ICT Macros: The Short Time Windows Traders Watch Each Session

Kill zones narrow the trading day to a few hours. The Silver Bullet narrows it further to three one-hour windows. ICT macros go one step further again: they are short windows, often only 20 to 30 minutes long, at specific New York times. ICT traders watch them because, in this framework, price often makes a brief, purposeful move toward liquidity during those minutes.

This lesson explains what a macro is, which times are commonly used, and how to treat them sensibly.

What it is

A macro is a fixed time window, in New York local time (ET), during which a trader expects price to do something specific: run a nearby high or low, or travel into a fair value gap and rebalance it. The word "macro" is borrowed from computing, where a macro is a short routine that runs automatically. ICT uses it as a metaphor for a short burst of price delivery, not as evidence that a program is running.

A commonly cited list looks like this:

These times vary between educators. Some lists drop the lunch window, some shift the London windows by a few minutes, and some add others. The exact minute boundaries are less important than using one version consistently and testing it on the market you trade.

What traders look for inside a macro

ICT traders usually frame a macro in terms of liquidity. Before the window opens, they ask what is nearby:

• an intraday high or low that has not been taken,
• relative equal highs or lows,
• an unfilled fair value gap a short distance away,
• the high or low of the opening range.

The expectation is that price is more likely to reach one of these during the window than in the minutes around it. A move during a macro might be a liquidity sweep that reverses, a run into a gap, or simply a continuation of the session's direction to the next target.

A neutral reading of why short windows can matter: many orders arrive on the hour and half hour, some funds execute on schedules, and equity markets have their own rhythms after the 09:30 ET open. That can cluster activity at certain times without any hidden mechanism. Either way, the practical use is the same.

How to identify it

1. Choose one macro list and set your chart to New York time.
2. Set the daily bias first. The macro does not tell you direction; your bias and draw on liquidity do.
3. Before the window, mark the nearest liquidity above and below price and any nearby fair value gaps.
4. Pick the likely target in the direction of your bias.
5. During the window, watch for price to reach for that target, or for a sweep of the opposite side followed by displacement toward it.
6. Enter only on your normal model, for example a retrace into a fair value gap after a shift, with a defined stop.
7. Respect the end of the window. Decide in advance whether you allow entries after it closes.

Worked example: Nasdaq 100 futures in the 09:50–10:10 ET macro

All prices are illustrative, in index points.

• Bias: bullish for the day, with buy-side liquidity above.
• Cash open: at 09:30 ET, price trades around 20,080.
• Morning low: 20,020 at 09:36 ET.
• Equal highs: two highs at 20,110, at 09:41 and 09:47 ET, an obvious buy-side pool.
• Gap: a rally from the low leaves a bullish fair value gap from 20,055 to 20,070.

At 09:52 ET, inside the macro, price dips back into the gap and trades to 20,060. A trader buys with a limit at 20,065, puts the stop at 20,040 (25 points below entry, below the gap and above the morning low), and sets the target at 20,108, just under the equal highs. The target is 43 points away, about 1.7 times the risk.

By 10:04 ET price rallies to 20,125, running through the equal highs. The target fills. The macro did not cause the move; it framed when the trader was watching for one.

Sizing. The full-size Nasdaq 100 future (NQ) is worth $20 per point, so a 25-point stop risks $500 per contract. On a $10,000 account risking 1% ($100), that is too large. The micro contract (MNQ) is worth $2 per point, so one contract risks 25 × $2 = $50, and two contracts risk $100. Contract specifications can change, so always check your broker's.

For forex traders, the same window applies to EUR/USD or GBP/USD, where the New York morning often brings a second wave of movement after the 08:30 ET data.

How traders use it

• As a micro filter inside a kill zone. Some traders only take entries during macros within the New York AM session.
• For trade management. If a position is open and a macro is about to start, traders may watch for the next target to be reached.
• To avoid dead periods. Knowing that the minutes between macros are often slow can reduce impulsive trades.
• In backtesting. Macros are easy to test because they have fixed times; a journal quickly shows whether they help on your market.

Trading carries substantial risk. Short windows encourage fast decisions, so keep the plan simple and the size small.

Common mistakes

• Trading because the clock says so. Without a draw on liquidity and a valid entry pattern, a macro is just twenty minutes.
• Collecting too many windows. If you trade every macro, you are trading most of the day.
• Ignoring news. A release at 10:00 ET can override anything the 09:50–10:10 ET window was expected to do. Check the Economic Calendar.
• Getting time zones wrong. The windows are New York time and move with US daylight saving. Use the Forex Market Hours tool to convert.
• Over-sizing on short stops. A tight stop on a 1-minute chart can still be hit by normal noise; size so a loss is affordable.

Summary

ICT macros are short New York time windows, such as 09:50–10:10 ET and 10:50–11:10 ET, in which traders expect price to reach for nearby liquidity or rebalance a gap. The lists vary between educators, and the windows are a timing filter rather than a signal. Set your bias first, mark the nearby targets before the window opens, use your normal entry model inside it, and size each trade from the stop distance.