What Belongs on the Complete ICT Concepts List?
A complete ICT concepts list spans six families: liquidity (BSL/SSL, sweeps, inducement), market structure (BOS, CHoCH, MSS), PD arrays (FVG, order blocks, premium/discount), time (kill zones, macros, IPDA), entry models (Silver Bullet, Judas swing), and bias tools (Power of Three, SMT divergence).
These families are not independent — each answers a different question. Liquidity explains why price moves (toward resting orders). Structure tells you when a move is confirmed. PD arrays tell you where to enter. Time concepts tell you when setups are trustworthy. Models and bias assemble all of it into a repeatable sequence with a direction.
Every entry below gives a working definition plus the reason the concept matters in live trading. The families are ordered so later ones build on earlier ones: read top to bottom on the first pass, then keep the page as a reference.
Liquidity Concepts in ICT
In ICT, liquidity means resting orders — stop losses and pending breakout entries — clustered at obvious levels. Because large participants need those orders as counterparties to fill size, price is engineered toward them. This family is the foundation: nearly every other concept on this list exists to locate or time a liquidity event.
Buy-Side and Sell-Side Liquidity (BSL/SSL)
Buy-side liquidity (BSL) is the pool of buy stops and breakout orders resting above old highs; sell-side liquidity (SSL) sits below old lows. They matter because they are the market's default magnets: price routinely runs one side's liquidity before reversing toward the other side's.
Liquidity Pool
A liquidity pool is any dense concentration of resting orders around a single level — an old daily high, a session low, a round number. The denser the pool, the stronger its pull on price and the more decisive the reaction once those orders are filled.
Liquidity Sweep
A liquidity sweep occurs when price trades through a liquidity level, triggers the resting orders, then closes back inside the prior range. It matters because the failure to hold beyond the level reveals the breakout was a raid rather than genuine demand — often the true move starts there, in the opposite direction.
Liquidity Grab
A liquidity grab is the fast, wick-driven version of a sweep: a sharp spike through a level that reverses within a candle or two. Most traders use grab and sweep interchangeably; the shared signal is orders filled beyond a level with zero follow-through.
Inducement
Inducement is engineered minor liquidity: a small pullback low or minor high left inside a price leg specifically to bait early entries. It matters because price frequently runs the inducement first — stopping out anticipatory traders — before delivering to the real point of interest beyond it.
Equal Highs and Equal Lows (EQH/EQL)
Equal highs (EQH) and equal lows (EQL) are two or more swings at nearly the same price. Retail reads a double top or strong support; ICT reads stacked stops. They matter as high-probability targets, because engineered symmetry rarely survives — price tends to trade through it eventually.
Draw on Liquidity (DOL)
The draw on liquidity (DOL) is the specific pool price is currently being delivered toward — last week's high, an untouched EQL, an old daily low. It matters because it sets directional bias: until the draw is reached, pullbacks against it are entry opportunities, not reversals.
Market Structure Concepts
Market structure translates raw swings into a trend-state machine. These concepts confirm whether a liquidity event actually changed direction or was just noise — the "when" that validates the "why" above.
Swing High / Swing Low
A swing high is a candle whose high exceeds the candles on either side of it; a swing low is the mirror image. They matter twice over: they are the reference points from which every BOS and CHoCH is measured, and their outer edges are exactly where stops — liquidity — accumulate.
Break of Structure (BOS)
A break of structure (BOS) is a candle-body close beyond the prior swing point in the direction of the existing trend. It matters as continuation evidence: each BOS confirms the trend is intact and licenses trend-following entries on the next retracement into a PD array.
Change of Character (CHoCH)
A change of character (CHoCH) is the first structural break against the prevailing trend — for example, a close below the last higher low in an uptrend. It matters as the earliest reversal warning, though it is the family's least reliable signal when it appears without displacement or a preceding sweep.
Market Structure Shift (MSS)
A market structure shift (MSS) is a counter-trend break qualified by context: it follows a liquidity run and breaks the swing with displacement. It matters because it filters CHoCH noise — the sweep supplies the reason for a reversal, and the displacement supplies the evidence.
Displacement
Displacement is a fast, one-sided move built from consecutive full-bodied candles, usually leaving fair value gaps behind. It matters as the fingerprint of institutional urgency: structure breaks driven by displacement carry conviction, while grinding, overlapping breaks are frequently traps.
Change in State of Delivery (CISD)
A change in state of delivery (CISD) fires when price closes through the opening prices of the consecutive candles that built the previous leg — flipping delivery from sell-side to buy-side or vice versa. It matters as an earlier confirmation trigger than a full structure break, especially right after a sweep.
PD Arrays and Zones: The ICT Price Toolkit
PD arrays are ICT's catalog of tradeable levels. Once liquidity gives you a target and structure gives you confirmation, an array is the specific zone where the entry actually goes.
PD Array
A PD array (premium/discount array) is the umbrella term for every institutional reference level — FVGs, order blocks, breakers, voids — organized by whether each sits in premium or discount. The matrix matters because it converts "price is pulling back" into a ranked list of exact levels to trade from.
Fair Value Gap (FVG)
A fair value gap (FVG) is a three-candle imbalance where the first candle's high and the third candle's low do not overlap (bullish case), leaving an untraded window. It matters because price frequently returns into the gap to rebalance before continuing — a natural, definable entry zone.
BISI / SIBI
BISI (buy-side imbalance, sell-side inefficiency) is ICT's precise name for a bullish FVG; SIBI (sell-side imbalance, buy-side inefficiency) is the bearish counterpart. The vocabulary matters because it encodes expectation: a BISI should behave as support when retested, a SIBI as resistance.
Volume Imbalance
A volume imbalance is a gap between consecutive candle bodies — one candle's close and the next candle's open — while their wicks still overlap. It matters as a smaller, subtler inefficiency that price often revisits to the tick, making it a precision reference inside larger zones.
Liquidity Void
A liquidity void is an extended stretch of one-directional delivery — often several stacked FVGs — where almost no two-way trade occurred. Voids matter because they tend to be rebalanced substantially or entirely, which makes them both targets on the way back and reaction bands on retest.
Balanced Price Range (BPR)
A balanced price range (BPR) forms where a bullish FVG and a bearish FVG overlap and both imbalances have been traded through. The overlap matters because it marks ground both sides fought over; retests of a BPR are among the sharper reaction zones in the toolkit.
Order Block
An order block (OB) is the last opposite-direction candle — or small cluster — before a displacement, such as the final down-close before an impulsive rally. It matters because it marks where large players likely accumulated positions; the return to that zone is a classic institutional-style entry.
Breaker Block
A breaker block is an order block that failed: price traded through it, swept the associated swing, then reversed. When price later returns to the failed block from the other side, its polarity has flipped. It matters as one of ICT's premier reversal entries following a stop hunt.
Mitigation Block
A mitigation block is structurally similar to a breaker but forms without the liquidity sweep — the swing fell short of taking out the prior high or low. It matters as the weaker sibling: still tradeable, but missing the raid that gives a breaker its directional fuel.
Propulsion Block
A propulsion block is a candle that reacts off an existing order block and becomes a zone in its own right — the reaction itself validates the original block. It matters for continuation trades, offering a nearer, fresher entry inside a move that has already proven itself.
Rejection Block
A rejection block is built from long wicks at a swing extreme: the zone between the wick tips and the candle bodies. It matters because those wicks show orders filled and forcefully rejected; a return into the wick range frequently produces the second rejection.
Dealing Range
The dealing range is the span between the most recent significant liquidity takes on both sides — confirmed swing low to confirmed swing high. It matters because every premium, discount, and equilibrium measurement depends on anchoring this range correctly; a wrong range invalidates every level inside it.
Premium and Discount
Premium is the upper half of the dealing range; discount is the lower half. The split matters for trade location: buy in discount, sell in premium. Taking longs in premium means paying retail prices for an institutional idea — the framework's cardinal location error.
Equilibrium
Equilibrium is the 50% midpoint of the dealing range, the boundary between premium and discount. It matters as the fair-value line: strong trends often retrace to equilibrium and hold it, so the level doubles as an entry filter and a trend-strength gauge.
Optimal Trade Entry (OTE)
The optimal trade entry (OTE) is the 61.8%–79% retracement band of an impulsive leg, measured with a Fibonacci tool from swing to swing. It matters as ICT's preferred discount pocket: deep enough for strong risk-reward, with the 79% level marking the last defensible entry before invalidation.
Consequent Encroachment (CE)
Consequent encroachment (CE) is the exact midpoint of a fair value gap or of a large wick. It matters as a precision trigger: price often respects the 50% of a gap to the tick, so CE defines the line where a partial fill still supports the trade idea.
New Week / New Day Opening Gaps (NWOG/NDOG)
The new week opening gap (NWOG) is the gap between Friday's close and Sunday's open; the new day opening gap (NDOG) is the daily equivalent. They matter because price references these gaps repeatedly — as support, resistance, and targets — sometimes days or weeks after they form.
Time-Based ICT Concepts
The framework's core claim is that time qualifies price: the same setup at 3 a.m. and at 10 a.m. New York is not the same trade. These concepts define when delivery is most reliable.
IPDA
The Interbank Price Delivery Algorithm (IPDA) is ICT's model of price as an algorithmic delivery system that seeks liquidity and rebalances inefficiency across 20-, 40-, and 60-day lookbacks. Taken literally or as a metaphor, it matters as the organizing premise: price is delivered toward objectives, not randomly discovered.
Kill Zones
Kill zones are the recurring session windows — London open (2:00–5:00 a.m. NY), New York AM (8:30–11:00 a.m.), London close, and New York PM — where volatility and setup quality concentrate. They matter as the primary time filter: most ICT models are only taken inside one.
Macros
ICT macros are roughly 20-minute windows — 9:50–10:10 a.m. NY is the best known — when the algorithm is said to run price to a nearby liquidity pool or inefficiency. They matter for intraday timing, because sweep-and-reverse sequences cluster inside these windows with unusual regularity.
Midnight Open (True Day Open)
The midnight open is the 00:00 New York opening price — ICT's anchor for the "true day." It matters as a manipulation gauge: in a bullish daily profile, dips below the midnight open are engineered discounts to buy; in a bearish profile, rallies above it are Judas material.
Weekly and Daily Profiles
Weekly profiles and daily profiles are behavioral templates for how weeks and days tend to deliver — for example, the classic expansion week forming its low on Monday or Tuesday before trending. They matter as narrative context: the likely shape of the week tells you which intraday setups to trust.
ICT Entry Models
Models assemble the primitives — liquidity, structure, array, time — into a repeatable sequence with defined triggers. Each entry here names its sequence.
Silver Bullet
The Silver Bullet is a time-boxed FVG model: inside a fixed one-hour window (3–4 a.m., 10–11 a.m., or 2–3 p.m. NY), wait for a liquidity take and a structure shift, then enter the first fair value gap. It matters as the cleanest starter model — the time box removes most discretion.
Judas Swing
The Judas swing is the engineered false move early in a session — typically the run above the midnight or session open that sweeps liquidity before the real directional leg begins. It matters because it reframes the session's first breakout from a temptation into a signal: fade it, don't chase it.
Turtle Soup
Turtle soup is a failed-breakout entry: price takes out a prior significant high or low, fails to continue, and snaps back — you enter against the raid. Borrowed from Linda Raschke and reframed around liquidity, it matters as the purest expression of trading sweeps instead of breakouts.
Candle Range Theory (CRT)
Candle range theory (CRT) treats every higher-timeframe candle as a range: when the next candle purges the prior candle's high or low and closes back inside it, that signals accumulation-manipulation-distribution at candle scale. It matters because it makes sweep logic mechanical on any timeframe.
Unicorn Model
The Unicorn model is the overlap of a breaker block and a fair value gap in the same price window. It matters because two independently derived arrays agree on one zone, producing some of the highest-confluence, tightest-stop entries in the entire ICT toolkit.
Market Maker Buy and Sell Models (MMBM/MMSM)
The market maker models map a full delivery cycle: consolidation, an engineered move away from true direction (the buy-side or sell-side curve), a smart-money reversal, then distribution back through the curve's own levels. They matter as the narrative wrapper — individual setups are entries inside this larger arc.
Bias and Narrative Concepts
Bias concepts answer the question every entry model depends on: which direction is price being delivered today?
Power of Three (PO3 / AMD)
The Power of Three — accumulation, manipulation, distribution (AMD) — describes how a candle, session, or week opens near one extreme of its eventual range, runs the wrong way first, then expands in the true direction. It matters as the shape of engineered delivery: the first move is often the trap.
SMT Divergence
SMT divergence (Smart Money Technique) appears when two correlated instruments disagree — the S&P prints a new low while the Nasdaq holds its low, or EURUSD sweeps a high GBPUSD cannot reach. It matters because a crack in correlation at a liquidity level is evidence of accumulation against the move.
Daily Bias
Daily bias is the expected direction of the current day's delivery, derived from the higher-timeframe draw on liquidity, recent structure, and where the day opens within the weekly profile. It matters as the direction filter: models fire long and short all day; bias decides which half you take.
How to Study This ICT Concepts List
Don't memorize the ICT concepts list alphabetically — learn it in dependency order. Liquidity first (why price moves), market structure second (when a move is confirmed), PD arrays third (where to enter), time fourth (when setups are trustworthy), and only then the assembled models and bias tools. Each family is roughly one week of focused chart review.
A practical drill: take one concept per session and hand-mark twenty historical examples before moving on. Tools can compress the pattern-recognition phase — LiquidityScan's scanners flag sweeps, order blocks, FVGs, and market-structure shifts across timeframes, so you can study live examples of most entries on this page — but hand-marking builds the recognition that survives live pressure.
Treat this ICT concepts list as a map rather than a curriculum: every advanced model — Silver Bullet, Unicorn, the market maker models — is just these forty-odd primitives arranged in a specific sequence. Master the primitives and the models stop feeling like separate strategies.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many ICT concepts are there in total?
There is no official count. The core vocabulary is the roughly 40–50 terms on this page; ICT's mentorship material runs to hundreds of hours, but it largely recombines these primitives. If you can define the six families — liquidity, structure, PD arrays, time, models, bias — you can parse almost any ICT chart breakdown.
Which ICT concept should a beginner learn first?
Liquidity — specifically BSL/SSL and the liquidity sweep — because everything else references it. Then market structure, then the fair value gap and order block. A beginner who understands why stops cluster above equal highs already grasps half the framework; models like the Silver Bullet only make sense after those layers are internalized.
Are ICT concepts the same as Smart Money Concepts (SMC)?
SMC is a community-driven simplification of ICT's material. The core overlaps — order blocks, BOS and CHoCH, liquidity — but ICT places far more weight on time: kill zones, macros, the midnight open. SMC is mostly price-only, and some vocabulary drifts between the two, so definitions on this page follow ICT's usage.
Do ICT concepts work in crypto and on all timeframes?
The price-based concepts — liquidity, structure, PD arrays — apply to any liquid market, including 24/7 crypto. Time-based concepts need adaptation because crypto has no session close, although volatility still clusters around London and New York hours. Treat every concept as a hypothesis to verify on your own market and timeframe data.
Related query paths
Once the vocabulary is in place, these guides take each family from definition to executable process, in a sensible reading order.
- The Definitive Guide to ICT Trading (Inner Circle Trader) — the full methodology these concepts plug into, end to end.
- What Are Smart Money Concepts? A Trader's Guide to Order Flow — how the SMC branch relates to and diverges from ICT vocabulary.
- Evolution of ICT Concepts: A Timeline of Key Models — when each concept and model entered the framework, and why.
- PD Array ICT Explained — the full array matrix and how to rank the zones from this list.
- ICT Kill Zones Complete Guide — the time filter that qualifies every price concept above.
- Build a Complete ICT Trading Model — assembling these primitives into one written, testable playbook.
- ICT vs SMC vs Classic Price Action: What's Actually Different — how it connects to ict vs smc vs price action.