ICT Abbreviations List — Complete Glossary of ICT and SMC Concepts (A–Z)

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ICT Abbreviations List — the canonical glossary of every short-form term used in the ICT and Smart Money Concepts framework. Each abbreviation is paired with a one-line definition and a link to the full tutorial on this site.

This is the page to keep open in another tab while you read every other ICT tutorial. Each section also links out to the deep-dive guide for the concept.

You can jump to the section you are most interested in from below or continue reading the full article for a complete view.

ICT Abbreviations List (A–Z)

AMD — Accumulation, Manipulation and Distribution. Also known as the ICT Power of 3 daily template.

BB — ICT Breaker Block. The flipped order block that becomes opposite-direction support or resistance.

BE — Breakeven. Moving the stop loss to the entry price after a trade goes in your favor — if the stop is hit, no profit no loss.

BISI — Buy Side Imbalance Sell Side Inefficiency. The bullish ICT Fair Value Gap.

BOS — Break of Structure. Price breaks the previous swing high or low after taking inducement, confirming continuation.

BPR — Balanced Price Range. The overlap area between two opposite-direction fair value gaps in the same zone.

BSL — Buy Side Liquidity. Buy stops at or above old highs, plus stop losses of sellers placed at or above the old highs.

CBDR — Central Bank Dealers Range. The 14:00–20:00 NY-time consolidation range used to project intraday targets.

CE — Consequent Encroachment. The 50% retracement level (midpoint) of an FVG, order block or any PD array.

CHOCH — Change of Character. The break of the most recent higher low (bullish trend) or lower high (bearish trend), confirming long-term trend reversal.

CISD — Change in State of Delivery. The candle-level confirmation that price delivery has shifted direction.

CRT — Candle Range Theory. The four-stage candle delivery model — open, sweep, reverse, close.

D Bias / Daily Bias — ICT Daily Bias. The anticipated direction of price for the day.

ERL — External Range Liquidity. Liquidity residing outside a price range — the swing highs and lows.

FTR — Failed To Return. A smart-money zone where price failed to return after a structural break.

FVG — ICT Fair Value Gap. A three-candle formation with a gap between the 1st and 3rd candlestick where price has not retraced previously.

HRLR / LRLR — High-Resistance Liquidity Run / Low-Resistance Liquidity Run. The expected resistance level of a liquidity run before the algorithm reverses.

HTF — Higher Timeframe. 1-hour, 4-hour, 1-day, 1-week or 1-month.

IDM — Inducement. The retail trap level smart money sweeps before delivering the real direction.

iFVG — Inversion Fair Value Gap. A regular FVG that has been broken in the opposite direction and now acts as opposite-direction support or resistance.

Implied FVG — Implied Fair Value Gap. A structural FVG implied by the wicks of three candles even when bodies overlap.

IOFED — Institutional Order Flow Entry Drill. The very edge of an FVG used as the earliest possible entry.

IPDA — Inter-bank Price Delivery Algorithm. The algorithm that delivers price online on the charts.

IRL — Internal Range Liquidity. Liquidity residing inside a dealing range — the FVGs and order blocks.

ITH — Intermediate Term High. A high in between two short-term highs.

ITL — Intermediate Term Low. A low in between two short-term lows.

LP — ICT Liquidity Pool. A cluster of stop-loss and pending orders at a key level.

LTF — Lower Timeframe. 1-minute, 5-minute or 15-minute.

LTH — Long Term High. A high with lower intermediate-term highs on both sides.

LTL — Long Term Low. A low with higher intermediate-term lows on both sides.

MB — ICT Mitigation Block. The unmitigated swing point that price returns to before continuing.

MMBM — Market Maker Buy Model. The institutional 4-phase bullish delivery template.

MMSM — Market Maker Sell Model. The institutional 4-phase bearish delivery template.

MSS — Market Structure Shift. The break of a swing high or low signaling the initial change in delivery direction.

MT — Mean Threshold. The 50% retracement level of an ICT Order Block.

NDOG — New Day Opening Gap. The daily gap between 5:00 PM close and 6:00 PM open in New York time.

NWOG — New Week Opening Gap. The weekend gap between Friday close and Monday open.

OB — ICT Order Block. The last opposing candle before the displacement that produced a structural break.

OTE — Optimal Trade Entry. The 62%–79% Fibonacci retracement zone of the most recent impulsive leg.

PD Array — Premium / Discount Array. The collective name for FVG, order block, breaker, mitigation, OTE and any other PD-arrangement zones used as entries.

PDH — Previous Day High. The high (or wick) of yesterday’s daily candle.

PDL — Previous Day Low. The low (or wick) of yesterday’s daily candle.

PO3 — ICT Power of Three. The Accumulation–Manipulation–Distribution daily template.

QML — Quasimodo Pattern. A reversal chart pattern at higher-timeframe support or resistance.

RB — Rejection Block. See ICT Rejection Block.

RDRB / RRPR — Redelivered / Rebalanced Price Range. The PD-array reset where price returns to a prior FVG and rebalances it before continuing.

SCOB — Single Candle Order Block. The single-candle variant of the OB used for refined LTF entries.

SIBI — Sell Side Imbalance Buy Side Inefficiency. The bearish ICT Fair Value Gap.

SMT — Smart Money Technique Divergence. The disagreement between two correlated pairs at a key liquidity level.

SSL — Sell Side Liquidity. Sell stops at or below old lows, plus stop losses of buyers placed at or below old lows.

STH — Short Term High. A swing high — local extreme between two lower highs on either side.

STL — Short Term Low. A swing low — local extreme between two higher lows on either side.

TGIF — Thank God It Is Friday. The Friday-only weekly-range retracement model.

Top 5 ICT Concepts You Must Know

If you are starting out, master these five abbreviations before any others — they appear in almost every ICT setup.

(I) FVG — ICT Fair Value Gap. The three-candle imbalance that acts as the universal PD array.

(II) MSS — ICT Market Structure Shift. The lower-timeframe break that triggers the entry.

(III) PO3 — ICT Power of 3. The daily Accumulation–Manipulation–Distribution template.

(IV) OB — ICT Order Block. The institutional candle that price returns to before continuing.

(V) OTE — Optimal Trade Entry. The 62%–79% Fibonacci retracement entry zone.

Abbreviations Grouped by Category

Liquidity: BSL, SSL, IRL, ERL, LP, IDM.

Imbalance / Gaps: FVG, BISI, SIBI, iFVG, Implied FVG, BPR, NWOG, NDOG, RDRB / RRPR.

Structure: BOS, MSS, CHOCH, QML, STH / ITH / LTH, STL / ITL / LTL.

PD Arrays: OB, SCOB, BB, MB, RB, OTE, CE, MT, FTR.

Time / Templates: AMD, PO3, CRT, CBDR, CISD, TGIF.

Algorithm / Tools: IPDA, IOFED, MMBM, MMSM, SMT.

Practical: BE, HTF, LTF, PDH, PDL, D Bias.

Does ICT Concepts Work?

Yes — ICT concepts work in real time. If you learn and practice properly, you can achieve good results using ICT concepts on every major asset class.

FAQs about ICT Abbreviations

Brief answers to the questions readers ask most often about ICT abbreviations.

What does ICT stand for in trading?

ICT stands for Inner Circle Trader — the trading framework introduced by Michael J. Huddleston, built on the Interbank Price Delivery Algorithm and Smart Money Concepts.

What is the difference between ICT and SMC?

ICT and SMC overlap heavily — both are built on liquidity, imbalance and structure. SMC is essentially a derivative of ICT that some traders teach separately, but the mechanics are the same.

What is the most important ICT abbreviation to learn first?

FVG — the Fair Value Gap. Almost every ICT setup uses an FVG somewhere — as the entry, the target, or the bias confirmation.

What does FVG stand for?

FVG stands for Fair Value Gap — a three-candle formation with an unfilled gap between the 1st and 3rd candle wicks.

What does BOS mean in trading?

BOS stands for Break of Structure — price breaking the previous swing high or low after taking inducement, confirming the continuation of the trend.

What does MSS stand for?

MSS stands for Market Structure Shift — the break of a swing high or low signaling the initial change in price delivery direction.

What does CHOCH mean?

CHOCH stands for Change of Character — the break of the most recent structural higher low (bullish trend) or lower high (bearish trend), confirming long-term trend reversal.

What does PO3 stand for?

PO3 stands for Power of 3 — the daily Accumulation, Manipulation, Distribution template that describes how price is delivered each session.

What does OTE stand for?

OTE stands for Optimal Trade Entry — the 62%–79% Fibonacci retracement zone of the most recent impulsive leg, used as a refined entry zone.

What does IPDA stand for?

IPDA stands for Inter-bank Price Delivery Algorithm — the algorithm ICT teaches as the underlying engine that delivers price on the charts.

What does IDM mean?

IDM stands for Inducement — the retail-trap level smart money sweeps before delivering the real directional move.

What does NWOG stand for?

NWOG stands for New Week Opening Gap — the gap between Friday close and Monday open at the start of each week.

What does NDOG stand for?

NDOG stands for New Day Opening Gap — the daily gap between the 5:00 PM close and 6:00 PM open in New York time.

What does CISD mean?

CISD stands for Change in State of Delivery — the candle-level confirmation that price delivery has shifted direction.

Where can I find the full tutorial for each abbreviation?

Every abbreviation in the list above is linked to its dedicated tutorial. Click the abbreviation’s link for the deep-dive guide — definition, types, identification, trade flow, common mistakes and FAQ.