Strategy Library

ICT

ICT Silver Bullet

A time-boxed model from Michael J. Huddleston (ICT), popular since the early 2020s. In three one-hour windows of the New York day you wait for price to take liquidity or shift structure, then enter on a fair value gap that forms inside that hour, aiming at the liquidity on the other side. No gap inside the hour means no trade.

AdvancedIndex futures, forex majors, goldNew York time windows 03:00 to 04:00, 10:00 to 11:00 and 14:00 to 15:00M1, M5
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Example 01

ICT Silver Bullet on a chart

US100 · M110:00 to 11:00sweep, gap, return

Swept low: 18,032.00Entry, gap top: 18,050.50Stop: 18,022.50Target, old high: 18,090.50Sample candles, not market data

The rules

Setup
  • Before the window, mark the liquidity on both sides: the nearest old highs and lows price has not taken
  • Trade only inside one of the windows (New York time): 03:00 to 04:00, 10:00 to 11:00 or 14:00 to 15:00
Entry
  • Inside the window, wait for a sweep of one side or a market structure shift
  • Enter on a fair value gap that forms inside the window, in the direction of the move away from the sweep
Stop
  • Beyond the swing that made the sweep
Target
  • The opposing liquidity you marked before the window
Manage
  • Take no setup that forms after the hour ends

Common mistakes

  • Trading after the hour. A gap that forms at 11:05 is outside the model, however good it looks.
  • Chasing the move. Entering on the candle that made the gap, instead of the return into it.
  • Getting the hours wrong. The windows are New York time and move with US daylight saving.
  • Trusting one window is best. Claims that one hour is the most consistent are opinion. Test each one.

When it's off

  • No fair value gap inside the hour means no trade
  • Call it off if a candle closes through the far edge of the gap before entry
  • Skip it if you would have to chase the move that made the gap

Words to know

Silver Bullet
A time-boxed ICT model in three one-hour New York windows: 03:00 to 04:00, 10:00 to 11:00 and 14:00 to 15:00. Inside the hour it needs a sweep or structure shift, then a fair value gap that forms inside the window; no gap inside the hour means no trade.
Killzone
Windows of the day, in New York time, when ICT looks for setups: London open 02:00 to 05:00 and New York open 07:00 to 10:00 (index traders often use 08:30 to 11:00). Sources disagree by up to an hour, and the times follow US daylight saving.
Liquidity sweep
Price trades beyond an obvious high or low, fills the orders resting there, and closes back inside. Academy's test is a wick beyond the level with the same candle's body closing back inside; a body close beyond is a real break, and a sweep alone reverses nothing. ICT's loose use of "turtle soup" means this.
Market structure shift
The first break against the trend: in an uptrend, a candle body closing below the last higher low (the low that launched the latest high). The ICT course requires displacement, a fast move that usually leaves a fair value gap; a wick through that closes back is a rejection, not a shift.
Fair value gap
A three-candle pattern where a strong middle candle leaves a space between the wicks of candles 1 and 3: bullish when candle 3's low is above candle 1's high, bearish when candle 3's high is below candle 1's low. Academy marks it wick to wick, and if those wicks touch or overlap there is no gap.
Liquidity
Orders already waiting at a price, many of them thought to be stop losses and breakout orders. Buy-side liquidity rests above swing highs, sell-side liquidity below swing lows.
Opposing liquidity
The old highs or lows on the other side of the market, where the trade aims.

When you make it yours, I'll ask what the rules above leave open. Start with one of these:

  • Which window or windows do you trade, and how do you convert them to your time zone through daylight saving?
  • Which liquidity do you mark before the window, and on which timeframe?
  • What counts as the sweep or structure shift: a wick beyond the level, or a body close?
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From DT Academy

What testing exists

No independent test of the Silver Bullet was found. Intraday activity does follow repeatable patterns around the opens, which supports trading when markets are active, not any one hour.

Before you trust a backtest

  • Many professional traders risk under 1% of their account on one trade idea, and the common guideline is 1 to 2%.
  • The more versions of a rule you try on the same data, the more likely a good backtest is luck. Decide your rules before you test.
  • Include spread and commission, and practice on dates you have not looked at, before you trust a result.

Sources