ICT Core filters every trade through three sequential gates — Context (HTF bias, session, premium/discount), Liquidity (sweep, displacement, MSS), and Entry (FVG/OB retrace + VWAP confluence) — all on confirmed closes. No repaint, no guesswork.
A signal is only valid when every gate is true on a closed bar. If any gate fails, the setup is ignored. This is the entire logic — no percentage score, no hidden weighting.
The higher-timeframe EMA (default 1H / 50) sets the directional bias from a confirmed HTF close — never a forming bar. Buys require a bullish bias, sells a bearish one. The London (02:00–05:00) and NY AM (09:30–12:00) session windows keep you out of dead hours, and premium/discount (a rolling 60-bar range) forces longs in discount and shorts in premium.
A liquidity sweep (wick through a prior extreme, body closing back inside), a displacement candle (full range > ATR × 1.5), and a Market Structure Shift (close through the prior swing on displacement) prove the move is institutional, not noise.
Price retraces 50% into the Fair Value Gap (or Order Block fallback if no FVG exists), with session VWAP as confluence — longs only below VWAP, shorts only above. The signal fires once per setup and carries its own ATR stop, TP1 (1R) and TP2 (2R).
All three gates on a closed bar. There is no mid-candle signal and no repaint — a trade either qualifies completely or it doesn't. Zones persist until filled, not reset at midnight.
Eight clean pieces stack into the 3-gate filter. Each one maps to a specific row in the dashboard — so what you see on the chart is exactly what the code is checking.
A higher-timeframe EMA with lookahead off. It reads only the confirmed HTF close and the EMA's direction, so the bias line never wiggles mid-bar. Bull = close above a rising EMA; bear = close below a falling EMA.
Only the London (02:00–05:00) and NY AM (09:30–12:00) kill zones trade. A rolling 60-bar range draws the equilibrium — longs require discount, shorts require premium. No more forcing trades in the wrong part of the range or in off-hours chop.
A liquidity sweep needs a wick through the prior 20-bar extreme with the body closing back inside (BSL / SSL). A displacement candle needs its full range to exceed ATR × 1.5 — the institutional footprint that separates a real move from chop.
An MSS fires when a displacement candle closes through the prior swing high or low (5-bar swing). It's the confirmation that structure — not just a wick — has changed, and it's what upgrades a sweep into a directional signal.
A Fair Value Gap forms when a displacement candle leaves a 3-candle imbalance (low[1] > high[3]). It persists until filled — not reset at midnight. If no FVG exists, an Order Block (the last opposing candle within 10 bars) is used as the fallback entry zone.
Session VWAP (reset daily) acts as the final confluence filter — longs only below it, shorts only above. Every entry carries a systematic ATR(14) × 1.5 stop beyond the zone, a TP1 at 1R and TP2 at 2R, plus a risk readout in points.
Every input is grouped and labeled, so the defaults work out of the box — but nothing is hidden. Tune the gates to your market and session.
Each condition exposes a TradingView alertcondition — so you can wire the exact event you care about to email, webhook, or push.
Bar-close only. Every label, sweep, and shift confirms on a closed bar. There is no mid-candle signal, no repainting, and no zone that vanishes after it prints.
Six focused modules take you from "what is a Fair Value Gap" to executing the full 3-gate filter — plus a dashboard cheat sheet you can keep on your desk.
Why smart money hunts liquidity, and how sweeps, displacement, and structure shifts reveal intent.
Reading HTF bias, the London/NY session windows, and premium/discount so you only trade in alignment.
Sweeps, displacement candles, and MSS — how to confirm the move is institutional, not noise.
FVG/OB retraces and VWAP confluence — entering at value instead of chasing the move.
ATR stops, 1R/2R targets, and reading the single-table dashboard in one glance.
A quick-reference sheet mapping every dashboard row to its gate — keep it on your desk.
The full ICT Core indicator plus the complete interpretation course — and every future v1.x update.
Two weeks free on the monthly plan, or lock in annual savings. Three gates, one clean entry — every signal confirmed on a closed bar.