ICT (Inner Circle Trader) is a trading methodology developed by Michael Huddleston that teaches how to read institutional order flow — the buying and selling activity of banks, hedge funds, and central banks. ICT traders identify specific price structures (order blocks, fair value gaps, liquidity sweeps) at specific times (kill zones) to enter trades in the direction of institutional delivery. The core principle: markets are not random. They are driven by an algorithm that delivers price to predetermined liquidity targets in a predictable sequence.

What are ICT kill zones?

ICT kill zones are specific time windows during the trading day when institutional activity peaks and the highest-probability ICT setups form. The three primary kill zones are: the London open (2–5 AM ET), the New York open / Silver Bullet (7:00–9:00 AM ET), and the New York PM session (1:30–4 PM ET). Trading outside these windows — even with a technically correct setup — produces lower-probability results because the institutional algorithm is not actively delivering price.

What is an ICT fair value gap?

An ICT fair value gap (FVG) is a three-candle price imbalance where price moved so aggressively that the wicks of the first and third candles do not overlap, leaving an untraded zone. FVGs represent institutional order flow — the algorithm returns to these zones to rebalance before continuing the directional delivery. Entry is typically at the 50% midpoint of the FVG (called the Consequent Encroachment or CE), with a stop beyond the sweep wick.

Is ICT trading suitable for beginners?

ICT has a steeper learning curve than most trading methodologies because it requires understanding multiple stacked concepts simultaneously — daily bias, AMD sequence, kill zone timing, PD array selection — before setups make sense. Most beginners spend 3–6 months studying concepts before paper trading, and another 3–6 months paper trading before going live. The ICT for Beginners guide on this site provides a structured starting path that avoids the most common early mistakes.

What markets does ICT work on?

ICT concepts apply to all liquid institutional markets: NQ (Nasdaq-100 E-mini futures) and ES (S&P 500 futures) are the most widely used in the current ICT community, having largely replaced forex as the primary application. The methodology also works on forex majors (EUR/USD, GBP/USD), gold (XAU/USD), and other liquid futures. The 2022 Model was specifically taught on NQ and ES. The core concepts — order blocks, FVGs, kill zones, AMD — are universal across all liquid markets.

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The missing piece in ICT:
the levels hidden inside price delivery.

You marked the gaps. You waited for the killzone. The sweep came, the shift confirmed — and price still turned to the tick at a level that was never on your chart. That wasn't your read failing. That was a layer of delivery you were never given.

This is that piece.

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$29/month · or $290/year · cancel in two clicks, keep the rest of the month

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Know the concepts but still losing? Start with the free Playbook →

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Live output — not mockups

Three levels a day. This is what they look like.

Straight from the build, running on live charts. The shaded bands are the day’s three levels — each one printing at its own point in the session and staying on the chart. Earlier days remain visible, so you can see where the levels sat and what price did around them. Colors are yours to set.

NQ · E-mini Nasdaq-100 · intradaythree bands, one session

Nasdaq futures chart with the indicator's three daily level bands shaded and price reversing inside the upper and lower bands

The full map on one session: price opens against the upper band, spends the day travelling between them, and the low prints inside the bottom band before the close. Every band was drawn before the session traded a single candle.

NQ · intradaythe low, inside the band

Nasdaq futures chart where the session low forms inside the lower level band before a full reversal upward

The reversal starts where the map said: the session low forms inside the lower band, and the whole move up begins from that zone.

NQ · intradayyour colors, same engine

Nasdaq futures chart with multiple coloured level bands acting as support and resistance through the session

Bands as ceiling and floor: the high stalls in the upper zone, the mid band catches the pullback twice, and the range holds all session.

NQ · intradayband to band

Nasdaq futures chart showing price rallying from the lower level band all the way into the upper band where it stalls

The full traverse: price turns off the lower band, runs the entire map, and stalls the moment it reaches the upper one. Two lines you couldn’t see, holding both ends of the day.

The whole product, in one sentence

Three levels. Every day.
That’s the product.

3Three levels per session — an upper, a middle and a lower band, computed from the market’s own delivery. No clutter, no twenty-line spaghetti chart.
07Three new ones every trading day — they print as the session develops, each at its own moment, and they stay put once drawn.
◆Everywhere TradingView is — desktop, browser, and the phone in your pocket. The map rides the platform you already use.

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The indicator's daily level bands shown on a phone screen

HOW IT WORKS

Three steps and it is on your chart.
No download, no install, no code.

Access is invite-only on TradingView, granted to your username. Everything below is what it draws on live charts — look at it first, decide after.

1Choose your planMonthly or annual. Two clicks to cancel, any time.

2Send your usernameYour TradingView username is all we need to grant access.

3Levels on your chartAdd the script and the levels draw before the next open.

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NQ — intraday · one session

three levels · one trading day three unexplained turns earlier days stay on chart

Every turn that happened "at nothing" happened at something.
The only variable was whose screen it was on.

The ICT One Model Playbook · free

You do not need more concepts.
You need one model.

Most people stuck with ICT are not short of knowledge. They can name every pattern and still cannot string a month together, because a vocabulary is not a model.

Five pages, not fifty. The study order, one model written as criteria you could hand to a stranger, and two sheets you print and keep beside the screen.

What to study, and what to skip — the sequence, and why fixing on one era saves months
One model as a checklist — six steps, plus what disqualifies a setup
A pre-session sheet — bias, levels and the six boxes, printable
A trade log with a “skipped” column — the field a normal journal leaves out

No signals. No win rate. No track record. It argues against buying anything — including from me.

Send me the Playbook

Five pages. Straight to your inbox, free.

One email a week at most · unsubscribe in one click

07:00 ET

fresh map, every session

1 sub

every market, every timeframe

98 guides

free education, no email wall

0 promises

the map, never the outcome

Every session, only two

There are two kinds of traders.

Every session, the market draws its lines before the open. A handful of traders load them onto their charts and wait. Everyone else spends the day discovering them the expensive way.

Without the map

Finds out where the levels were — after paying them
Stop "randomly" clipped, then price runs without them
Marks every gap and block — watches price honor something else
Calls precise reversals "manipulation" and "bad luck"
Rebuilds confidence every morning from zero

With the map

Loads the levels before the open. Coffee still hot.
Runs the same models you do — at coordinates you don't have
Waits at lines the crowd will discover in real time
Watches "random" turns land where the map said
Same chart as you. Entirely different session.

If you can't see the levels, you are the liquidity at them.

What you're actually buying

The map. Nothing else pretending to help.

Three levels a day

Each level prints at its own point in the session and stays on the chart once drawn. Nothing to refresh, nothing to redraw by hand.

∀

One computation, every market

NQ, ES, BTC, ETH, forex majors, gold. Whatever symbol the chart holds, the levels print. One subscription.

⌀

Yesterday stays visible

Previous days’ levels remain on the chart, so you can see where they sat and how price behaved around them — not just today’s.

◇

TradingView native

Invite-only script on the platform you already use — published and public here. Add it from your indicators panel like any other tool.

∅

No arrows, no alerts

It draws levels. It never says buy or sell. Your models, your rules, your risk — executed at lines the crowd can't see.

Pairs with the education

104 free guides teach the method — killzones, sweeps, entries. The indicator supplies where. You bring the when.

How it works — by design

Three a day. They don’t disappear.

Each trading day brings three new levels, printing at their own points in the session rather than all at once. Earlier days stay on the chart, so you are not asked to take the levels on trust — you can scroll back and judge them yourself.

Founding rate — limited spots

One NQ point costs $20.
The map costs $29.

You've paid more than that to an invisible level before breakfast. You know exactly which morning we mean.

Monthly

$29/month

≈ $1.30 per trading day

Daily hidden levels, all markets
Invite-only TradingView script
Three levels every trading day
Cancel in two clicks, keep the month

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TWO MONTHS FREE

Annual

$290/year

≈ $0.80 per trading day · pays for itself in restraint

Everything in monthly
Founding rate locked — permanently
Priority access on new markets
Same two-click cancellation

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The script is published on TradingView — see the listing before you buy.
Access is granted by TradingView username, usually within 12 hours. Cancel in two clicks and keep the rest of the month. No contracts, ever.

Cards, Apple Pay and Link · secure checkout

What you need

A TradingView account — the free tier works
Your TradingView username (not your email)
Nothing to download, install or configure

After you pay

You send your username at checkout
Access granted to that username, usually within 12 hours
Add the script — levels draw before the next open

If it is not for you

Cancel in two clicks from your account
You keep access for the rest of the paid month
No contract, no notice period, no email required

Before you buy

Which markets does it cover?Futures, forex, gold, indices and crypto — any instrument TradingView carries.

Do I need TradingView Premium?No. Invite-only scripts run on the free plan. You only need a username.

Is this signals?No. It draws three levels and stops. No alerts, no direction, no entries — you still read the chart.

Will it make me profitable?No indicator does that, and anyone claiming otherwise is selling you something. It shows levels; the decisions stay yours.

Can I switch plans later?Yes, any time. The founding rate applies to whichever plan you are on when you join.

I already pay for other tools.Then judge it on the screenshots above, not the price. It either shows you something yours does not, or it does not.

Why is access limited?Every seat is an invite granted by hand against one TradingView username, and the platform caps how many a script can carry at this price. That ceiling is a real constraint, not a countdown — there is no fake timer anywhere on this page.

What happens when spots run out?Checkout closes until a seat frees up, and the price rises for the next intake. Anyone inside before then keeps the founding rate, including through any increase.

Straight answers

Things we refuse to do

Show you the formula

The day the computation goes public is the day the levels stop being worth anything. Public math is dead math. You're buying what it outputs, every morning, before everyone else reacts to it.

Promise you profits

No win-rates, no "10x your account," no rented Lambo. The map shows where the market keeps its lines — what you do there is your trading.

Send signals

The indicator draws levels. It will never print an arrow or scream BUY. Traders who need to be told when to click don't need levels — they need someone else's account.

Trap you in a contract

Month to month, cancel in two clicks, access until the period ends. If the levels don't hold their place on your chart, leave. The map doesn't beg.

Be on the chart before the next open.

Three levels every trading day, on the platform you already use.

Limited access — get in while spots are available

Get instant access →

$29/month · or $290/year · access granted within 12 hours

Cancel in two clicks · keep the rest of the month · no contract.

No signals · No profit promises · No win-rate claims

Don't take the pitch's word for it

The proof of how we think is free.

104 in-depth guides. 115 concepts. Every model, every array, every session — no email wall, no locked chapters. Read the education first. The map will still be here.

ICT Kill Zone Guide

The only ICT resource
that tells you when
to trade — not just what.

Most ICT sites explain the concepts. We explain the context. Kill zones, order blocks, fair value gaps — every guide written by traders who use these setups in live markets, every day.

✓ Fact-checked every article

✓ Written by active traders

✓ Always free

Start here — ICT for Beginners Browse all concepts →

✓

Fact-checked

Every article reviewed before publishing — no theory that doesn't hold up on a real chart.

📈

Written by traders

Not content writers. Every guide written by someone who actively trades these setups.

🔓

Always free

No paywalls, no courses to upsell. Full guides, full examples, zero cost.

Start here

New to ICT? Start with the Kill Zone.

Before order blocks, before fair value gaps — you need to know when the market moves. The kill zone is where every ICT setup lives.

Kill Zone Guide

2 AM — 5 AM ET · London KZ

Featured · Kill Zone

ICT Kill Zones — The Complete Guide to Trading the Right Sessions

Most losing traders aren't wrong about price levels. They're wrong about timing. This guide explains exactly when each session's institutions are active, why setups outside kill zones fail even when price action looks perfect, and how to use them as a hard filter that eliminates most bad trades before they happen.

16 min read · Intermediate · Updated June 2026 Read the guide →

What is ICT trading?

The framework behind institutional price delivery

ICT (Inner Circle Trader) is a trading methodology developed by Michael Huddleston that teaches retail traders how to read institutional order flow — the buying and selling activity of banks, central banks, hedge funds, and the large proprietary trading desks that drive real price movement in every liquid market.

The core premise is deceptively simple: markets are not random. Price is delivered by an algorithm — on a schedule, in a predictable sequence, to predetermined liquidity targets. Every Judas Swing, every fair value gap, every order block you see on the chart is the footprint of that algorithm doing its work. Once you can read the footprint, you stop reacting and start anticipating.

The ICT framework gives you three things most retail traders never have: a reason to be in a trade (institutional backing), a specific time to be in it (kill zones and macro times), and a defined exit framework (IRL to ERL targeting through the dealing range). It does not eliminate losing trades. It reduces the proportion of trades taken with no edge — which is where most trading accounts go wrong.

This site covers the complete ICT vocabulary — from ICT Kill Zones and fair value gaps through the full 2022 Model framework, macro times, PD array selection, and weekly profile analysis. Every concept is explained with real chart logic, real entries, and the confluence stack that actually makes setups high probability rather than just identifiable.