My Notes

The ICT Journey

Faiz Mohamed
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GLOSSARY

Everything about XAU/USD (Gold vs. US Dollar) in New York Time (EST).

Gold/USD (XAU/USD) Trading Hours (New York Time, EST):

 Gold is traded almost 24/5 — from Sunday 6:00 PM EST to Friday 5:00 PM EST with a one-hour break
each day.
 There’s a daily break in liquidity between 5:00 PM and 6:00 PM EST when most brokers do
maintenance or rollover swaps.

Key Market Sessions (in EST):

1. Sydney Session

 Opens: 5:00 PM
 Closes: 2:00 AM
 Very low volume; start of the trading day.

2. Tokyo (Asia) Session

 Opens: 7:00 PM
 Closes: 4:00 AM
 Light movement unless driven by economic news from Japan/China.

3. London Session

 Opens: 3:00 AM
 Closes: 12:00 PM
 Highly liquid; often sets daily highs/lows.

4. New York Session

 Opens: 8:00 AM
 Closes: 5:00 PM
 Peak activity, especially during London-New York overlap (8:00 AM – 12:00 PM).
 Most important for gold trading due to COMEX (commodity futures).

Note: Gold volatility peaks during London and New York overlap.

How Gold Orders Are Made (Retail Level):

 Buy/Sell Market Order: Instant execution at market price.

 Limit Orders: Set a specific price to buy/sell.
 Stop Orders: Trigger only when price reaches a certain level.
 Trailing Stops: Protect profits in trending gold moves.

Most Common Execution via:

 MetaTrader (MT4/MT5), cTrader, or broker web platforms.

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Institutions & Funds may use:

 Spot Gold (XAU/USD): traded OTC, tied to current market price.

 Gold Futures (GC on COMEX): contracts based on future delivery.
 Gold ETFs (e.g., GLD): for exposure without holding metal.
 Options on Gold Futures: for leveraged directional bets or hedging.

Pairs and Markets Related to Gold:

1. Gold/Silver Ratio (XAU/XAG)

 Often used for relative strength analysis between the two metals.

2. Gold and USD (Inverse Correlation)

 Strong USD = weaker gold (generally), and vice versa.

 USD Index (DXY) is a key watch tool.

3. Gold and EUR/USD

 Positive correlation: both tend to rise when USD falls.

4. Gold and AUD/USD

 Australia is a major gold producer; AUD is correlated with gold performance.

5. Gold and Inflation Assets

 Watch CPI, PCE, interest rate decisions (Fed), and bond yields.

6. Gold and Risk Sentiment

 Gold rallies during global uncertainty or crisis — seen as a safe haven.

How to Confirm "Gold Affairs" (Direction, Fundamentals, Market Sentiment):

1. Economic Calendars (in EST):

 Watch FOMC, CPI, NFP, Unemployment, PCE, and GDP releases.

2. Institutional Reports:

 COT Report (Commitment of Traders) on Fridays.

 Shows how commercial traders and funds are positioned.

3. COMEX Futures Volume/Open Interest:

 Use CME Group’s tools to view where large players are betting.
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4. Market News/Events:

 Bloomberg, Reuters, Trading Economics — follow interest rates, war risks, China demand, central
bank buying (e.g., Russia, Turkey, China).

5. Technical Confirmation:

 Price Action, Order Blocks, Fair Value Gaps (if using ICT methods).
 Weekly high/low liquidity, daily bias, NY open price action are vital.

6. Correlation Tools:

 Use correlation matrices from brokers or TradingView to track how XAU/USD aligns with DXY, US10Y,
crude oil, and major pairs.

If you’re blending this with ICT methods — NY session setups, daily draw on liquidity, and time-based
executions (e.g., 10AM reversals) are absolutely key.
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ICT 2022: MY TRADING JOURNAL TO MASTERY

ELEMENTS TO A TRADE SETUP

1. Seasonality
2. Earnings

WEEKLY
- Weekly Bias, Heading where?

DAILY
- Short Term Lows
- Sell Stops
- Daily Highs & Lows

1 HOUR
- Old Lows & Highs

15 MINUTES
- FVG Imbalances
- Entries

5 MINUTES TO 1 MINUTE
- FVG Imbalances
- Entries

3. Midnight Price New York Time

4. Lower Timeframes – Imbalances
5. A break (Short term high/low)
6. A range – High & Low of the day. Mid-point (Premium/Discount)

TO-DO

 Look for breaks in market structure and then look for an Imbalance in price.

INTERNAL RANGE LIQUIDITY & MARKET STRUCTURE SHIFTS

1. Order Block – Change of the state of delivery.

2. Buy side liquidity, Sell side Liquidity.
3. Equilibrium Fibonacci on high and low of the day.
4. High & Lows New York Time 2:00 – 5:00 in the morning London Session.
5. Breaking in high or low look for FVG.
6. New York Time 7:00 – 10:00 in the morning (New York Session).
7. Equities open at 9:00 A.M New York Time.
8. 12:00 – 13:00 New York Time No Trade.
9. Two FVG let it trade to lower FVG, but consider taking partials.
10. Break in market structure once the lower FVG is hit.

TO-DO

 Look for stop hunts that lead to Market Structure Shifts Intraday.
 Log your examples with your own annotations for the study journal.
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INTRADAY ORDER FLOW & UNDERSTANDING THE DAILY RANGE

Futures (Contract) Delivery Months

 ESH2022 = Emini S&P March 2022 Contract

 ESM2022 = Emini S&P June 2022 Contract
 ESU2022 = Emini S&P September 2022 Contract
 ESZ2022 = Emini December 2022 Contract

3rd Friday is exparition of the contracts, do not trade. [Link], Indices E-mini S&P.
Open Interest – Large open Interest N.Y local time.

8:30 – 12:00 Morning Session N.Y Time

12:00 – 14:00 No Trade N.Y Time (Look for Indications, Morning Trend, Bullish, Bearish, Consolidation)
14:00 – 17:00 Afternoon Session N.Y Time

 Prior(Before) to 8:30 in the morning look for swing highs and swing lows. Swing points are
where liquidity is based.
 When price goes above or below an old high or low wait for a huge move(displacement)
before entering. But watch out for news and events.
 Swing lows or swing high showing more? Shows accumulation. Straight line edges (Relative
equal lows or highs) don’t stay like that, they will break.
 Some events may make the market abnormal and it may take a day or week for the market
to sync into normal.

THE ICT FAIR VALUE GAP

The Bearish ICT FVG

 The Institutional Order Flow pattern is based on a three candle formation.

 The optimal formation of the bearish ICT FVG, will be found after a run into buy side liquidity
 Typically found just above a single price high or multiple price highs in a relative basis.
[Double Top]
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The Market Structure Shift

 The market will see price delivery a rally above an old high or highs, then quickly shift lower.
 Significance is placed on the term “quick” and with displacement lower. (Big candle move).
Not a small candle move lower or a wick only, after a candle close.
 If no FVG no trade.

The Bullish ICT FVG

 The Institutional Order Flow pattern is based on a three candle formation.

 The optimal formation of the Bullish ICT FVG, will be found after a run into sell side liquidity.
 Typically found just below a single price low or multiple price lows in a relative basis
[Double Bottom]
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The Market Structure Shift

 The market will see price delivery a rally above an old high or highs, then quickly shift lower.
 Significance is placed on the term “quick” and with displacement lower. (Big candle move).
Not a small candle move lower or a wick only, after a candle close.

 Start 8:30 in the morning NY Time, from 15 Min or 30Min, then strip down to 5Min,
4Min, 3Min, 2Min, 1Min. Look for a swing high before 8:30.
 At 9:30 NY Time High Volatility.
 Take profit in a FVG or below old high/lows. Use Fibonacci on high and Low of the day.
 Take partials in internal range and exit on external range.

DAILY BIAS & CONSOLIDATION HURDLES

 The forex market opens in NY at 8:00 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST) and closes at 5:00 PM
EST. This corresponds to 4:00PM to 1:00AM in East Africa Time (EAT).
 The New York session is a key period due to its high trading volume and volatility, especially
during the overlap with the London Session.
 Hunt Intraday price action with the daily bias.
 Risk 3%
 Relative equal lows or highs indicate a market shift.
 Look for long term highs or lows.
 15Min chart – 2Min Chart
 Before 8:30 in the morning low, when no FVG look for relative equal lows nearly equal to the
one before 8:30 in the morning.
 Look at multiple gold or USD charts for similarities.
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APPLYING INSTITUTIONAL ORDER FLOW TO FOREX MARKETS

 Trading view ([Link]) – for forex

 In Daily Bars – relative equal pairs breaking, marks market shift. Look for FVG.
 7:00/10:00 New York Time ICT Kill zone (Low, High mark). Look for FVG in lower Timeframe.
 15Min – 5Min
 6E1! (Trading view to confirm JPY related pairs).

POWER OF 3 AND NEW YORK PM SESSION OPPORTUNITIES

Power of 3

Accumulation

Manipulation

Distribution

 Premium – Discount (DAILY BARS) FVG

 New York and London Session there are fake runs/moves.
 Judas Swing – Fake run/move.
 Before 8:30 New York Time look for FVG and relative equal highs/lows.
 Opening Time NY Time is really important.
 Consecutive candles right before a price surge that has an imbalance is how you find your
order block.
 If there’s a big run overnight avoid NY session and wait till afternoon.

IMPLEMENTING ECONOMIC CALENDAR EVENTS WITH THE OPEN

Yellow – Low Impact

Orange – Medium Impact
Red – High Impact

 At 8:30 in the morning NY Time a lot of news at that time.

 Daily Bias – Look for the nearest high & low and put equilibrium, for premium and discount
prices. Bias if an imbalance FVG it will aim for sell stops & buy stops.
 When there is an imbalance it will be closed before going down or up.
 Daily Bias also use PO3 model.
 In Open range is where FVG, Premium arrays and optimal entries happen.