## Overview

- Trading Model

ULTIMATE THREAD To Learn My Trading Model

Bias (Draw on Liquidity)
Narrative
Liquidity
Market Structure
Entry Model
Risk/Reward
Preparation, Execution, Management
Time & Economic Calendar

In simple terms my trading model starts with #TheStrat for HTF quarterly/monthly directional bias.
Once I know this I move down to the weekly/daily timeframes and use #mondayrange, #MMXM, #PO3/#AMD to get my bias for the week and day.


When you understand the narrative and see that there's a clear draw on liquidity for your A+ setup,
then it becomes very easy to execute the trade on M1-M5/M15 once there's a significant raid and shift in market structure.


People refer to the 'unicorn' when there's a confluence in entry models (ex: fvg within brk), but the real alpha is when there's a confluence in narrative (ex: PO3 forming within MMXM & Monday Range). Maybe I'll come up with a name for this.


My model starts with #TheStrat for HTF quarterly/Monthly directional bias using the OHLC/OLHC. If you don't know what The Strat is here is a cheat sheet to read candlesticks.

Rest In Peace to
@RobInTheBlack
, the creator of #TheStrat


When one of these Strat reversal forms, ICT calls it the three bar pattern meaning a swing high or low has formed. Same concepts just different language.


Im going to use $GU for my example.

Quarterly TF

Going into last week GU had already fully filled the quarterly fvg and we saw that the quarterly chart started to form a shooter which means there was a price rejection once the imbalance was filled.
Monthly TF

Since GU fully filled the quarterly FVG in July and closed the month with a shooter, my bias is that in August price takes out PML to trigger the 2-2 month bearish reversal. So now after looking at Q/M charts my HTF analysis was bearish for the entire month of August.
And then if you look at $DXY for HTF confluence you can see that it was in alignment with GU. My bias on DXY 7/23 was that we would see distribution/expansion to upside to the monthly FVG after we saw a deviation of April Low for manipulation. After I understand the bias on the monthly and quarterly timeframes I move down to the weekly, daily, and H4 timeframe to continue my top down analysis. These timeframes are still considered HTF.




Looking at the H4 TF compared to the daily & weekly it was showing a clear MMSM forming. So the H4 TF MMSM narrative was in alignment with my quarterly & monthly bearish bias. From my squiggly lines you can see that I was looking for a retracement to the daily fvg then a dump.
Fast forward to present time this is how it played out
SMR + SMT Divergence after D/Q fvg ff
H4 mss + daily fvg distribution
H4 bos + daily fvg redistribution
DOL = Original Consolidation/SS

Now that I understand that the HTF bias is bearish I use Monday's range & the economic calendar to look for what the weekly profile could potentially be. Look for the largest liquidity pool is. If it's SSL then look for price to induce higher before taking out SSL & vice versa.

Typically Monday is an accumulation day for the week. Depending on what day high impact news is, im looking for H.O.W or L.O.W to form sometime in the middle of the week which is manipulation. After manipulation we can expect expansion towards our HTF draw on liquidity.


In terms of OHLC/OLHC of weekly candle, I treat Monday's Range as the weekly open, When high or low of week gets created and goes back within Monday's range (deviation), this is the wick that forms. Once wick forms now look for expansion to create the body of the weekly candle. In simple terms for weekly profile this is what i'm looking for:
Monday's Range = Accumulation
Deviation of Monday's high or low middle of the week = Manipulation
Price leg back back through Monday's range = Distribution/Expansion
Now lets put it all together & look how to analysis price action going into the new week after we let Monday's range get created.

- Q/M TF directional bias is bearish
- H4 TF narrative is MMSM
- Largest liquidity pool is SSL due to EQL, LRLR, & Original Consolidation from MMSM
Now that Monday's range (accumulation) is created we look for price to induce higher or lower taking out liquidity by either deviating above Monday's high or below Monday's low. You will see that price takes out PWH and goes back within Monday's range and has MSS to downside.
After price takes out liquidity, has a MSS to downside, and goes back within Monday's high that is confirmed a deviation of Monday's range aka manipulation. Now we look distribution to target SSL objectives. Fast forward you can see every single SSL objective was met and that the H4 MMSM was completed. This is an example of using confluence in HTF narratives.

In this example you have H4 MMSM + PO3/AMD + Monday's range all in alignment, making it an A+ setup with a clear DOL.

HTF narrative & DOL is very clear so now here is how you can execute 2r trades on LTF & HTF throughout the week

Setup #1: Tuesday LOKZ high of week
- PWH + fu raid
- M5 mss + fvg retracement
- 2r to Asia Low Setup #2 Wednesday LOKZ & NYKZ
- H2 fvg ff HTF entry
- Stop Loss at high of week for invalidation
- TP = PWL for 3r

Setup #3 Thursday LOKZ
- SMT Divergence w/ EU
- M5/M15 mss
- M5 fvg retracement entry
- Monday low rejection
- 2r to H1 fvg Setup #4 Friday TGIF & PO3/AMD on $EU
- [D] +ob & fu raid
- M5 inversion = mss (entry)
- 2r to BSL

Lastly notice how every single setup or entry forms within either LOKZ & NYKZ. Super important to be taking your trades at these specific times.
The market doesn't always give an A+ setup everyday like this but when there's a clear DOL it will provide plenty of setups and that's when you have to execute. When there's no clear DOL you must learn how to sit on your hands because all it takes is 1-2 setups per week to make $




https://en.rattibha.com/thread/1696125729539272814

Thread on How to Approach Trading Starting From Zero

Trading is the most difficult business to be successful in but once you develop the skills & discipline to become a profitable trader it is the most rewarding industry to be in. In this thread I will go over the exact steps I would take if I were to start trading again from zero.

You can use this thread as a game plan for your trading journey to boost your learning curve and avoid the mistakes that I made along my journey. This game plan is what I wished someone gave to me when I first started trading.
The game plan is divided up into 4 stages and it's important to complete each step in each stage before moving onto the next. 1. Income | Cash Flow | Savings

Before you start trading it's so key to have a steady source of income/cash flow or have money saved up. Hundreds or thousands saved up wont cut it. Depending on your expenses you need tens of thousands if you don't have another source of income.
Being in a good spot financially before you start trading will significantly improve your trading psychology. If your mentality when you enter a trade is to hit TP so you make enough money to pay your bill you will end up blowing up your account every time.
When you are money driven the money runs away from you. When you are process driven, the money will follow and attract towards you. This change in mindset was what helped me grow significantly.

2. Purpose

The purpose of trading for everyone should be the freedom that is rewarded to you once you become successful at it. If you're trading the right way you should only be on charts a few hours a day max. Being in front of charts all day will only wear down mental capital.
Have a purpose for trading, outside of trading, and have a plan for what you're going to with the money when you make it. Make sure that money is helping you grow in life or that it benefits your family or the people around you. It's important to know your why.

3. Submit To Time

Everyone when they first start trading rushes the process. It's normal to do that and get FOMO especially since 99% of social media posts their wins only and don't show any losses. Ignore all of it and focus on yourself by submitting to time to learn the skill.
Im just 23 years old and have been trading for 3+ years. Year 1 I got lucky because it was a Euphoric market. Year 2 I learned The Strat and then year 3 I finally submitted to time to dedicate an entire year to learn ICT during my self isolation trip.




People spend 4+ years to get a degree and doctors and lawyers spend a lot more than that before they even start their career yet the average trader thinks they can become successful overnight. Everyone will learns at a different rate but understand it will take time & experience.
In order to develop your edge you need to learn a trading strategy to develop your own trading model. My trading model is a mix between ICT, The Strat, Range & Deviations. ICT has hundreds of different trading models but all you need is one to be profitable.
Here is my trading model A-Z



5. Backtest

Once you have your own trading model you then need to backtest it and collect data to make sure that you know it works. The data is how you gain confidence to trust your system and not abandon it every time you get into drawdown or a losing streak.
6. Demo Trade

Now that you have a trading model that's proven to work through your backtests you now have an edge. It's now time to put it to the test by trading a demo account in the live market. Prove to yourself that you can be consistently profitable for 6+ months.
7. Challenge Accounts

The negative thing about demo trading is that there is no psychology involved since there is no real money at stake. Once you're consistently profitable for 6+ months it's now time to put skin in the game & risk real money by purchasing a challenge account.
With challenge account it's important to take your time with them and take A+ setups only using proper risk management. Here are tips to help you pass challenge accounts.




8. Funded Accounts

The real test starts once you have your funded account. In order to receive a payout everything has to come together from risk management, discipline, strategy, edge, all the way to psychology, preparation and execution.
Once you get funded it's all about scaling up your capital. 5-10k accounts might be a place to start but it won't make you life changing money. Treat trading as a % game (RR). If you can pass a 5k you can do the same on a 200k account if you have the capital to pay for the fee.
If you know your model can consistently produce 5% per month then your goal should be to scale up to at least 200k+ in order to have 5 figure months (100k+ per year). This will allow you to live comfortably anywhere in the world. Scale up to 1M and well... you get the point..


9. Personal Account

After being consistently profitable in the demo phase instead of the prop firm route you can also go through the personal account route. I also think it's good to have this as a backup plan and worst case if prop firms get regulated or go out of business.
If I were to start over and do it all again from zero these are the exact steps I would take. Have a game plan because there will always be struggle along your trading journey, the game plan will keep you focused and will keep you accountable to stay on track.


https://en.rattibha.com/thread/1685968961224028160

## Terminology

- Trading Acronyms

## Time

- Killzones & Macros

ICT Killzones & Macros for Indices & Fx:

Taking setups during killzones & macro time slots will increase your trade probability of hitting your TP if your Draw On Liquidity and Stop Placement is correct because price action and delivery will be cleaner within these times.

## Liquidity

- What is Liquidity and what are the Different Types of Liquidity


Thread on Liquidity and Types of Liquidity
Keep it simple. Price moves towards liquidity or imbalances in the market based on time. Trading nowadays almost all of it is fully automated with an algorithm and for algorithms to work it has to run on time first because you have to tell it exactly when to buy and sell.

Liquidity is where people have their buy and sell stops. When you look at a chart the first thing you should ask yourself is "Where is the largest pool of liquidity?"
Large pools of liquidity tend to have EQH/L. You also have trendline liquidity which can make it a Low Resistance Liquidity Run (LRLR) environment. For #TheStrat traders this is your Pivot Machine Gun (PMG) setup and the top & bottom of the broadening formation is BSL or SSL.
Because smart money institutional funds will always draw towards the largest pool of liquidity. That is why 90% of traders fail, because you have to think like them that you are either taking out liquidity aka, you hitting TPs or you are the liquidity aka your stop is getting hit
Because we are not part of the algorithm no single traders knows 100% where price is going to go all the time but that's okay because all you need is 50% Win Rate with 2r system to do very well in this business.
But as traders we are natural born competitors so the goal is always to get better each day to improve WR and RR over time.

There are different types of liquidity.

Buy stops = Buyside Liquidity (BSL)
Sell stops = Sellside Liquidity (SSL)

This is based on where price is currently at so BSL is above current price and SSL is below.

cont..
Liquidity on charts are the highs and lows that you see form. BSL are the highs and SSL are the lows. With these highs and lows that form it creates External and Internal Liquidity and this will depend on the timeframe that you're looking at.
There are 3 different types/levels of liquidity.

1. Major
2. Medium
3. Minor
Major Liquidity is buy & sell stops that form at the highs and lows of each session, day, week, and monthly timeframe charts. Use the weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly charts to build a HTF bias and look at daily for where you think the largest pool of liquidity is.
Medium Liquidity is buy & sell stops that form at the highs and lows on the M15, H1 charts. These two timeframes are also the best in my opinion to look at when it comes to market structure for day traders. I dont use M30, H2, H4 charts as much as M15, H1.
Minor Liquidity is buy & sell stops that form at the highs and lows on M1-M5 charts. The M1-M5 LTF often has 'fu' stop hunts after medium or major liquidity is swept, raided or whatever you wanna call it. Once liquidity is taken you're then looking for the market structure shift.
Thread on Market Structure and Market Structure Shift will come soon so follow and turn on notifications!


Entries for me don't happen without a raid on BSL or SSL liquidity or raid on a Fair Value Gap or Orderblock which I will discuss those two in a different thread as well. After the raid there has to be a market structure shift before I look at the different entry models.
And BEFORE you even enter the trade you need to have already established where you think the next largest pool of liquidity is, and if price will draw there today or not.
So if I know where the next Draw on Liquidity is, my Take Profits are placed at either External/Internal Liquidity or at Fair Value Gaps along the way of the DOL is and I make sure I place my stop correctly. I will also do thread on SL placement.
Before SL and TP is placed I check to see if the RR is 2r or higher. If it is then my limit order is placed. If the setup is less than 2r I check one more time to see if I can adjust entry to make it a 2r setup. It's better to have a tighter entry rather than a tighter stop.
Make any adjustments if needed and if it's still not 2r then I dont take the setup. There will be times where I know where the draw on liquidity is but it doesn't give me a 2r setup so I wont even bother looking at it because it doesn't fit my system.
So for this example EQH @ Old Daily Highs was a D TF fu raid on BSL for major liquidity raid. That M15/M5 fu raid is a medium/minor liquidity raid. Then you get MSS and M5 IOFED to sweep internal SSL at London low. PDL was External DOL. Price went quickly to it because LRLR + EQL

https://en.rattibha.com/thread/1640060127016284161

External vs Internal Liquidity, Dealing Ranges, & Draw on Liquidity

Thread on External vs. Internal Liquidity, Dealing Ranges, and how to find the Draw on Liquidity External & Internal Range Liquidity will depend on what type of trader you are because each type of trader's dealing range will be different based on the timeframe that you are looking at.

For me as a day trader, my external range liquidity is usually the previous day's high & low, Intraday high & low, or the session high and low from Asia, London, or New York. The timeframe that im looking at is M5/M15/H1 to find external & internal liquidity.

Here is an example of PDH & PDL being used as external liquidity which would be the dealing range. Once external liquidity is taken out, you now have a new dealing range. All of the highs & lows in-between external liquidity is internal liquidity. For swing/position traders they will be using HTF charts such as the D/W/M charts to find their external & internal liquidity. This is the current HTF dealing range that we're in for $ES.
Now that you understand external & internal liquidity & dealing ranges we will now discuss how to find the Draw on Liquidity (DOL).
The DOL is the most important part of a setup. Not raid on liquidity, not market structure or MSS, not entry models, it is the DOL that is the most important. None of it matters without the DOL because a setup is not a setup if you dont know where price is going to go.


When you know the DOL, then raid on liquidity, market structure & MSS become valid, and then it will give you multiple entries along the way with the Market Maker Buy/Sell Models. (Thread on MMXM coming in the future).
As a day trader, my DOL is typically PWH/L, PDH/L, or session H/L from Asia, London, or New York paired with EQH/L with a Low Resistance Liquidity Run (LRLR) condition. EQH/L are large pools of liquidity so institutions will always draw towards those levels to take out retail.
You will notice that the DOL is the same levels for external range liquidity and that is because price moves from one end of the external range to the other. If price takes out external liquidity and keeps moving in that direction it's moving towards external liquidity on HTF.
For indices we dont get inside bars often on the daily chart. An inside bar is when the high and low of the candle stays within the previous candle.

All of the yellow candles are inside bars so because we know that inside days dont happen often on $ES we can expect the previous day's high or low to get taken out for our Draw on Liquidity as day traders. Now all we have to do is use market structure & the intraday templates to determine if it's going to be PDH getting taken out or PDL getting taken out next.
Intraday Templates Thread




Market Structure Thread


$NQ The day of the most previous FOMC (March 22, 2023) the DOL was these EQH at old daily highs. These EQH are internal BSL on HTF charts for swing/position traders.
$NQ While those EQH is Internal BSL for swing/position traders, for day traders the PDH/L is our external range liquidity. Price took out PDH first but there was no MSS yet to downside until those EQH got swept since that was the main HTF DOL.
Once price took out external buyside liquidity for day traders, we now look for where the next DOL could be. You can see we have EQL & LRLR condition to PDL so now we wait for MSS to target PDL. Entry short would have been the M5 FVG IOFED and this was a clean 2r setup to PDL DOL

Once price took out external buyside liquidity for day traders, we now look for where the next DOL could be. You can see we have EQL & LRLR condition to PDL so now we wait for MSS to target PDL. Entry short would have been the M5 FVG IOFED and this was a clean 2r setup to PDL DOL

https://en.rattibha.com/thread/1642143049219289088

Raids on Liquidity

Thread on the Infamous 'fu' Raid

HTF vs LTF raids on Liquidity
Before we start I wanna give creds to @GirthyRibz for this thread cause I got the term 'fu' from studying his charts.

The 'fu' on the charts stands for 'f**k you* and it shows the raid on liquidity that happened right before the mss.

It is a stop hunt, turtle soup, sweep, raid, whatever you wanna call it.

I like the term 'fu' because it exaggerates how important understanding liquidity is.
Trading is a zero sum game. There's winners & there's losers and that's the harsh reality of it. You are either taking out liquidity (hunting) or you are the liquidity (getting hunted) and that has to be your mindset. You're either the predator or the prey.



Treat trading as a business but also have the mindset as if you're the king of the jungle. 80% is waiting for the perfect moment to attack, 10% is preparation, and the last 10% is execution. Your prey is where other retail traders have their buy/sell stops.




To help you understand raids on liquidity, here's a thread to help you understand the difference between major, medium, and minor liquidity.




There are HTF 'fu' raids & LTF 'fu' raids.

Now this next part is very important so read closely and read it twice:

A lot of times when price raids HTF liquidity or POI it will not mss right away. It pulls back and a lot of retail traders will go short thinking the pullback is a mss but it's really inducement as price will typically make another leg for a LTF 'fu' raid after a HTF 'fu' raid.
Lets break down this $NQ chart for an example:
Here is the daily chart and going into the day we know that the HTF DOL is PMH after HTF fu raid, daily mss up & daily fvg IOFED. If price takes out PMH we could possibly expect a short term reversal if there's a mss w/ clear DOL. Next, price takes out PMH as you see here. This is a HTF fu raid. Once PMH gets taking out retail will look to short this 'resistance' level.
Majority of retail will try to go short after seeing this happen on the M5 candle. They'll think it's a mss with enough displacement but as I said earlier, after a HTF fu, a LTF fu will likely follow before the real mss. Right now there's a HTF fu raid but not a LTF fu raid yet.
As you see in this chart price did not displace below the red line for mss so it set up for another leg higher to take out BSL for a M5 LTF fu raid after PMH HTF fu raid. After the LTF fu raid, price displaces lower and closed below the previous higher low for a mss. After the mss you look to see what the narrative is to see if there's a clear DOL. Here is a thread on narrative for DOL.




In this case we have a potential PO3/AMD as narrative to target the EQL for DOL with LRLR conditions. Now at this point we have a HTF & LTF fu raid on liquidity, mss with displacement, narrative, draw on liquidity, we can now look to use one of the different entry models.



Everything has checked off on our A+ setup checklist so now we can place a sell limit order by first putting stop loss at HOD, then take profit at EQL, and lastly entry inside M5 FVG where it would give us a 2r setup.
And that ladies & gentlemen is what an A+ setup & clean price delivery looks like.
So to recap:
1. Know the difference between HTF & LTF fu raids.
2. Once there's a HTF fu raid on liquidity or POI (PD Array), anticipate a LTF fu raid before the mss to avoid inducement.
If you've ever been stopped out then price immediately goes to your TP it's most likely because you entered after the HTF raid and did not wait for the LTF raid to follow after the HTF raid.

You can avoid a lot of losses by waiting for both the HTF + LTF fu raids before mss.

https://en.rattibha.com/thread/1660030210920644608

Narrative / Bias


Using Different Narratives to find the Draw on Liquidity

Market Structure & Entry Models are worthless when there isn't a clear Draw on Liquidity & Narrative.

Draw on Liquidity & Narrative is the most important aspect in finding A+ trade setups.

This thread will help you with Narrative to find the Draw on Liquidity.

What is Narrative?

Narrative is the story being told based on time & price from the candlesticks on the chart.

When there's enough data (time & price) from the charts it will tell you a story. When the story is clear it's your job to trade the narrative based on probabilities



Here are the different narratives that I use to help me find the next draw on liquidity:

1. Daily Profiles
2. Weekly Profiles
3. MMXM
4. PO3/AMD
5. SMT Divergences
6. LRLR vs HRLR

When you have multiple narratives in alignment it increases the trade probability.


Daily Profiles





Weekly Profiles





MMXM





PO3/AMD





SMT Divergences



LRLR vs HRLR




Types of Liquidity





External & Internal Liquidity, Dealing Ranges, and Draw on Liquidity





My Trading Model using narrative to find the next draw on liquidity





https://en.rattibha.com/thread/1654458625035739137

- Top Down Analysis for Creating Weekly & Daily Biases


Thread on How I Use Each Timeframe to do a Top Down Analysis for Creating Weekly & Daily Biases

My top down analysis starts on the weekend after I get a weekly close. First thing I do is look at HTF charts to see if I can create a bias for the week. I am not looking for where price is going to close. Im looking if it's going to go higher or lower than the previous week.
I start with higher timeframes then work my way down. The first timeframe I look at is the yearly chart (12 month chart). Because I'm a day trader i'm obviously not looking at the structure on this timeframe, what I look for is where price is in regards to the yearly open.

resistance level and here is an example: Just like how you can use PO3 OHLC on the daily, you can use it for weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly charts as well. The yearly open will also act as a major support or resistance level and here is an example:
You can also see here that the most recent time price was at the yearly open there was a smart money reversal at that level which led to a MMSM. This is how you can use the yearly open level to create a bias.
At the beginning of each quarter I like to check the quarterly charts because if you have watched ICT core contents you will know about the Quarterly Market Shifts. I also like to look at quarterly charts to see if there's full timeframe continuity on HTF (D/W/M/Q).

After the quarterly chart I go down to the monthly chart to mark up the previous month's high/low and look for points of interests such as FVGs & OBs to see if there's any nearby for the upcoming week because price could draw to or reject these levels. Ex on $DXY:
At the end of each month I like to see how the monthly candle closed by looking to see if the monthly closed hammer or shooter because these are typically reversal candles. Doji candles are indecision candles, and big body candles show strength/weakness.

At the beginning & during the month I check to see how Power of 3 (PO3) is forming (thread on this coming in the future). For PO3 you have consolidation, manipulation, then expansion. Smart money accumulation of long / short positions will happen during "manipulation" part of PO3
PO3 is key. The more data you have, the clearer it is. This is why sometimes it can be difficult in the beginning of the month because there hasn't been enough data to show what the monthly candle wants to do. youtu.be


Look at the monthly open and see where price is at in regards to it. If im bullish I want to see price start the month going lower then get back above the monthly open. If this happens you will see a lower wick get created on the monthly chart and now you can look for expansion.
Vice versa if im bearish, look for price to start the month going higher then look for it to get back under the monthly open. Once it's back below the monthly open an upper wick gets created and now I can look for expansion to downside as long as price stays below monthly open
After looking at the monthly chart I will now move down to the weekly chart and do the same thing as I did with the monthly chart. Look at PWH/L, FVGs, OBs, and for PO3 I look at the different ICT Weekly Profiles to see which one could potentially form for the upcoming week.
Obviously I wont know which will will form before the week starts but if my weekly bias is bullish I will look at these:
If my weekly bias is bearish I will look at these profiles for one of them to potentially form:
If im expecting markets to consolidate then I will look at these profiles for one of them to potentially form:

After determining my weekly bias & reviewing the different weekly profiles, I move down to the daily chart to look for key highs/lows, FVGs and OBs. Find the largest liquidity pools & imbalances on the daily timeframe because those levels will be the DOL for the week.

Here's more about the draw on liquidity



Here's more on liquidity & types of liquidity



Keys to Daily Bias - @I_Am_The_ICT

Every day bias is unrealistic but now that you have your weekly bias, you must determine a daily bias in order to take a trade and if you dont have one then you don't trade that day since you dont have a clear draw on liquidity.
For determining daily bias I look at Daily timeframe for PO3 OLHC, and then look at H1/M15/M5 to look for key highs/lows from each session, FVGs, OBs, Market Structure, and use these timeframes to look at intraday templates for daily bias




https://en.rattibha.com/thread/1643200528090898436