ICT Concepts Course
ICT trading concepts, explained clearly
A free, structured course on the Inner Circle Trader (ICT) framework — liquidity, market structure, fair value gaps, order blocks, kill zones and complete entry models — with chart diagrams, worked examples, quizzes and worksheets. Original lessons, no hype, no promises of profit.
- Lessons
- 57
- Reading time
- 4 h 47 min
- Cost
- Free
The big picture
How the ICT framework fits together
ICT is a way of reading price around liquidity, time and imbalance. Every lesson in this course slots into one of four pillars.
Liquidity
Where are the obvious stops? ICT assumes price is drawn toward those pools before it reverses or continues.
Structure & PD arrays
Swings, breaks of structure and imbalance zones such as fair value gaps and order blocks frame where to act.
Time
Kill zones and session opens narrow down when a setup is worth taking — and when to stay flat.
Bias & execution
A top-down directional bias plus a repeatable entry model, defined stop and fixed risk per trade.
Curriculum
Six modules, in study order
Each module builds on the last. Progress is saved privately in this browser — no account needed.
Module 1 · The ICT mental model 42 min
Foundations
What ICT is, how it reads swings, BOS versus CHoCH, change in state of delivery, order flow, dealing ranges and premium versus discount.
Module 2 · Where the stops are 30 min
Liquidity
Where stop orders tend to cluster — equal highs and lows, previous day and week levels — how price runs them, and liquidity voids.
Module 3 · Gaps, blocks and entry zones 1 h
PD Arrays
The zones ICT traders watch for entries: fair value gaps and their midpoints, volume imbalances and opening gaps, order, propulsion, rejection and breaker blocks, OTE and how to rank them.
Module 4 · When price moves 35 min
Time & Sessions
Why time of day matters in ICT: kill zones, macros, the Power of 3 daily cycle, the Judas swing, the Silver Bullet, opening prices and weekly profiles.
Module 5 · Direction and setups 40 min
Bias & Models
Building a directional bias: top-down analysis, IPDA look-back ranges, the dollar index and intermarket clues, SMT divergence, standard deviation targets, market maker models and candle range theory.
Module 6 · Step-by-step setups 31 min
Entry Models
Complete, rule-based setups: how the main ICT entries compare, the 2022 model, the Unicorn, Turtle Soup, and the London and New York open models.
Module 7 · Putting it together 14 min
Execution & Risk
Risk and trade management, backtesting and journaling, and the mistakes that cost ICT learners most.
Module 8 · Markets, styles and comparisons 35 min
Applied ICT
Using ICT on Nasdaq and S&P futures, gold and crypto, for scalping, day and swing trading and prop-firm challenges — and how it compares with supply and demand and Wyckoff.
Quick reference
ICT terms at a glance
Short definitions in plain English. Each links to the full lesson.
- Liquidity
- Clusters of resting stop and limit orders, usually just beyond obvious highs and lows.
- Buy-side / sell-side liquidity
- Orders resting above highs (buy-side) and below lows (sell-side).
- Liquidity sweep
- A brief push beyond a high or low that triggers resting orders and then reverses.
- BOS
- Break of structure: price clears a swing point in the direction of the existing trend.
- MSS / CHoCH
- Market structure shift (change of character): the first break against the prevailing trend.
- Displacement
- A fast, large-bodied move that shows strong one-sided order flow, often leaving gaps.
- Premium / discount
- The upper and lower halves of a dealing range, split at the 50% equilibrium.
- PD array
- Any premium or discount reference zone — gaps, blocks or levels — used for entries and targets.
- Fair value gap (FVG)
- A three-candle imbalance where the first and third candles' wicks do not overlap.
- Inverse FVG
- A fair value gap that price closes through, after which it may act in the opposite role.
- Order block
- The last opposite-colour candle before a displacement that breaks structure.
- Breaker block
- An order block that failed after a liquidity sweep and flipped from support to resistance (or vice versa).
- Balanced price range
- The overlap between a bullish and a bearish fair value gap.
- OTE
- Optimal trade entry: a retracement into roughly the 62%–79% Fibonacci zone of a leg.
- Kill zone
- A session window, in New York time, when ICT traders expect the most purposeful price movement.
- Power of 3 (AMD)
- Accumulation, manipulation and distribution: a model of how a candle or session unfolds.
- Judas swing
- An early false move in one direction before the session's main move in the other.
- Silver Bullet
- A time-based setup that looks for a fair value gap entry inside specific one-hour windows.
- Daily bias
- A view of which liquidity pool price is more likely to reach during the day.
- SMT divergence
- When two correlated markets disagree at a key high or low, hinting at a possible turn.
- CISD
- Change in state of delivery: a candle body closes back through the open of the last leg's run, an early sign the push is over.
- Consequent encroachment
- The 50% midpoint of a fair value gap (or a wick), watched as a reaction and invalidation level.
- Volume imbalance
- Two neighbouring candles whose bodies leave a small gap even though their wicks overlap.
- NWOG / NDOG
- New week and new day opening gaps: the price jump between one session's close and the next one's open.
- Rejection block
- The zone between a long wick's tip and the candle body at a swing high or low.
- Liquidity void
- A fast, one-sided stretch of price with little two-way trade, which price often revisits.
- Macro
- A short window of about 20 minutes, in New York time, when ICT traders watch for a liquidity run.
- IPDA ranges
- The highs and lows of the last 20, 40 and 60 trading days, used as liquidity targets.
- Unicorn model
- An entry where a breaker block and a fair value gap from the same move overlap.
- Turtle soup
- Fading a false breakout of an obvious high or low once price closes back inside the range.