# How to Build a Trading Entry Model · DT Academy > What an entry model is, one common model built step by step from bias, sweep, shift and gap, the trade math, and when not to take it. [Back to The DT Intensive](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy/courses/dt-intensive) Day 16The entry model Chapters done # The entry model Day 16 of 26 · 9 min read · By DT Terminal An entry model is a fixed, written list of conditions that must all be true before you enter, so every trade is the same trade and the results can be measured. This lesson builds one common model step by step from bias, a liquidity sweep, a structure shift and a return to the gap, then shows when not to take 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%2Fthe-entry-model) Chapter 1 of 7 ## What an entry model is An **entry model** is a written sequence of conditions that must all be true, in order, before you enter. If one is missing, there is **no trade**. It makes every trade **the same trade**, so your results describe one idea you can measure. | | A setup idea | An entry model | | --- | --- | --- | | Example | "Buy when it looks like it is bouncing" | Six written conditions, checked in order | | Two traders, one chart | Often disagree | Agree on whether it is a trade | | After 50 trades | A mix of different ideas | A sample of **one idea** you can measure | | When it loses | Hard to say what went wrong | Either the model lost or you broke it, and you can tell which | **If you cannot write it down, you cannot test it.** Someone else should be able to read it and mark the same entries on the same chart. **Go deeper** Not most of the conditions. **All of them, in order.** If one is missing, there is no trade, however good the chart looks. The point is not that a checklist finds better trades. When each entry is a slightly different idea, fifty trades are fifty small experiments, and the sample from [Day 9, The math behind trading](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy/the-math-behind-trading) tells you nothing about any of them. Anything that needs your feel on the day is not part of the model yet. Chapter 2 of 7 ## One common model, step by step One common model, built from Week 2. It shows what a model looks like; it is not a recommendation. Entry model six conditions, in order [Replay in the app](https://www.thedtterminal.com/login?signup=true&redirect=%2Fjournal%2Facademy%2Fthe-entry-model%3Fsection%3Done-model%23one-model) One common model, drawn to learn the idea. **Every box must be true, in this order**, before the entry exists. 1. **Higher timeframe bias.** H4 is bullish: longs only. 2. **A liquidity sweep.** An M15 wick runs below a low and closes back above. 3. **A market structure shift.** An M15 body then closes above the last lower high. 4. **A return to the gap.** Price returns into the gap the shift left. Enter at its edge. 5. **A stop beyond the sweep.** A few pips under the sweep low. 6. **A target at the next liquidity.** At least 2R away. **Order is a rule**: a shift before the sweep is not this model. **The six conditions in full** Plenty of traders use versions of this model, plenty use something else entirely, and none of it works on every trade. This is the long version; a short flips every step. 1. The higher timeframe is bullish: H4 is making higher highs and higher lows, or price sits in an H4 demand zone. The full method is in [Day 14, Multi-timeframe analysis](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy/multi-timeframe-analysis). 2. On M15, a wick runs below a clear low or a pair of equal lows and the candle closes back above it. The sell stops under those lows are filled, which is fuel for a move up. See [Day 13, Liquidity](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy/liquidity). 3. After the sweep, an M15 body closes above the last lower high. That is the market structure shift. The lower timeframe has turned with the higher one. See [Day 10, Market structure](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy/market-structure). 4. The move that made the shift left a fair value gap or a demand zone, and price comes back into it. The entry sits at its edge. Gaps are in [Day 12, Identifying fair value gaps](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy/fair-value-gaps), and zones in [Day 11](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy/supply-and-demand). 5. The stop goes a few pips beyond the sweep low, and that distance can be sized at your normal risk. If price trades back under the sweep low, the idea was wrong. Sizing is in [Day 4, How to choose your risk](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy/how-to-choose-your-risk). 6. The target is the next liquidity: the old high, where buy stops rest. It has to be at least 2R away. A gap that is not left by the shift is not this model either, even if all the pieces are on the chart somewhere. Chapter 3 of 7 ## The whole sequence on one chart The same sequence on `EURUSD` M15. DT Terminal Charts EURUSD · M15 Long The whole sequence on one chart: a sweep of the equal lows, a shift above the last lower high, a return into the gap, then the run to the old high. 1. Two lows at 1.08700 and 1.08705: **equal lows**, sell stops underneath. 2. A wick to 1.08660 closes at 1.08720, back above the lows. The sweep. 3. A body closes at 1.08850, above the last lower high at 1.08780. The shift, leaving a gap from 1.08760 to 1.08800. 4. Price returns into the gap. A buy limit at its top edge, 1.08800, fills. 5. The stop at 1.08640, below the sweep low, is never touched. Price reaches the old high at 1.09200. A chart picked to show the sequence cleanly. Plenty of real ones stop out. **Go deeper** Price falls from the old high at 1.09200 before the equal lows form. The shift comes two candles after the sweep, and it is the candle that made it that leaves the gap. Price runs on, then comes back and trades down to 1.08790, into the gap, before the buy limit fills. Plenty of real charts sweep, shift, fill and then stop out, which is why the model is **judged over a sample** and never on one picture. Chapter 4 of 7 ## Putting numbers on it A model also **fixes the numbers**: the stop from the sweep, the target from the liquidity, the size from your risk. Worked example ### Example 01: The chart above, as a trade 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%2Fthe-entry-model%3Fsection%3Dthe-numbers%23the-numbers) Free account **Go deeper** **Nothing is left to decide** once the conditions are met. With the size fixed, every condition holds. Spread and commission are left out of the example to keep it readable. Chapter 5 of 7 ## Check a setup against the model Pick a sample setup. Tick a condition **only when the chart's fact meets the model**. Interactive tool ### Entry checklist This interactive tool runs in the app, with your own numbers. [Continue in the app, free](https://www.thedtterminal.com/login?signup=true&redirect=%2Fjournal%2Facademy%2Fthe-entry-model%3Fsection%3Dcheck-a-setup%23check-a-setup) Free account Setup 2 is **the common trap**: five things look right and the one that matters most has not happened. Replay it and take only full checklists Link the model's strategy to a backtest session. Proceed only unlocks once every box is ticked. **Go deeper** The checklist says whether the setup is valid, not valid yet, or whether a tick needs another look. Setup 3 looks clean on M15 and fails twice, once on the higher timeframe and once on the target. Write the model as a strategy (in the last chapter), then link it when you create a backtest session. The backtester shows its entry criteria as a checklist before every entry. Replay a few months of one pair and **take only the trades that tick all six**. Chapter 6 of 7 ## When not to take it **Most of what a model does is say no.** DT Terminal Charts GBPUSD · M15 Not valid A sweep with no shift. The bounce stalls under the last lower high and price makes a new low. The model never had a trade here. | What you see | What the model says | | --- | --- | | A sweep, then a bounce that never closes above the last lower high | No trade No shift, no gap to return to | | A clean M15 sweep and shift against the H4 trend | No trade Step 1 fails | | A shift with no sweep before it | No trade A break, not this sequence | | Price runs away without coming back to the gap | Missed No chasing at a worse price | | The stop beyond the sweep is too wide for your size | No trade Never shrink the stop to fit | | The next liquidity is closer than 2R | No trade Never stretch the target to fit | | A high-impact release is due before the trade can play out | Your rule Decide it in writing first | The news row is not one of the six conditions, but many traders add one. Whatever you choose **goes in the written model**. **A missed trade costs nothing. A forced one costs the sample.** Take a trade the model did not allow, and your **results stop describing the model**. **News, and a clean pattern the model skips** Knowing the common ways a chart almost fits is what keeps the sample clean. Spreads widen and stops slip around big releases, as [Day 6, Key news events](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy/key-news-events) showed, so a common rule is **no new entries in a set window** before them. When the model says no and price goes your way anyway, nothing was lost. A trade the model did not allow is far harder to undo. Worked example ### Example 02: A clean pattern the model skips 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%2Fthe-entry-model%3Fsection%3Dwhen-not%23when-not) Free account Chapter 7 of 7 ## Write it down, then test it **A model in your head drifts**: the sweep gets smaller, the shift optional, the target wherever the R looks good. - **One checkable sentence per condition.** Not "H4 is bullish" but "H4 has made a higher high and a higher low, and its last break was up". - **Test it first.** Replay it until you have **50 or more trades** that tick every box. - **Check live trades against it.** Trades synced from your broker cannot be edited after the fact. Write the model as a strategy In Strategies, put the six conditions under Before the trade. Link each trade to it, then filter Analytics to it alone. **Go deeper** **Writing it down is what stops the drift**, which takes a few weeks to creep in. Test in the backtester before it costs money; the backtesting lesson goes through how. Synced trades show whether you traded the model and not something like it. In the strategy, put the stop and target rules under In the trade, and leave the management rules for the next part of the week. Filtering Analytics to this strategy alone reads the model's own win rate and expectancy instead of a blend of everything you trade. Quick review ## Check yourself Quick review · 0 of 0 Three questions on the entry model. If one trips you up, reread that section. [All lessons in The DT Intensive](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy/courses/dt-intensive) [Previous](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy/why-volume-matters) ## Why volume matters Day 15 · 9 min read [Next in Learn to trade](https://www.thedtterminal.com/academy/the-golden-zone) ## The golden zone Day 17 · 9 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. 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