- What it is: a breaker block with a fair value gap overlapping it. The overlap is the entry zone.
- What has to happen first: price raids liquidity (takes a prior high or low), then displaces back through the opposite swing. That break turns the order block at the swing into a breaker, and the same displacement leaves the FVG.
- Risk: the structural stop goes beyond the raid extreme; the target is the next pool of liquidity in the direction of the trade.
What Is the ICT Unicorn Model?
The ICT Unicorn Model is an entry setup in which a fair value gap overlaps a breaker block. Price first takes out a prior high or low, then displaces back through the swing on the other side; the order block at that swing becomes a breaker, and the displacement leaves an FVG that overlaps it. The overlapping price range is the entry zone, the stop goes beyond the liquidity raid, and the target is the next pool of liquidity.
Michael J. Huddleston, the Inner Circle Trader, presented the Unicorn by name in his public material on his YouTube channel. We have not pinned the name to a single lecture, so treat the step list below as our summary of how the setup is used, not as a rulebook he published.
Two other descriptions circulate online and are worth separating from it. Some articles call the Unicorn "two fair value gaps with a break of structure between them"; that describes a displacement leg, not a breaker. Others describe it as "an order block plus an FVG plus a sweep". The part that matters is that the order block has failed — price has broken through it after a liquidity raid — which is what makes it a breaker. An order block that is still holding, with an FVG next to it, is simply an order block and an FVG.
The Three Parts of a Unicorn
All three parts come from one sequence on one timeframe, in this order. The bearish version is described first because it matches the example further down; the bullish version is the mirror image.
Two things are usually added as context rather than as parts of the pattern: a higher-timeframe bias that points the same way (you want a bearish Unicorn in premium, heading toward sell-side liquidity), and a time window when you are actually watching, such as a kill zone or a Silver Bullet hour.
How to Mark a Unicorn, Step by Step
This is our working checklist for the bearish case. For a bullish Unicorn, swap highs for lows and up-close for down-close candles.
1. Mark the liquidity. Before the window you plan to trade, mark the obvious prior high that a raid could target: the overnight or session high, the previous day high, or a set of equal highs.
2. Note the swing low before the raid. As price rallies toward that high, note the last clear swing low it leaves behind, and the down-close candle(s) that formed that low. Those candles are the future breaker if the pattern completes.
3. Wait for the raid and the break. Price trades above the prior high and fails there, then displaces down through the swing low from step 2. The break of that low is the market structure shift. If price never breaks the swing low, there is no breaker and no Unicorn.
4. Draw the breaker and the FVG. Draw the breaker from the high to the low of the down-close candle(s) at the broken swing (some traders use the bodies only; pick one convention and keep it). Then find the bearish FVG in the displacement leg: candle 1's low to candle 3's high.
5. Check the overlap. If the FVG and the breaker share a price range, that range is the entry zone. A common entry is a sell limit in the middle of the overlap; the FVG's midpoint (consequent encroachment) is an alternative when it falls inside the overlap.
6. Write the plan before the retrace. Entry price, stop beyond the raid high, first and second targets, and a time by which an unfilled order is cancelled. If price never retraces into the overlap, there is no trade.
Unicorn vs Breaker, BPR and the 2022 Model
The Unicorn is easy to confuse with setups that share one of its parts. The table shows how this site separates them.
| Setup | What it is | How it relates to the Unicorn |
|---|---|---|
| Breaker block | An order block that fails after a liquidity raid and is then used from the other side. | Part ② of the Unicorn. A breaker with no overlapping FVG is traded as a plain breaker. |
| Mitigation block | The same failure swing without the liquidity raid. | An FVG overlapping a mitigation block is not a Unicorn, because part ① is missing. |
| Balanced price range (BPR) | The overlap of a bullish and a bearish fair value gap at the same price. | A different overlap: two FVGs, no breaker. It is not a "Unicorn without the sweep". |
| 2022 Model | Raid, displacement and market structure shift, then entry in the FVG. | Uses the same raid-shift-FVG sequence; the Unicorn additionally requires the entry FVG to overlap the breaker. |
Stop Placement and Position Size
The structural stop for a bearish Unicorn goes just above the raid high; for a bullish one, just below the raid low. That is the level that invalidates the idea: if price trades back beyond the raid, the raid was not the turning point.
Some traders place a tighter stop just beyond the far edge of the breaker. That makes the trade cheaper, but a normal retest can then take the stop even when the setup plays out, so it is a more aggressive choice rather than the structural one. If the structural stop is more than your risk limit allows, reduce the number of contracts or use a micro contract instead of moving the stop. For reference, one point is worth $50 on ES, $5 on MES, $20 on NQ and $2 on MNQ.
The Unicorn does not tell you how far price will go. Targets come from the liquidity map: an internal low or high first, then an external one such as the previous day's low or high (see internal and external range liquidity).
When and Where to Look for It
The pattern can form on any timeframe, but it is usually traded intraday, with the raid, break and FVG read on the 1- to 5-minute chart and the bias and liquidity marked on the hourly and daily charts. It can be applied to index futures, forex pairs and other liquid markets.
It fits naturally inside the windows used elsewhere on this site: the London Open kill zone (2:00–5:00 AM ET), the New York Open kill zone (7:00–9:00 AM ET), and the Silver Bullet hours (3–4 AM, 10–11 AM and 2–3 PM ET). A Unicorn is simply one way to choose the entry inside those windows; it does not need its own clock.
SMT divergence can be used as an optional extra check at the raid — for example, NQ taking its prior high while ES fails to take its own. As in the 2022 Model, SMT is optional here.
Worked Example: A Bearish ES Unicorn in the New York Open Kill Zone
This ES sequence is made up to show how a breaker and an FVG are measured and turned into one order on a 5-minute chart. No real session is behind it, and it says nothing about how often a Unicorn appears or works.
Context. ES is in premium of its daily range and the daily bias is bearish. Below price sit equal lows at 5,590.25 and, further down, the previous day low at 5,571.00. The London session high, 5,618.75, is the obvious buy-side liquidity above. The trader works the New York Open kill zone, 7:00–9:00 AM ET, on the 5-minute chart.
The swing low that could become a breaker. The 7:25 candle sets a swing low at 5,604.50 and closes down: open 5,609.25, high 5,610.00, close 5,605.75. Price then climbs for the next half hour. If the pattern completes, that 7:25 candle (5,604.50–5,610.00) is the breaker.
Raid and break. The 7:55 candle trades to 5,622.00, above the London high, but closes at 5,617.25, back below it. The 8:00 candle turns lower (low 5,611.50), and the 8:05 candle falls straight through 5,604.50 to 5,600.25. That break turns the 7:25 candle into a bearish breaker. The 8:10 candle's high is 5,607.00, so the 8:00–8:10 candles leave a bearish FVG between 5,611.50 and 5,607.00.
The overlap and the order. The FVG (5,607.00–5,611.50) and the breaker (5,604.50–5,610.00) share 5,607.00–5,610.00. After the 8:10 candle closes, the trader rests a sell limit at 5,608.50, the middle of that shared range. The stop is 5,622.25, a tick above the 7:55 raid high: 13.75 points, or $687.50 per ES contract and $68.75 per MES. Because US economic data is released at 8:30 AM, the plan pulls the order at 8:28 if it has not filled and takes no new entry after the release.
How the order can end: if ES does not come back up to 5,608.50 by 8:28, it is pulled and there is no trade. If it fills and ES then trades above 5,622.25 before the equal lows, the loss is 1R, $687.50 per ES contract. If it fills and the equal lows at 5,590.25 are reached first, half comes off there and the stop on the rest moves to 5,608.50 while it works toward 5,571.00.
Flipping It: A Bullish Unicorn on NQ (Hypothetical)
On a bullish day the sequence runs upside down. Say NQ forms a swing high at 21,060.00, where the last up-close candle spans 21,048.00–21,060.00. Price then dips below the overnight low of 21,020.00 to 21,004.00 and closes back above it, before displacing up through 21,060.00. That leg leaves a bullish FVG from candle 1's high at 21,052.00 to candle 3's low at 21,070.00, which overlaps the up-close candle (now a bullish breaker) between 21,052.00 and 21,060.00. The plan: buy limit at 21,056.00, stop 21,000.00 below the raid low (56 points, $1,120 per NQ or $112 per MNQ), targets at the next internal high and then the previous day high.
Common Unicorn Mistakes
Using an order block that never failed. If price has not broken through the order block, it is not a breaker, and an FVG next to it is an ordinary order block and FVG setup. The break is the whole point of the pattern.
Skipping the raid. A failure swing without a liquidity raid is a mitigation block. You can still trade it, but calling it a Unicorn hides the fact that one of the three parts is missing.
Accepting an FVG that only sits near the breaker. "Close enough" is not an overlap. If the two ranges do not share any prices, there is no Unicorn entry zone.
Mixing up the BPR. A balanced price range is two opposing FVGs overlapping. It is a separate idea and does not upgrade into a Unicorn.
Tightening the stop to make the numbers look better. A stop inside the raid wick because the proper one feels expensive often turns a correct idea into a loss. Reduce size instead.
Chasing a missed fill. When price leaves the overlap without retracing into it, the plan says no trade. Selling at market afterwards moves the entry away from the stop and changes the risk you planned.