Master All 4 ICT Kill Zones – Ultimate Guide

Do you want to master ICT kill zones strategy like a pro to level up your trading?

We all know forex market operates 24 hours a day but not all hours offer the good volatility and trading opportunities. To fix the issue & to save traders time, Michael Huddleston also known as ICT, introduced the concept of ICT kill zones which refers to hot trading hours in the forex markets with most volatility & profitable trading opportunities.

In this article, we will teach you all about ICT kill zones strategy from definition to its identification and its use along with visual examples.

To understand and trade using ICT kill zones, you should first set your time zone to New York local time UTC-4 and in case of day light saving UTC-5 as we will be using New York local time to explain ICT kill zones

It is important to mention here that you should also have understanding of ICT Optimal Trade Entry – OTE Pattern before diving deep into ICT kill zones.

Lets start with defining ICT kill zones.

What are ICT Kill Zones?

ICT kill zones are basically time frames with high trading volume and volatility in the market resulting into good trading opportunities which traders utilize to gain some good profits from the market.

ICT kill zones are divided into four periods listed below.

(I) ICT Asian Kill Zone (08:00 PM – 10:00 PM)

(II) ICT London Kill Zone (02:00 AM – 05:00 PM)

(III) ICT New York Kill Zone (07:00 AM – 09:00 AM)

(IV) ICT London Close Kill Zone (10:00 AM – 12:00 PM)

All four ICT kill zones have their own characters & unique reasons for volatility. We will be explaining each of them with examples below.

ICT Asian Kill Zone?

ICT Asian kill zone is the first strategic period in the forex market with ideal pairs of Australian Dollar, New Zealand Dollar and Japanese Yen. Because these are most active pairs in this period of time so US Dollar mostly tends to consolidate during this session.

Characteristics of Asian Kill Zone

• Asian kill zone timing lies between 08:00 PM to 10:00 PM.

• Mostly the higher time frame bias is helpful during this period of time but short term retracement either bullish or bearish can offer similar optimal trade entry.

• The Asian open mostly setup an optimal trade entry pattern that can offer 15-20 pips scalp trade.

• Most trade setups during this period of time happen in cross pairs due to US Dollar consolidation in this timeframe.

A real market example is shown below:

In the picture above you can see AUD/JPY five minutes chart with a bullish daily bias, price traded back to optimal trade entry levels and a buy trade got executed at OTE of 0.786 level with profit target at previous high and it successfully delivered 25 pips.

ICT London Kill Zone

ICT London kill zone lies in opening of London session and witness the highest trading volume as compared to other sessions. Euro (EUR) & Britain Pound (GBP) are the hot pairs during this period of time. London session sees the highest probability of a large directional move in 24 hours.

Characteristics of London Kill Zone

• ICT london kill zone lies between 02:00 AM to 05:00 AM.

• Mostly the higher time frame bias is helpful during this period of time.

• The London open mostly setup an optimal trade entry pattern that can offer more than 30 pips directional trade.

• On a bullish day during london kill zone mostly price grabs Asian high and creates high of the day after that price goes down.

• On bearish day during london kill zone price mostly grabs Asian low and creates low of the day after that moves upside.

In the picture above you can see GBP/USD with bearish daily bias taking high of the Asian session and shifting market structure downside then trading back to optimal trade entry of 0.5 level giving a sell opportunity targeting previous session low and it delivered 40 pips successfully.

ICT New York Kill Zone

ICT New York kill zone is the opening time of New York session and during this period of time pairs coupled with US dollars are important to watch and trade.

Characteristics of New York Kill Zone

• ICT New York kill zone lies between 07:00 AM to 09:00 AM.

• Mostly the higher time frame bias is helpful during this period of time but short term retracement either bullish or bearish can offer similar optimal trade entry.

• The New York session mostly retraces back to London trading range and sets up optimal trade entry pattern that can offer 30-40 pips trade.

• The New York session is volatile with high trading volume because of the overlapping between London and New York session.

In the picture above you can see USD/CAD with bearish daily bias traded back to London range during New York kill zone and gave a selling opportunity at optimal trade entry of 0.786 level and delivered 40 pips.

ICT London close Kill Zone

ICT London close kill zone is mostly less volatile period of time when London session closes. Price mostly retraces back to its daily range offering a good optimal trade entry setup. Major pairs coupled with US dollar are preferably good to trade during this time.

Characteristics of London close Kill Zone

• ICT London close kill zone lies between 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM.

• London close kill zone can offer five minutes OTE setup with 15/20 pips scalp trade.

• On bullish day after making high of the day price retrace back to the daily range during London close kill zone.

• On bearish day after making low of the day price retrace back to the daily range during london close kill zone.

In the picture above you can see GBP/USD after making high of the retrace back to daily range shifting market structure downside during London close kill zone offering a sell trade at optimal trade entry of 0.618 level delivering 20 pips.