Summary:

Here’s a brief, clear summary of the lecture (Sept. 17, 2025) on trading FOMC two-stage delivery and the NASDAQ session:

– Context: Rolled into the December NASDAQ futures contract; lecture uses both daily and 1-minute charts to connect higher- and lower-timeframe structure.
– Core trading philosophy: Focus on specific price points (opens/closes), volume balance, fair value gaps (FVGs), liquidity pools, inefficiencies, and market structure — avoid “trying to pick the top.” Intraday shorts are acceptable, longer swings usually follow the trend.
– Model 2022 (the speaker’s method): Run Fibonacci from relevant high to low, look for price to trade above 50% (premium), and use the classic 3/4 pullback “optimal trade entry” into FVG/inefficiencies for entries. (Instructor insists this is not “Goldbach” or “Enigma.”)
– Key levels and tools: grade HTF inefficiencies and quadrants onto LTF charts (upper/lower quadrant, consequent encroachment, premium/discount wicks, volume imbalances) — these are more precise than simple S/R.
– Definitions: premium wick = wick above a candle body; discount wick = wick below body. Distinguish FVGs from volume imbalances when annotating trades.
– Day’s structure / trade examples (NASDAQ): morning run then bearish shift in structure; identification of buy- and sell-side liquidity pools and unfinished business; speaker shorted in the morning, re-entered around the FOMC using the Model 2022 rules, and described being stopped out on one attempt.
– FOMC “two-stage delivery”: initial move at 2:00 (first stage), a pause/during the press conference, then a second distinct follow-through (second stage) — be surgical: get in/get out and avoid overtrading during consolidation.
– Practical tips: always transpose higher-timeframe levels onto lower-timeframe charts, maintain a multi-timeframe journal, print/annotate notes, and review the session replay (clip posted on X).
– Macro observations: Dollar index viewed as bearish until it forms constructive bullish arrays; Euro had a tight FOMC spike then rejection — FX was generally sloppy and less tradable intraday.

Main takeaway: trade with precise, multi-timeframe level grading (volume/FVG/liquidity concepts) and use the Model 2022 entry rules, especially on FOMC days where moves commonly occur in two distinct stages. Good discipline, quick execution, and journaling are emphasized.

Quiz

1) How does ICT describe the “optimal trade entry” in his Model 2022?
A. A 50% retracement on any swing
B. A 3/4 pullback in an impulsive price leg into a small inefficiency/fair value gap
C. Buying the daily low and holding for weeks
D. A simple moving average crossover

2) According to ICT, when does the “second stage” of FOMC delivery often begin intraday?
A. 9:30 AM
B. 2:00 PM
C. 2:30 PM
D. 4:00 PM

Answer Key with evidence

1) B — “the optimal trade entry, which is simply just a 3/4 pullback in a impulsive price leg like this, and then running up higher into this small little inefficiency right there.”

2) C — “Usually there’s a another wave of price action that begins at 2:30 and whatever the high or the low is, usually it’ll run for it.”