Summary of ICT live session (key points)

– Session purpose: live, interactive tape-reading / market-structure study ahead of a high‑impact CPI release — not a signal service or an invitation to trade live money. ICT repeatedly urged listeners to paper‑trade, record, and journal the experience.

– Platform/setup: used TradingView split screen — left: US500 (currency.com CFD) hourly; right: ES futures (summer contract) hourly — asking students to match charts and mark key times/candles himself by candle time rather than relying on his chart screenshots.

– Big caution: do not trade live into CPI (or other FOMC/high‑impact) events. These events move extremely fast, produce heavy slippage, rejected demo fills, and are effectively manipulated — you can be “crushed” if you enter pre‑news. Wait for the market to reveal what it wants to do (recommended safe entry time ~9:45 ET after equities open).

– Approach for the day: study liquidity and price structure.
– Identify relative highs/lows, fair value gaps (FVGs), order blocks and true “liquidity voids” (areas where price jumped with no trading in between).
– Map those zones on multiple timeframes (hourly → 15/5/1/1s) and watch how price interacts with them post‑news.

– Real‑time outcome and teaching points:
– He anticipated a move into a nearby FVG and then a drop into sell‑side liquidity, but the CPI caused a rapid rip higher. This illustrated his warning: predictions are fine for study, but trading live is high risk.
– The market ran into a daily volume‑imbalance zone (~3902–3905 area), then retraced and created short‑term FVGs / order‑block reactions on the 1‑minute and 5‑minute charts. He used these reactions to demonstrate how liquidity and algos reprice markets.

– Practical trading rules emphasized:
– Paper‑trade these scenarios to experience order rejection, slippage and emotional response before risking real capital.
– Don’t chase or buy into one‑sided premium after an explosive move; wait for rebalancing into discount/lower liquidity zones that fit your model.
– Use clear, specific levels (low/mid/high of FVGs and order blocks, midpoint = mean threshold) rather than vague “supply/demand zones.”
– Most time is spent waiting — learning to accept missed moves is crucial; impulsive trading destroys accounts.

– Tools & workflow tips: record sessions (Camtasia recommended), use naked charts with the levels you mapped, work across timeframes but base decisions on the higher‑timeframe context and the live one‑minute / five‑minute reactions.

– Pedagogy / philosophy: he stresses independence — build your own model, don’t be codependent on mentors or signal sellers. Mastery comes from repeating these live observations over time. He also defends his proprietary language/approach and criticizes simplistic social‑media “equity curve” presentations.

– Logistics / follow up: he will share charts later, plans more interactive morning sessions in 2023, and reiterated that these live walkthroughs are for learning market behavior, not for immediate live trading instructions.

Overall takeaway: treat high‑impact news days as study opportunities to map liquidity (FVGs, order blocks, liquidity voids), paper‑trade to feel execution realities, wait for the market to show its hand post‑release, and cultivate an independent, patient trading model to avoid catastrophic losses.