Video summary

The 3-Step A+ ICT Strategy (that actually works)

Main summary

Key takeaways

Finance

Finance-specific content (markets & instruments)

  • No specific tickers, ETFs, stocks, bonds, commodities, or crypto mentioned.
  • Macro/instruments referenced (as calendar events impacting markets):
    • NFP (Non-Farm Payrolls)
    • FOMC rate announcement
    • CPI (Consumer Price Index)
    • Dollar Index (conceptually referenced as “dollar index” / “DXY” — no ticker provided)
    • “Index markets” (generic—no index ticker)

Key strategy framework (the “3-step ICT” approach)

Step 1: Find the target (liquidity target selection)

Internal vs. external range liquidity

  • External range liquidity
    • Liquidity at the extremes of a range (e.g., old swing low/high; “most extreme points”).
  • Internal range liquidity
    • Liquidity inside the range (described as more numerous and less certain).

Core recommendations

  • Target external range liquidity:
    • Bearish/short bias: e.g., old lows
    • Bullish/long bias: e.g., old highs
  • Avoid internal range liquidity as the primary target:
    • It’s described as a “guessing game” and may not be where price ultimately travels.

Trade selection rule (confidence filter)

  • Only take trades when the directional probability toward the target is approximately 70–80% confidence.
  • If it’s ~50/50 (equal likelihood of range highs vs. range lows), do not trade (“sit on my hands”).

Liquidity pool concept

  • Equal highs / equal lows (often near prior daily highs/lows) are treated as obvious liquidity magnets.

Explicit caution

  • Counter-trend trades are more likely to fail when:
    • targets are unclear, or
    • the target is set to the “wrong” internal level (e.g., an FVG/level price never reaches).

Step 2: Time the market using a calendar-based approach

Monthly timing (monthly → weeks)

  • Predict how the monthly candle will “trade across the month,” split into 4 weeks.
  • Week 1 often includes NFP, which can set the directional tone for the rest of the month.
  • Suggested behavior:
    • During NFP weeks, be very still / sit out because markets often chop.
    • Better trading tends to be in weeks 2, 3, and sometimes 4.
  • Caution on week 4:
    • If the monthly expansion already happened, momentum may “die out.”

Weekly timing (daily within the week)

  • Avoid positioning ahead of major events:
    • NFP
    • FOMC rate announcement
    • CPI
  • Rationale (behavioral/crowding framing):
    • Markets often chop before these releases, then react sharply (flush, then trend).
    • Framed as: “professional traders… are just sitting on the sidelines” ahead of major releases (without assuming insider information).

Example logic (event on Wednesday)

If FOMC is on Wednesday, then Monday/Tuesday may move to set up liquidity raids (e.g., take out Monday’s low), and after FOMC a clearer directional move often follows.

Practical instruction

  • If bullish coming into the event week:
    • Avoid trading the “chop” days.
    • Place trades after the liquidity raid / confirmation, so price can run toward external range liquidity (e.g., equal highs or an all-time high).

Step 3: Entry, stop-loss, take-profit (risk/reward construction)

The approach uses 3 entry models.

1) Engulfing bar entry

Bullish engulfing

  • Candle 1 closes down.
  • Candle 2 closes up and takes out the prior candle’s high and low.
  • Wait for the close of candle 2.
  • Entry: on retracement “anywhere” inside a discount area after the close (flexible fill).
  • Stop-loss: below the low of the setup candle (described as “goes at the low”).
  • Target: external range liquidity (old highs for bullish).

Bearish engulfing

  • Opposite logic:
    • Enter after bearish engulfing and retracement upward.
    • Stop-loss: above the engulfing candle’s high.
    • Target: external range liquidity (old lows).

Risk/reward emphasis

  • If the external-liquidity target is too close (doesn’t offer about 1:2 or 1:3), he typically won’t trade (or adjusts context/stop aggressiveness).

2) Liquidity raid (confirmation via close)

Core rule

  • Do not enter immediately when equal highs/lows are swept.

Bullish liquidity raid

  • After lows are taken, wait for a closure back above the swing point (confirmation).
  • Enter after confirmation (can be on the close of the confirming candle).
  • Stop-loss: at the swing point used for confirmation.
  • Target: external range liquidity.

Bearish liquidity raid

  • After highs are raided, wait for closure back below the swing point.
  • Stop-loss: at the swing point.
  • Target: external range liquidity.

Explicit caution

  • The speaker states he lost money by being impatient and entering before closure/confirmation:
    • “Do not just enter as soon as it takes out those levels.”

R:R examples

  • One short example: ~1.7R
  • Another bullish example: suggests at least ~2R when targeting farther external liquidity.

3) Fair value gap (FVG) entry

  • Wait for retracement into the FVG.
  • Entry: as price trades into the FVG.
  • Stop-loss options:
    • Aggressive stop: low of the fair value gap
    • More conservative: low of candle 2
    • Most conservative: low of candle 3

Trade-off stated

  • More aggressive stop → better R:R, but lower win rate
  • More conservative stop → higher win rate, but worse R:R

Take-profit logic

  • Target external range liquidity beyond the FVG:
    • old highs for bullish FVG
    • old lows for bearish FVG

Key numbers, performance claims, and explicit recommendations/cautions

Performance claims (anecdotal; no tickers given)

  • Made $2.5 million in one payout
  • Plus over $1 million in 218 other payouts
  • Claims 14 years trading experience and testing hundreds of strategies
  • Mentions $4 million from prop firms (in the context of an offer)

Confidence filter

  • Trade only when target direction is ~70–80% confidence
  • Avoid when ~50/50 (range highs vs. range lows)

Risk/reward thresholds

  • Prefer setups around 1:2 to 1:3
  • Example outcomes mentioned:
    • ~1.7R
    • at least ~2R

Event timing cautions

  • Typically avoid trading ahead of NFP, FOMC, and CPI
  • Be especially cautious around week 4 of the month

Disclosures / disclaimers / promotional content

  • No explicit “not financial advice” disclaimer included in the subtitles (based on the provided extract).
  • Strong promotional enrollment pitch:
    • Mentions an “inner circle,” watching executions, and learning the full system.
    • States he “recently opened the doors for a new enrollment.”
    • Includes a availability/link note: “If the link in the description still works… slots are open.”

Presenters / sources

  • Presenter/source: Not explicitly named in the subtitles; the speaker is the only referenced person.

Original video