# ICT Trading Psychology: Traps to Avoid · DT Academy > The traps of studying ICT: hindsight marking, believing "the algorithm will deliver", forcing killzone setups. How to test instead of believing. [Back to ICT Concepts](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy/courses/ict-concepts) Lesson 15ICT and your psychology Chapters done # ICT and your psychology Lesson 15 · 4 min read · By DT Terminal The traps specific to studying ICT (hindsight marking, "the algorithm will deliver", forcing setups in killzones, attachment to a mentor), each with the habit that tests it. Unlock the full lesson in the app Worked examples, the quiz and the interactive tools are in the app. Free account. [Continue in the app, free](https://www.thedtterminal.com/login?signup=true&redirect=%2Fjournal%2Facademy%2Fict-psychology) Chapter 1 of 5 ## Hindsight marking Every ICT concept is **easy to find on a finished chart**. There is always a last opposite candle, a gap, a low that got swept. Marked after the fact, the method looks right almost every time. That is **hindsight bias**: once you know the ending, the level that worked looks obvious and the ones that failed fade. **Confirmation bias** finishes the job. You remember the charts that fit and scroll past the rest. Hindsight ### The same chart, at the time and after - Fair value gap - Low marked as a pool At the time the right edge is still blank After the fact the whole chart, one answer Fair value gaps three gaps, one held Lows three pools, one turn **Read across a row.** At the time there were three candidates. After the fact there is one, and it looks like it was always the answer. Schematic candles, not market data. Chapter 2 of 5 ## Mark it before you see it The fix is mechanical: **mark with the right edge hidden** and **count every candidate**. The next lesson, [Testing ICT concepts in the backtester and journal](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy/ict-testing-concepts), shows how. Mark before you press play Start a backtest session and pause. Mark every gap and pool you can see, then step forward one candle at a time with the arrow keys. **Count how many of your marks price used**, not just the one that worked. Chapter 3 of 5 ## "The algorithm will deliver" ICT teaches that an Interbank Price Delivery Algorithm moves price between liquidity and gaps. **No documented interbank algorithm works this way**, and public data cannot check the claim. If price *must* reach your draw, a stop looks like an obstacle, so it gets moved, widened or removed. But the draw is a **call that can be wrong**. The stop is where you said it would be wrong. Worked example ### Example 01: The stop that moved The worked example, with every number walked through, is in the app. [Continue in the app, free](https://www.thedtterminal.com/login?signup=true&redirect=%2Fjournal%2Facademy%2Fict-psychology%3Fsection%3Dthe-algorithm%23the-algorithm) Free account **Go deeper** Even sympathetic sources use the algorithm as **a lens, not a mechanism**. See [Day 18, Managing a trade after entry](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy/managing-a-trade-after-entry) and [Day 22, Discipline](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy/discipline). Chapter 4 of 5 ## A killzone is a filter, not a reason The killzone opens and it feels like something should happen. A window tells you *when to look*, not that anything is there. **A session with no setup is a result**, and it goes in the log as one. - You **loosen a rule**: the sweep was "close enough". - You **drop a timeframe** until something fits. - You take **a second setup because the first one lost**. The windows are in [The ICT clock: sessions and killzones](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy/ict-sessions-and-killzones). Fear of missing out and revenge trading are in [Day 23](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy/the-emotions-that-wreck-your-trading). Cap the session in Trading Rules Add a During Trading rule that caps your trades per killzone, and an After Trading rule to log every session with no setup as "no setup". **Go deeper** A rule you wrote is one you can check yourself against later. Chapter 5 of 5 ## Your record, not a mentor's ICT content builds strong loyalties, and every concept arrives with a personality attached. That makes it easy to **defend the method instead of testing it**. If a loss feels like a slight on the mentor, **the mentor has your judgement**. As [What is ICT](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy/ict-what-is-ict) covered, **no independently audited long-term record** stands behind the method. The record that counts for you is **your own**: setups logged before the outcome, a fair sample, and broker-synced trades that cannot be edited after the fact. **Judge the method on your logged results.** Not on screenshots, mentors or what a community believes. Reviewing them well is in [Day 24](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy/reviewing-your-trades-to-improve). Quick review ## Check yourself Quick review · 0 of 0 Four questions, one for each trap. If one trips you up, reread that section. [All lessons in ICT Concepts](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy/courses/ict-concepts) [Previous](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy/ict-building-your-model) ## Building your ICT model as written rules Lesson 14 · 6 min read [Next in ICT Concepts](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy/ict-testing-concepts) ## Testing ICT concepts in the backtester and journal Lesson 16 · 5 min read ## Try it on your own account Connect a broker and DT Terminal verifies every trade against it. Free to start. [Start free](https://www.thedtterminal.com/login?signup=true&from=academy&entry=closing_card&redirect=%2Fjournal%2Facademy) [Back to DT Academy](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy) DT Academy is education, not financial advice. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any instrument. Trading carries a high risk of losing money, and past results, examples and backtests do not guarantee future results. [Risk disclosure](https://www.thedtterminal.com/risk-disclosure) --- Risk disclosure: Futures, forex and options trading contains substantial risk and is not for every investor. An investor could potentially lose all or more than the initial investment. Risk capital is money that can be lost without jeopardizing one's financial security or lifestyle. Only risk capital should be used for trading and only those with sufficient risk capital should consider trading. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. 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