Taking part of the profit at a first level and leaving the rest for a further target. Read the guide
- Limit order entry
- Entering with an order waiting at a chosen price (a gap, a CE) instead of chasing price at market.
- Back testing
- Studying past charts for a setup: where you would have entered, stopped and taken profit, and how often it worked. Read the guide
- Paper and demo trading
- Practising without real money. ICT's advice: record fills at the worst realistic price, and size a demo like a real account. Read the guide
- Tape reading
- Watching live price without trading, to learn how it moves between levels.
- Non-farm payrollNFP
- The US jobs report, usually on the first Friday of the month at 08:30 New York time. ICT tells new traders not to trade it.
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Keep reading
- ICT kill zonesWhat the ICT kill zones are, their New York times (Asia, London, New York AM and PM), why they move with daylight saving, and how to journal them.
- Fair value gap (FVG)What a fair value gap is, how to mark one on three candles, its consequent encroachment, and how to log and review FVG trades in a journal.
- Liquidity sweepWhat a liquidity sweep (stop run) is, where buy-side and sell-side liquidity rests, how a sweep differs from a breakout, and how to journal it.
- How to journal ICT tradesA step-by-step routine for journaling ICT trades: before the session, at entry, after the close and each week, with what to record and why it matters.
- ICT trading journalA trading journal for ICT traders: every trade tagged with its New York kill zone and macro, a daily plan, a live session view and reviews by setup.