ICT HANDBOOK

This handbook is aimed to get you up to

speeds of any ICT veteran with all the
esssential information. As I always preach,
make your trading simple, I made this
simple handbook for everyone

W W W . I C T U N I V E R S I T Y . I N

-1-
 VOID MARKETS
AKA GANY TRADES

After handling over 400k$ of my investor’s funds

strictly trading ICT concepts for over 2 years, I have
come to a certain knowledge level that only the real
raw live markets can teach you. Experience is the
greatest teacher of all. As I was pondering one day
what to do with all this knowledge, I decided to
write a small E-book that will help all the novice
traders from falling victim to other online guru’s
marketing gimmick. In this handbook, you have your
basics, your framework and psychology to create
your own trading models.

WWW.ICTUNIVERSITY.IN

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 CONTENTS

1
ICT TERMINOLOGY

2
ALGORITHMIC ORDER FLOW

3
ELEMENTS OF A TRADE SETUP

4
PSYCHOLOGY & RISK MANAGEMENT

5
HOW TO GET FUNDED

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 1
C H A P T E R

ICT TERMINOLOGY

W W W . I C T U N I V E R S I T Y . I N

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ICT TERMINOLOGY
A-Z
1. Liquidity
2. Short term high/low
3. Premium
4. Discount
5. Dealing Range
6. Stop Hunt
7. AMD
8. Power of Three
9. Opening Prices
10. Previous session Ranges
11. Market Maker Model
12. Return to Fair Valuation
13. PD arrays

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 1. LIQUIDITY
Seek the Liquidity or be the
Liquidity

Liquidity are defined by pending orders like buy

stops, sell stops, sell limit and buy limit. These
orders are placed by retail traders to either get in a
trade or get out of a trade to protect their equity. As
interbank traders, We anticipate price moves either
targeting a liquidity pool or reversing from a liquidity
pool.

There's buy stops present over all the fractal highs

and sell stops present below all the fractal lows. This
is like an universal law of ICT. Any Short term high or
low could be used as a liquidity pool. Mainly,
Previous session high and low are very effective.

Buystops are present

above all short term
high as liquidity

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 2.STH AND STL
All Short term highs or lows
consists of liquidity

A short term high is defined by a 3 candle pattern.

for example, in case of a swing low, There should be a
candle available to the left of the swing low candle
and a candle available to the right of the swing low
candle. First candle shouldn't go below the swing low
candle and the third candle shouldn't go below the
swing low candle.

These STHs could be used for either mapping out

advanced market structure by larry williams or used
as a stop hunt to fuel a particular price run.

Swing Low
3 candle pattern

3
1
2
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 3. PREMIUM
Anything above the current market price is
considered as premium. Any PD arrays which is
available above the current market price will be
considered as a premium PD array. These arrays
can be used for anticipating the origin of sell offs
which is probably a good shorting opportunity if
you blend it with time.

There is also another type of premium which is

range premium. From the range high to range low,
anything above the 50% Equilibrium will be
considered as a range premium.

Current
Market
Price

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 4. DISCOUNT
Anything below the current market price is
considered as premium. Any PD arrays which is
available below the current market price will be
considered as a discount PD array. These arrays can
be used for anticipating the origin of huge bullish
moves which is probably a good longing opportunity
if you blend it with time.

There is also another type of discount which is range

discount. From the range high to range low, anything
below the 50% Equilibrium will be considered as a
range discount.

Current
Market
Price

Discount

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 5. DEALING RANGE
If you can spot them use them,
if not, Don't worry

Dealing range is a specific signature in price which we

can used to decide range premiums and range highs.It
always has three parts that define a dealing range.
Trapped Liquidity and opposing liquidity and a price run
to take them both.

Accumulation is followed by inducing early

buyers/sellers to enter way before the stop hunt takes
place. Price then attacks the trapped liquidity followed
by a smart money reversal. This drives the price to
attack the opposing liquidity. After this, Price seeks
equilibrium of the said range and then continue with the
other opposing liquidity.
Stop hunt

Smart Money Reversal

Return Back to Range

Trapped Liquidity

Accumulation After returning back

to the range, Exiting
range is
the high probability
trade direction

Opposing Stop Run

Exit Range

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 6. STOP HUNT
Stop Hunt is the price move above any short term
high or short term low which is facilitated by the market
maker to absorb the buystops or sellstops present to
fuel a move against those stops. For example, if you are
in a short position, Most logical place for you to keep a
stop loss is above a fractal high.we call this as buystops.
The manipulation is absorbing all those buystops to cut
out all the profitable early sellers and running in the
same direction later.
These kind of stop runs will take out two
types of traders. The early sellers who
will have their SL above the high and the
breakout artists who buy once the high
get broken and traded through.
Opposing Liquidity

Both early buyers

and breakout
artists are
trapped during
the stop hunt

Sell Stops
Stop Hunt
Stop Hunt
Early Buyers &
Breakout artists

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 7. AMD
Distribution always doesn't mean selling off.
During AMD, both sell offs and buy runs, will be
considered as distributing phase... Distribution means
getting rid of the position you have accumulated...

The market maker will essentially

accumulate positions before the
real move happens and manipulate
the price in the opposite direction
facilitating them an extensive
chance of getting in by providing
counterparty liquidity for retail
traders.
After this manipulation,
The market maker will
change the price in the
intended original direction.

Accumulation Distribution

MAnipulation

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 8.POWER OF 3
Tricking people in the wrong
direction

All the candles in across all the timeframes have

power of three. But as ICT traders we look in mainly
two timeframes which is weekly and daily for weekly
range expansion and daily range expansion. For a
bearish candle, Price moving from the open to the
high formation will be considered as the judas swing
of that candle (PO3).
High

PO3 Judas swing

Judas Swing

Open

Combining this with

Market Maker Models
and AMD framework,
you can catch trades
with a lot of precision
cause you will know the
intended reason for the
opposite move against
your bias. Instead of
being blindsided, you will
anticipate this move to
form HOW or HOD
Close

Low -13-
 9.OPENING PRICES
You can expect a judas swing
around open prices

There are quite a different open prices for different

assets that we trade. The main concept nehing
opening prices is to expect power of three concept to
take place around the opening price.So whenever a
market open, we anticipate an opposing price run
called the judas swing. so anything above the opening
price will be considered as premium and anything
below opening price will be considered as discount

It's an interesting concept cause we blend two

important concepts in one. Time and price. We look
for price to open, manipulate (Judas swing) and then
go in our favor

Different opening prices

NY Midnight Open - 00:00 hours (Forex and Indices}

Frankfurt Open - 02:00 hours (Forex)
London Open - 03:00 hours (Forex)
NY Open - 07:00 hours (Forex)
News Open - 08:30 hours (Indices)
NYSE Open - 09:30 hours (Indices)

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 10.PREVIOUS SESSION
RANGES
Previous day range and previous
session range are the holy grail
Previous session high and low has a lot of liquidity
on both sides. More often than not, we tend to
sweep one after the other in time. Meaning, after we
get a sweep of asian high, we could price to rally
towards asian low as a target. This will provide us
with the framework of our manipulation model.

The session timings are these

19:00 to 00:00 hours - Asian Range

03:00 to 05:00 hours - London Range
08:30 to 12:00 hours - NY am session
13:30 to 16:30 hours - NY pm session
Asian High

Previous session
Previous session
liquidity for
liquidity for trade
trade
framework
framework

Asian Low

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 11.MARKET MAKER
MODEL
MMXM is not a pattern rather it's
how algo books price

Market Maker Model is the constant movement of

price from discount to premium and then premium to
discount again. It consists of Original Consolidation,
Low Risk Buy, Low Risk Sell and Smart Money
Reversal. It has both buyside of the curve and sellside
of the curve.
Smart Money Reversal
Combining this with the
PO3 concept will gain lot
of precision. The last leg
Key Level
to attack the original
consolidation is called LRS

the Low Hanging Fruit

objective.

LRS

LRB

LHF Objective

Original Consolidation Sellside Liquidity

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 12. RETURN TO FAIR
VALUE
For any pre defined range, There will be a
equilibrium we can use to work with. When the price is
exhausted from the expansion leg, there will be a
certain degree of reversal from an opposing PD arrays
to cause a retracement leg up into the EQ. This move
from the price exhaustion to the EQ will be referred as
the return to fair value. This move is usually intended
to rebalance an old imbalance.

The move from the

low into EQ will be
the return to fair
valuation

Defined
range with
Equilibrium

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 13. PD ARRAYS
PD arrays are key levels in price which we use to
key off our entries and exit. This can act as true support
or resistance. But most SMC courses and other retail
methods fail becuase of only one thing.

They will have too many POIs to look for in a range and
forget about the underlying order flow. As ICT traders,
we don’t have the need to worry about which PD arrays
to use, we couple the concept of time and order flow to
tell us which PD arrays to use.

Old High/Low
Rejection Block
Bearish Orderblock
Hierarchy of PD Fiar Value Gap
arrays Liquidity Void
Bearish Breaker
EQUILIBRIUM Mitigation Block

Mitigation Block
Bullish Breaker
Liquidity Void
Pro Tip- We always trade
Fiar Value Gap
the reaction from the PD
arrays and not the PD array Bullish Orderblock
itself Rejection Block
Old High/Low
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 2
C H A P T E R

ALGORITHMIC
ORDER FLOW

W W W . I C T U N I V E R S I T Y . I N

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 ALGORITHMIC ORDER FLOW

The key to understanding the Interbank Price Delivery

Algorithm is to understand what takes the price of an
asset class from point A to point B.

There are two characteristics to identify a bullish

order flow
Up close candles getting broken and pierced
through
Down close candle support price higher

Point B

Upclose candles getting pierced through

Down close candles
supporting price

Upclose candles getting pierced through

Down close candles supporting price

Upclose candles getting pierced through

Down close candles supporting price

Upclose candles getting pierced through

Upclose candles
getting pierced
through

Down close candles supporting price

Down close candles supporting price

Point A

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 When you are identifying the bullish price delivery
from point A to point B, then you have to look for
these specific price delivery signatures which
happens in price all the time.

Respecting discount PD arrays and disrespecting

premium PD arrays can also a major indication of
bullish order flow.

In a overall bullish order flow , we have to be aware of

the premium PD arrays that could cause a short term
change in state of delivery, but you also always have
to be aware of the underlying overall bullish OF and
try not to get slaughtered by changing order flow until
the terminus is hit aka (Target).

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 STATE OF DELIVERY

Once you nailed down how to

identify order flow, you have to
understand a basic price delivery
signature called state of delivery.

State of delivery is the price

delivery signature where it
continuously delivers towards one Buyside

side of the liquidity as the main Liquidity

objective.

Buyside
Liquidity

Buyside Liquidity

From Point A to Point B,

The IPDA has only reached
for buyside liquidity
offering buyside state of
delivery

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 This picture represents the price where it offered
the market a continuous buyside state of delivery.

Why identifying this is important?

Only then you will be able to identify when the change
in state of delivery happens and the market starts to
provide sellside state of delivery.

Change in
state of
BSL delivery

CiSD turns the

state of
BSL delivery into
sellside

Buyside Liquidity

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 So essentially when price changes from
buyside state of delivery into a sellside state of
delivery, that’s called bearish change in state of
delivery.

Coupling this with the parent order flow, you will

always know which side of the market you are
currently on and where you are in the market in a
macro perspective.

So in a nutshell, during the parent bullish order

flow, there will be multiple change in state of
delivery in the LTF to account for the retracement
legs in the market after the exhaustion of the
expansion leg.

You have to understand that, these change in

state of delivery only happen in key level (PD
Arrays) and also opportunities arise only when a
change in state of delivery happens so that we
can align ourselves with the underlying parent
order flow.

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 This is also a big giveaway when the retracement
phase starts and the when the next expansion
phase starts. This is your confirmation if you may
say so.

Order Flow is extremely fractal and works across

all timeframes.

Aligning your trade setups in the parent order flow

direction is a must, but what TF you consider as
your parent order flow TF depends on the type of
trading you do like intraday, short term trading
etcetera..

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 3
C H A P T E R

ELEMENTS OF A
TRADE SETUP

W W W . I C T U N I V E R S I T Y . I N

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ELEMENTS OF A TRADE SETUP
THE NARRATIVE

This element of the trade setup is the framework

about price in higher TF where you have a solid
context behind anticipating that price is going to run
from Point A to Point B in x amount of time
(Anticipation of weekly templates)

This step should have a high reasoning behind why

you are anticipating that price is going to run from
Point A to Point B
Point B (Premium)

Buyside Liquidity

The Narrative

Point A (Discount)

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 Concepts to be blended in are PD Arrays, Defining
ranges, Weekly template anticipation, Weekly PO3

Once Price reaches Point A, You wait for the next

element of the trade setup
Best Timeframes - 8h and daily

THE IDEA

Buyside Liquidity

THE IDEA

Aligning with
parent orderflow

Change in THE NARRATIVE

state of
delivery

+OB (4h)

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 THE IDEA

The context for this element is to wait for the

state of delivery to align with the parent
orderflow…

Until then you can follow the order flow in the LTF
to reach into Point A in the narrative

Once this happens, we can easily hunt for intraday

setups in the direction of the parent order flow.

The change in state of delivery is the most

important moving part in this element. After that,
we can use concepts like dealing ranges, PD arrays
to base our day trading model !

Concepts to be blended in are CiSD, PD Arrays,

Dealing ranges, Return to fair valuation market
maker model

Best Timeframes - 1h, 2h, 4h

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 THE DELIVERY
Buyside Liquidity

THE DELIVERY

THE NARRATIVE
Aligning with
The IDEA

Change in
state of
delivery

Manipulation
Judas swing

I like to explain a small analogy here for you to

understand my thought process…

If you have a land on two sides (Entry and Exit) and

water in between them (Empty price action)

Then build a bridge (Placing a trade)

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 THE DELIVERY

This is the last element of the trade setup in

which we will be taking our entries and exit.

As always, you will wait for the change in state of

delivery after manipulation to enter…

Keep your entry and exit defined and build a bridge

between them by placing an order

Concepts to be blended in are CiSD, PD Arrays,

Dealing ranges, Return to fair valuation, IOFED,
Algorithmic SnR and MMXM

Best Timeframes - 5m, 15m

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 4
C H A P T E R

PSYCHOLOGY &
RISK MANAGEMENT

W W W . I C T U N I V E R S I T Y . I N

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 PSYCHOLOGY

Before I go into psychology topic, I want to advise

you to do one more thing.

That’s Journaling.

This is the KEY folks. You start journaling your

thoughts before every session you trade and then
record what happened and how you performed
during the session. This will help with positive
reinforcement for your brain. This results in more
confidence in your model, patience to wait for
setups and not get lost during a losing streak !

I use calendar view in notion for my journaling

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 PSYCHOLOGY
“The best traders can put on a trade without the
slightest bit of hesitation or conflict, and just as
freely and without hesitation or conflict, admit it is
not working. Thev can get out of the trade even with a
loss - and doing so doesn't resonate the slightest bit
of emotional discomfort. In other words, the risks
inherent in trading do not cause the best traders to
lose their discipline. focus, or sense of confidence.”

“Ninety-five percent of the trading errors you are

likely to make - causing the money to just evaporate
before your eye will Stem from your attitudes about
being wrong, losing money, missing out and leaving
money on the table.”

“You won’t be confident in the face of constant

uncertainty. The hard, cold reality of trading is that
every trade has an uncertain outcome. Unless you
learn to completely accept the possibility of an
uncertain outcome, you will try either consciously or
unconsciously to avoid any possibility you define as
painful. in the process, you will subject yourself to
any number of self-generated, costly errors”

~Mark Douglas

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 PSYCHOLOGY
So unless you understand that every trade has an
uncertain outcome and no single trade will have a
100% guaranteed winning potential, you will be
making a lot of errors while hoping that this particular
trade should be a winner. It could be, but you have to
look at the bigger picture. A series of trade set above
100 and the probability of your model delivering the
edge.

When this understanding happens, the trader can

eliminate the fear of losing, fear of being wrong and
can execute the edge without hesitating after losses.

Other problems novice traders usually faces are the

fear of missing out ! For this, you should journaling
like I mentioned above. This gives you confidence
about your model delivering repeatedly week after
week. That will give you a confidence boost that this
shit repeats. but, You won’t be convinced that I said
so, You won’t be convinced that ICT said so, you will
be convinced because you have your journal as a
proof. You also have to understand that no trade
days are far better than losing days! You still won
without trading it cause you protected your equity.

-36-
 PSYCHOLOGY

You have to get this inside your brain

“ I will only execute my A+ setups and if it’s not a hell

yes, then it’s a no”
“ I will only execute my A+ setups and if it’s not a hell
yes, then it’s a no”
“ I will only execute my A+ setups and if it’s not a hell
yes, then it’s a no”

Emotions play a crucial role in trading. we humans are

emotional beings… so if we try to suppress our
emotions, it will be a disaster. instead try recording
your emotion patterns in your journal before and
after each trade. then you will know when your
emotions play, you can interpret the root cause of
that emotion instead of caving in

Pro tip- Always treat your demo while practicing as

your real account ! Follow all the rules you will follow
in a real account. Draft a trading plan and
continuously execute in your demo account. This will
help with your practice.

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 RISK MANAGEMENT

Risk Management is one of things which is very

crucial if you want to make trading your life career
and make it a reliable income source.

The #1 rule in trading is to preserve capital. So

defining your risk exposure per trade, plays an
important role in preserving your capital

Predefine your risk exposure per trade, per day and

per week. This should be included in your trade plan
in BOLD letters and should be followed at all times
without fail.

Acknowledge your risk in any given trade and submit

to the market’s probability factor ! Always bear in
mind that once you place a trade, you absolutely can
lose all that money in that particular trade. Since
single trade’s outcome is random, you have to define
your risk each trade and continuously execute your
edge to be profitable !

Advised risk per trade will be 1%

For prop firm, it could be 0.5%

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 5
C H A P T E R

HOW TO GET
FUNDED

W W W . I C T U N I V E R S I T Y . I N

-39-
 GETTING CONSISTENT

Use the rule of ONE

1 Model
1 Session
1 Asset class
1 Trade per day max
1 Percent risk per trade
1 or 2 RR trades

What this will do to your trading is bring some

consistency to your everyday routine so that you are
not looking at thousand different things at thousand
different places. This makes you concentrated and
focused on a single objective in mind. It will make
your data collection easy and organized!

Get a small challenge first, pass that challenge and

extract some profits out of it

Then buy a big challenge and work from there !

-40-
 YOU’RE ALL DONE!
I hope you all like my free ICT handbook which is just
50% of my knowledge and personal model that I
could share with you today !

But I have a personal coaching program called

ICT INCUBATOR PROGRAM where I will be sitting
down with you 1 on 1 and coach you to be in the top
1% of successful and profitable traders.

It comes with a trading plan specially curated

according to your lifestyle and your needs. Also in
month 4 there is live trading with me where I walk
your hand while dissecting intraday price action.

If you want to take your trading career from 0-100 in

less than 120 days, Dm the word “GROW” in my dm
for more details.

Your life will never be the same

I promise you!