Daily bias and the higher-timeframe draw
Lesson 09 · 5 min read · By DT Terminal
Write a call before the session about which liquidity is more likely to be reached, with its invalidation, then score it after.
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Worked examples, the quiz and the interactive tools are in the app. Free account.
Bias is a call you can score
ICT starts each day with a daily bias: before the session, you use the higher timeframes to decide which liquidity is more likely to be reached next. The pool above, or the pool below.
That is a decision, not a prediction. Nobody knows where price goes today, and no peer-reviewed study tests whether ICT's way of picking the draw beats chance. So write a call the day can prove wrong: bullish while price holds above X, the draw is Y. Then score it.
Go deeper
This builds on two lessons you have met. Liquidity the ICT way named the pools, and Day 14 showed how to read the timeframes from the top down.
The default levels: PDH, PDL, PWH, PWL
The usual candidates for a draw are old highs and lows that price has not traded through yet. Four are the defaults:
- PDH and PDL: the previous day high and low.
- PWH and PWL: the previous week high and low.
In this lesson a day runs from midnight to midnight, New York, as ICT states it. Pick one definition and keep it.
A draw is reached when price trades through it, a wick is enough. The call is wrong when a candle closes beyond the other side.
Go deeper
Brokers often close the day at 17:00 New York instead, which gives different highs and lows. New York time follows US daylight saving, so check what that clock reads in your own time zone in March and November.
Pick the draw from the top down
Read the weekly, then the daily, then H4, and ask the same question each time: which unswept old high or low, or unfilled higher timeframe fair value gap, is nearest, and which way is structure leaning?
| Timeframe | What you read | What it adds to the call |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly | PWH, PWL, the weekly range | Is price in its premium or its discount half? |
| Daily | PDH, PDL, swing structure, open gaps | Higher lows or lower highs? Which pool is nearest? |
H4 | The last swing and any open gap | Where the call is wrong |
ICT calls the levels a draw can head for PD arrays, and also teaches weekly profiles, typical shapes of where the week's high and low form. Both are framing tools. Premium and discount come from Dealing ranges, premium, discount and OTE.
Write it before the open
Four lines, written before the New York midnight open: the bias, the draw, the invalidation, and when you will score it. Here is one on sample candles.
Worked example
Example 01: EURUSD H1: a bullish call that reached its draw
The worked example, with every number walked through, is in the app.
Write tomorrow's call in the Daily Journal
Go deeper
The context behind the call (daily higher lows, price in the weekly discount) is the read from section 3.
Score it after
After the session, every call lands in one of four rows. Right, wrong, or no score when price reached neither level.
Daily bias
A bullish and a bearish call, and how each one scores
- Yesterday's range
- The draw
- Invalidation
Bullish call
draw PDH, wrong on a close below PDL
Bearish call
draw PDL, wrong on a close above PDH
Before the open
draw and invalidation written down
Draw reached
price trades through the draw: right
Invalidated
a close beyond the other side: wrong
Neither
no draw, no invalidation by the close: no score
Worked example
Example 02: GBPUSD H1: a bearish call that was invalidated
The worked example, with every number walked through, is in the app.
Score fifty calls in the backtester
Go deeper
A run of no scores says something too: maybe your draws sit too far away for one day. After fifty days, the count of right, wrong and no score is your bias, measured.
Check yourself
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