IPDA Data Ranges in ICT: Using the 20, 40 and 60-Day Look-Back

Intraday ICT models need a target, and the target usually comes from a higher timeframe. But which higher-timeframe high or low should you aim for? The daily chart has dozens. IPDA data ranges give a simple, repeatable answer: look at the highs and lows of the last 20, 40 and 60 trading days. Those levels frame where the major liquidity sits for the weeks ahead.

What it is

IPDA stands for Interbank Price Delivery Algorithm, ICT's name for the idea that price moves between pools of liquidity and imbalances in a structured way. You do not need to accept that an actual algorithm exists to use the tool. In practice, it is a method for picking the most relevant external highs and lows on the daily chart.

The method uses three look-back windows, counted in trading days (weekdays when the market is open):

For each window, you mark the highest high and the lowest low. Those six levels (fewer if some coincide) are treated as the main external range liquidity for swing and position trading. Stops from traders who bought or sold during those weeks tend to rest beyond them.

Look-back and look-forward

Look-back is what you just did: measuring what has already formed. Look-forward is the expectation that, over the next 20, 40 or 60 trading days, price is more likely to reach one of those levels than to wander aimlessly. A trader might say, "The 40-day low has not been touched yet, so it is a candidate draw over the coming weeks."

Quarterly shifts

Because 60 trading days is about one quarter, ICT traders often watch the start of each calendar quarter (January, April, July, October) for a larger change in direction. The idea is that a market which spent a quarter moving toward one extreme may spend the next one seeking the other. Treat this as something to check, not as a calendar rule. Plenty of trends run through several quarters.

Educators differ on details, such as whether to count from today or from the start of a key event, and whether to use the 60-day range alone or all three. Choose one convention and stay with it.

How to identify it

1. Open the daily chart and count back 20 trading days from the most recent closed candle. Mark the highest high and lowest low.
2. Repeat for 40 and 60 days. Many charting platforms can do this with a "highest high / lowest low over N bars" tool.
3. Label all levels and note which coincide. A 20-day high that is also the 40-day high carries more attention.
4. Draw the dealing range. The 60-day high and low often make a natural dealing range, with equilibrium at the midpoint.
5. Choose the draw. Using your daily bias, decide which unswept level price is most likely heading toward.
6. Refine on lower timeframes. Use the top-down approach to find entries that point toward that level.
7. Update daily. Each new day drops the oldest candle from each window, so levels can change.

Worked example: GBP/USD on the daily chart

All prices are illustrative. GBP/USD is trading near 1.2750.

The 20-day and 40-day highs are the same level, 1.2810. The 60-day range spans 410 pips (1.2890 − 1.2480), with equilibrium at (1.2480 + 1.2890) ÷ 2 = 1.2685.

Reading the map. Price at 1.2750 sits in the premium half of the 60-day range, but inside the 20-day range. The nearest buy-side target is the 20 and 40-day high at 1.2810, 60 pips away. The larger buy-side target is the 60-day high at 1.2890, 140 pips away. On the sell side, the 20-day low at 1.2680 is 70 pips away, and the 60-day low at 1.2480 is 270 pips away.

The bias. Earlier in the week price dropped to 1.2680, setting the current 20-day low, then closed well above it and reacted from a daily bullish fair value gap between 1.2700 and 1.2720. The trader leans bullish toward 1.2810 first and 1.2890 second.

The plan. A swing long at 1.2715, inside the gap, with a stop-loss at 1.2665, 15 pips below the 20-day low. Risk is 50 pips.

• First target: 1.2805, just under the 20 and 40-day high, 90 pips away (1.8 times the risk).
• Second target: 1.2885, just under the 60-day high, 170 pips away (3.4 times the risk).

On a $10,000 account risking 1% ($100), with a pip worth about $10 per standard lot on GBP/USD, size = $100 ÷ (50 × $10) = 0.2 lots. Swing trades are held for days, so overnight swap costs and weekend gaps should be part of the plan.

Invalidation. A daily close below 1.2680, the 20-day low, would suggest the sell-side was the real draw, with 1.2600 next.

How traders use it

• To choose swing targets. The look-back extremes are clear, objective levels that do not depend on how you drew a trendline.
• To set daily bias. Knowing which 20 or 40-day extreme is unswept helps decide whether a daily candle is more likely to expand up or down.
• As a filter for intraday setups. A 5-minute long that points toward an untouched 20-day high has a reason to continue; one pointing into the middle of the range has less.
• To watch for regime change. When price takes the 60-day high after spending weeks near the low, the dealing range has likely shifted.

Common mistakes

• Counting calendar days instead of trading days. Weekends are not trading days, so 20 trading days is about four weeks, not three.
• Expecting a reversal at every level. The levels are targets where reactions are possible, not guaranteed turning points.
• Ignoring fundamentals. A central bank surprise can carry price straight through a 60-day extreme.
• Using stops that are too tight for daily targets. A 10-pip stop toward a 170-pip target is usually stopped out by normal daily noise.
• Never updating the ranges. Old levels drop out of the window as days pass.

Summary

IPDA data ranges are the highs and lows of the last 20, 40 and 60 trading days. ICT traders use them as the main external liquidity levels for the weeks ahead, combine them with daily bias to choose a draw on liquidity, and watch quarter starts for larger shifts. The idea is a framework for selecting targets, not proof of a hidden algorithm, so define invalidation and size each trade from its stop.