🔷 Market Structure (Core SMC)
Market Structure
The overall direction of price based on highs and lows.
Bullish Market Structure
Higher High (HH)
Higher Low (HL)
Bearish Market Structure
Lower Low (LL)
Lower High (LH)
Break of Structure (BOS)
Price breaks the most recent high (bullish) or low (bearish)
Confirms trend continuation
Change of Character (CHoCH)
First sign of trend reversal
Bullish → Bearish or Bearish → Bullish
🔷 Liquidity Concepts
Liquidity
Areas where stop losses are resting
Smart Money targets these areas
Buy-Side Liquidity (BSL)
Above highs
Where buyers’ stop losses are placed
Sell-Side Liquidity (SSL)
Below lows
Where sellers’ stop losses are placed
Liquidity Grab / Stop Hunt
Price temporarily breaks highs/lows to collect liquidity, then reverses
Equal Highs (EQH)
Pool of buy-side liquidity
Equal Lows (EQL)
Pool of sell-side liquidity
🔷 Order Blocks (Very Important)
Order Block (OB)
The last bullish or bearish candle before a strong move
Represents institutional entry
Bullish Order Block
Last down candle before a strong upward move
Bearish Order Block
Last up candle before a strong downward move
Mitigation
Price returning to an order block to rebalance positions
🔷 Fair Value Concepts
Fair Value Gap (FVG)
Imbalance in price (inefficient movement)
Caused by aggressive buying or selling
Bullish FVG
Price likely to retrace downward into it
Bearish FVG
Price likely to retrace upward into it
Imbalance
Same meaning as FVG
Indicates price moved too fast
🔷 Premium & Discount
Equilibrium (50%)
Midpoint of a range
Premium Zone
Above 50%
Ideal for selling
Discount Zone
Below 50%
Ideal for buying
🔷 Trading Range Concepts
Dealing Range
High to low of a move
Range High
Where sell-side interest exists
Range Low
Where buy-side interest exists
🔷 Inducement
Inducement
A fake move designed to trap retail traders
Forces traders into bad positions before the real move
🔷 Kill Zones (ICT / SMC Time Concepts)
Asian Range
Consolidation phase
London Kill Zone
High volatility
Institutional activity starts
New York Kill Zone
Continuation or reversal phase
🔷 Candle Concepts
Displacement
Strong impulsive move
Confirms institutional intent
Strong Close
Candle closes near high or low, showing dominance
🔷 Entry Models (Advanced)
SMC Entry Model
Liquidity sweep
CHoCH
Order Block / FVG tap
Entry confirmation
Optimal Trade Entry (OTE)
Fibonacci 61%–79% retracement
Used with SMC confluence
🔷 Multi-Timeframe Concepts
HTF (Higher Timeframe)
Daily / 4H
Bias & structure
LTF (Lower Timeframe)
15m / 5m / 1m
Entries & confirmations
🔷 Risk & Trade Management
Internal Structure
Structure inside a range
External Structure
Major swing highs/lows
Partial Take Profit
Closing part of a trade early
Runner
Letting remaining position ride the trend
🔷 Smart Money vs Retail
Smart Money
Banks, institutions, hedge funds
Retail Traders
Trade indicators, emotions, breakouts
🔷 Common SMC Mistakes
Trading without liquidity sweep
Ignoring higher timeframe bias
Entering before confirmation
Using OB without structure
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