ICT concepts explained: liquidity, fair value gaps, order blocks and kill zones
Updated Nov 9, 2026 · 4 min read
The core ICT (Inner Circle Trader) concepts in plain language, with the levels ICT traders were watching on BTC, ETH, SOL and HYPE on Nov 9, 2026.
What are ICT concepts? ICT concepts are a price-action vocabulary popularised by Michael Huddleston, who trades and teaches as the Inner Circle Trader. The idea is that price moves from one pool of resting orders (liquidity) to the next, leaving imbalances (fair value gaps) and decisive candles (order blocks) behind, and that it moves most during certain session hours (kill zones). Much of it overlaps with what traders also call smart money concepts (SMC).
Key takeaways
- Liquidity: clusters of stop orders above old highs and below old lows. Price is said to “sweep” them before reversing.
- Fair value gap: a three-candle imbalance price often returns to.
- Order block: the last opposite candle before a strong move, treated as a zone where large orders sat.
- Premium and discount: above or below the midpoint of a range. ICT traders prefer to buy in discount and sell in premium.
- Kill zones: the London and New York session opens, when most of the day’s range is made.
The ICT glossary
| Concept | What it means | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Buy-side liquidity | Stops of short sellers and breakout buy orders resting above a high | Previous day, week and session highs |
| Sell-side liquidity | Stops of long holders resting below a low | Previous day, week and session lows |
| Liquidity sweep | A move through a high or low that reverses quickly | Wicks through those levels that close back inside |
| Fair value gap | Untraded space between candle 1 and candle 3 | Fast moves on any timeframe |
| Order block | Last down candle before a strong rally, or last up candle before a strong drop | The origin of a break of structure |
| Break of structure / change of character | Close past the last swing with or against the trend | Swing highs and lows |
| Premium / discount | Above / below the 50% level of the current range | Previous day or swing range |
| Kill zones | London open and New York open hours | Roughly 07:00 to 10:00 and 12:00 to 15:00 UTC |
The levels ICT traders were watching, Nov 9, 2026
Previous day, previous week and session highs and lows are where ICT traders expect resting liquidity. The last column places price in the previous day’s range.
| Market | Previous day high / low (Nov 8) | Previous week high / low (Nov 2 to Nov 8) | Asia session high / low (00:00 to 08:00 UTC, Nov 9) | Price | Against the previous day's range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BTC | $76,173 / $73,457 | $81,177 / $73,457 | $75,585 / $73,715 | $74,118 | discount (below the midpoint) |
| ETH | $2,245 / $2,058 | $2,450 / $2,058 | $2,159 / $2,081 | $2,109 | discount (below the midpoint) |
| SOL | $90.00 / $85.14 | $98.16 / $85.14 | $88.42 / $85.09 | $85.92 | discount (below the midpoint) |
| HYPE | $78.05 / $73.66 | $89.02 / $73.66 | $75.42 / $72.27 | $72.91 | discount (below the midpoint) |
At 10:53 UTC on Nov 9, 2026, BTC, ETH, SOL and HYPE sat below it. The previous week’s highs (BTC $81,177 and HYPE $89.02) were the nearest large buy-side liquidity above price.
Running ICT rules on Senpi
ICT setups are rules about levels, sessions and order of events, which makes them a good fit for software that watches all of them at once. Describe the rule in a sentence to your Senpi agent, in the app or from Claude, ChatGPT or another AI app through the connectors. Senpi shows the rules back to you, then runs them in a separate strategy wallet with the stop attached from the first fill.
- Viper, SMC/ICT structure trader: trades breaks of structure from one liquidity pool toward the next.
- Hare, crypto majors session scalper: trades BTC and ETH only during the Asia, London and US sessions, on bursts backed by volume.
What does ICT stand for in trading?
Inner Circle Trader, the name Michael Huddleston trades and teaches under. ICT concepts are his framework of liquidity, fair value gaps, order blocks, market structure and session timing.
Are ICT and smart money concepts the same?
Largely. Smart money concepts (SMC) is the broader name traders use for the same ideas, often taught without ICT’s session and time rules.
Do ICT concepts work in crypto?
The levels exist in crypto: previous highs and lows, gaps and session opens. Crypto trades 24/7, so the London and New York kill zones matter less on weekends; on Nov 9, 2026 the Asia-session range on BTC was $1,870 wide (2.54%).
What is an order block?
The last opposite-colour candle before a strong move: the last down candle before a rally, or the last up candle before a drop. ICT traders treat it as a zone where large orders were filled and expect price to react if it returns.
Run your ICT rules with an agent
Describe the levels, the session and the entry. Senpi watches the markets in your rules, across Hyperliquid’s main and XYZ perps, and runs them with stops attached.
Related articles
What is revenge trading, and how do you stop it?
Revenge trading is trading bigger or faster to win back a loss. Why it happens, the recovery maths that makes it costly, what Hyperliquid data shows, and rules that stop it.
What is the Calmar ratio, and what is a good one?
The Calmar ratio divides annual return by max drawdown. Formula, how to read it, and the one-year Calmar ratio of BTC, ETH, SOL, HYPE, XRP and DOGE on Nov 9, 2026.
17 crypto trading strategies explained: momentum, mean reversion, breakout, carry, DCA, grid and more
17 crypto trading strategies, from the five core families (momentum, mean reversion, breakout, carry, market making) to day trading, DCA, grid and copy trading: the edge each trades, when it fails, the Senpi templates that run them, and live Hyperliquid readings on Nov 9, 2026.
How to read Hyperliquid market data: open interest, long/short ratio, funding and liquidations
What open interest, the long/short ratio, funding and liquidations tell you on Hyperliquid, where each number comes from, and how to read them together, with the ten largest perps on Nov 10, 2026.