ICT Suspension Block

What Is an ICT Suspension Block?

An ICT suspension block is a single candle that has a volume imbalance at its low and another at its high: its body does not overlap the body of the candle before it or the candle after it. The candle sits suspended between two imbalances, which is where the name comes from. Michael Huddleston (ICT) introduced it on 30 September 2025 and said it behaves like a fair value gap.

The source is ICT’s own video, “ICT Suspension Block & Review September 30, 2025”, which he shared from his X account the same day. The suspension block examples are on E-mini Nasdaq futures (December 2025 contract); the video also reviews the dollar index and forex.

Two things to know before you read further. First, it is a one-candle pattern built from volume imbalances. It is not a multi-candle pause, a consolidation or a “hover” at a level, although several articles online describe it that way. Second, ICT gave only a few rules when he introduced it. This page keeps what he said apart from what traders, including us, have added since.

First, the Volume Imbalance

You need one building block to read a suspension block: the volume imbalance, a term from ICT’s wider teaching. It is a gap between the bodies of two consecutive candles while their wicks still overlap. In an up move, the first candle closes and the next candle opens above that close. The space between the close and the open is the volume imbalance.

A fair value gap is a stronger version of the same idea. It is a three-candle pattern where even the wicks leave a gap, between candle 1’s wick extreme and candle 3’s wick extreme (in a bullish gap, from candle 1’s high to candle 3’s low). A volume imbalance only needs the bodies to separate.

A suspension block is one candle with a volume imbalance on each side:

• Lower imbalance: between the previous candle’s close and this candle’s open (in an up move).
• Upper imbalance: between this candle’s close and the next candle’s open.

Its body touches neither neighbour’s body. The bearish version is the mirror image: in a down move the gaps sit between the previous close and this open (above) and between this close and the next open (below).

What ICT Said When He Introduced It

We have not found a written rulebook from ICT for this concept. The points below come from a published transcript of the 30 September 2025 video (a community archive of his YouTube videos, a secondary source). Watch the video itself if you want his exact wording and charts.

• The definition. One single candle with a volume imbalance at its low and another at its high. He named it a suspension block because the candle is suspended between two volume imbalances.
• It behaves like a fair value gap. He said it will act “just like a fair value gap”, while not being a fair value gap in the classic sense.
• Earlier wicks do not cancel it. He noted that wicks to the left of it had already traded through that price area and said it does not matter.
• Watch the bodies. In his examples he pointed to later candle bodies respecting the level, and to price reacting around the midpoint (consequent encroachment).
• It can invert. When price reversed through the block, he said it changes character and acts like an inversion fair value gap: former support becomes resistance, and the reverse.
• His view of its strength. He called it “extremely strong” and one of the most powerful patterns. That is his opinion, not a measured result, and we cannot test it for you.

He did not set out rules for timeframe, minimum gap size, which candle bodies count, or where to place entries and stops. One student who tried the pattern the next day noted publicly that ICT “didn’t get to many rules in the video”. Treat anything more detailed than the list above, including the next section, as interpretation.

How to Mark One (Our Working Approach)

This is how we draw it on this site. It is our working method, based on ICT saying the block behaves like a fair value gap. It is not a rule he gave.

1. Find the candle. Look for a candle whose open is beyond the previous candle’s close, and the next candle opens beyond its close. In an up move, its open is above the prior close and the next open is above its close. Both body gaps must exist, and the wicks may overlap.
2. Mark the body. Draw a box from the candle’s open to its close. This is the suspension block.
3. Mark the two imbalances. Shade the small gaps on either side: previous close to block open, and block close to next open. Some traders draw the whole range, from the previous candle’s close to the next candle’s open, as a single zone. That is a reasonable reading, but it is theirs, not ICT’s.
4. Add the midpoint. Draw a line at 50% of the block’s body, the equivalent of consequent encroachment on a fair value gap. Treat it as a reference line, not a guarantee.
5. Note the direction. A bullish block formed in an up move is expected to act as support on a return. If candle bodies later close through it, re-label it as a possible inversion, to be watched as resistance.

On a quiet 1-minute chart, body gaps of a tick or two are common, and most mean nothing. Our own filter is to take a suspension block seriously only when it forms inside a clear displacement leg, in a location you already cared about. That filter is ours.

How It Fits Into a Trade Plan

Because ICT framed the suspension block as behaving like a fair value gap, the simplest way to use it is exactly where you would use a gap in the ICT 2022 model sequence. Start with a draw on liquidity, wait for a liquidity sweep in a kill zone, then look for displacement and a market structure shift. The suspension block, if the displacement leaves one, is the level you plan to enter on the retrace, alongside or instead of a fair value gap.

• Entry: a limit order inside the block, commonly at its body midpoint. The order fills only if price comes back to that level.
• Stop: at the structural level that proves the idea wrong. That is usually beyond the swing formed by the sweep, not just beyond the small block. If that stop is too wide for your account, reduce size or use a micro contract (MNQ is $2 a point, against $20 for NQ). Do not tighten the stop.
• Targets: the nearest opposing liquidity first, then the higher-timeframe draw.
• Invalidation: candle bodies closing through the whole block against your direction. At that point the idea has failed, and ICT’s inversion comment suggests watching the block from the other side.

Walkthrough: Planning a Long Around a Suspension Block

Context. On the daily chart, NQ is bullish and the draw on liquidity is the previous day’s high at 21,520. The London session low is 21,384.

Sweep and shift. At 7:48 AM ET, inside the New York Open kill zone (7:00–9:00 AM), price trades down to 21,376, taking the sell stops below the London low. It then rallies and breaks the most recent short-term swing high at 21,430, a market structure shift upward.

The block. In that up-leg, one 1-minute candle opens at 21,418.00, above the prior candle’s close of 21,416.50, and closes at 21,426.00. The next candle opens at 21,427.25. So there is a volume imbalance at 21,416.50–21,418.00 and another at 21,426.00–21,427.25. The suspension block body is 21,418.00–21,426.00, and its midpoint is 21,422.00.

The plan.

• Buy limit at 21,422.00. It fills only if price retraces to that level.
• Stop below the sweep low at 21,374.00, which is 48 points of risk. That is $960 per NQ contract or $96 per MNQ. Size for that distance; do not move the stop up to make it cheaper.
• Target: the previous day’s high at 21,520, the draw on liquidity (98 points, about 2R). The London session high at 21,468 is a level to watch on the way, not the main objective.
• Cancel the order if price reaches the London high at 21,468 without coming back to 21,422. Cancel it too if candle bodies close below 21,416.50, beneath the whole block, before a fill.

The block does not make the idea right. The trade still depends on the sweep, the shift and the draw on liquidity. The suspension block only gives a specific price to plan the entry around.

Suspension Block vs Similar PD Arrays

The closest relative is the fair value gap, which is how ICT framed it. The difference is that a suspension block can exist when the wicks overlap and no fair value gap is visible. Only the candle bodies need to be separated.

What Is Still Unclear

This is a recent term, and much of what you will read about it goes beyond what ICT showed.

• Competing definitions. Some articles and short videos describe a suspension block as a pause or consolidation of several candles before continuation. That does not match the single-candle, two-imbalance definition ICT gave in the introduction.
• Where to draw the edges. Some traders mark only the candle body. Others mark from the previous close to the next open. ICT did not settle it in the introduction.
• Timeframe and size filters. He did not give minimum gap sizes or preferred timeframes.
• Reliability. There is no published, independent test of how often these blocks hold. Treat any hit rate you see quoted, including ICT’s “extremely strong”, as opinion.

If ICT expands on the concept in later videos, the definition above may need refining. We will update this page when we can verify new material.

Frequently Asked Questions