⭐️Friday Review On NQ & PreMarket Session Rules Revisited

Date: 2026-08-22

Defining the pre-market range

[00:04] Welcome back, folks. Hope you’re doing well. Happy Saturday.

It’s 7:15 p.m. Eastern Time here on the East Coast of the United States. The market is closed, as you can see in the upper-left corner.

Mr. Consistency is still here, showing you everything just as I normally would.

Here we have Thursday. Yes, we’re going to use this information.

The window is 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Those are the two bookends we’re using to define the range—a small two-hour window.

🚨 If there’s a scheduled report at 8:30 a.m., however, you only measure up to 8:30, not 9:00. 🚨

[02:26] So that’s one caveat. I mentioned it when we were looking at—I think it was either CPI or PPI. I can’t remember which one—but because there was a report due at 8:30 a.m., I explained how we would use the 7:00 to 8:30 range to anticipate how price should deliver once that range was graded.

Here, we can clearly see the market had these highs over here. At 7:00 a.m., right on this candlestick, we have the highest high of the range between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m.

The lowest low forms all the way down here at 8:36 a.m. Eastern Time.

[03:08] How is this market booking price? Is it consolidating? Clearly not.

It’s in a trend. It’s moving, and it’s allowed to protract.

That brings us back to the rule good old ICT already put out there into the ether about the AM session. And I’m honestly saddened when I read and hear that even some of my own students got beat up on a day like this.

If you had simply listened, I gave it to you for free. It was public. I mentioned it in a lecture video, and I also taught it during Trader Roundup with Kit and the gang.

[03:52] So if you’re only going to be a casual listener, you’re going to miss some really good material.

[04:26] One of the things I teach is that if we’re trending during the 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. session, the market is going to be a block—up and down, up and down, up and down.

That doesn’t mean I can’t trade it. Clearly, you’ve seen me do that the other day. But for the average student, or someone who isn’t well versed in this phenomenon, it’s going to be difficult.

This is algorithmic. It’s codified and coded.

Anchored PD Array selection

[05:20] Here we have Thursday from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m.

Ready? It’s trending.

So that entire move up to this high becomes a significant dealing range.

Now, if we grade that range, you’ll see why it’s important.

If you look closely at the 0.875 octant right here, you’ll notice a SIBI—a sell-side imbalance, buy-side inefficiency.

[06:09] Isn’t that brilliant?

Notice I’m not talking about this Fair Value Gap, or this one, or this one.

Why?

Because they’re not salient. A valid PD Array has to be anchored to a key level. Period.

There’s your SIBI, and it’s sitting in the premium portion of this range—from the high down to the low.

[06:49] I keep the 50% mid-range level a different color for contrast. That allows you to immediately identify the midpoint and say, “Okay, this is equilibrium.”

Anything at that level or higher, all the way up to the range high, is considered premium. Anything at that level or lower is considered discount.

New Day Opening Gap

[07:50] The New Day Opening Gap is the difference between where futures settle at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time and where trading resumes at 6:00 p.m.

That’s your New Day Opening Gap.

We’d like to extend that level through.

[08:50] Just because price trades up to it here doesn’t mean it’s one and done. So why are we still referring to levels from Thursday’s 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. session after Thursday has already closed and Friday’s trading has technically begun?

[09:21] Because my levels don’t have an expiration date. Especially if you go back through the last three sessions, you’ll have all the information you’ll ever need. You don’t even need a daily chart. It’s all there.

That’s another discussion for another time—maybe a Twitter Space sometime this week.

[09:53] Here we have the market meandering around during the Asian session. But watch what’s happening here. This is important, folks.

The market starts trading off what? Consequent Encroachment, the midpoint of the New Day Opening Gap, and then it rallies. Wonderful.

If you’re trading the Asian session and looking for targets for shorts over here, that’s a wonderful target.

[10:38] This is also an ideal scenario for those watching the Midnight Opening Price, which would be right there.

Extending that forward, you can see price drop into a very clear, discernible discount PD Array—the Consequent Encroachment of the New Day Opening Gap.

From there, the market rallies, trades around, and then uses an octant from Thursday’s 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time dealing range. That’s where these horizontal levels are coming from.

[11:32] Now look at what price is doing. How is the market booking right now?

It’s moving higher. It’s trending.

That gap I showed you near the high end of Thursday’s 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. pre-market dealing range is this gap right here, extended forward.

What is price doing between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m.? Compare this block right here—this little square of price action, this small fractal of the overall range.

[12:18] Look at the move from this low to that high. Is that not consolidation? This high and this high are exactly the same price: 29,539. It’s a block. The candle bodies can’t even trade up to the Consequent Encroachment of that wick from Thursday’s 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. pre-market dealing range.

That’s very important information.

Now compare that consolidation with all of this trending price action. Do you see what’s happening?

Session consolidation and expansion

[13:08] Do you see how the market shifts from one session to the next?

“How do you always know which session to focus on, ICT? You always seem to be in the session that’s actually moving.”

You’re not listening to what I’m telling you.

🚨If the previous session is consolidating, expect the next session to move. Then expect the session after that to consolidate again—but always be prepared for the possibility that it continues trending within the broader 24-hour cycle.🚨

[13:44] Asia, London, New York—in that order.

The New York session can obviously be subdivided further: the pre-market session, the AM session, the first hour’s dealing range, the two-hour lunch, the PM session, and then the Market on Close or final hour of trading.

So you can break the day into smaller and smaller fractals. But the way the previous session trades gives you information about what to expect next, because the algorithm compresses into holding patterns and then expands. Traders get lulled into thinking, “Nothing’s happening. The market’s chopping around. I’m going to go do something else. I’m turning the computer off.”

[14:27] Then suddenly a large move occurs and they ask, “Where did that come from?”

I’m teaching you how not to be surprised by the market.

The simple concepts I’m showing you are extremely powerful. A consolidation between 7:00 and 9:00 a.m. on Friday tells us that, once that session ends, the AM session is likely to trend.

And look at what happens.

The market is already failing to reach Consequent Encroachment with the candle bodies.

[15:04] See that right here? Look at the candle body.

Let me zoom in so you can see it clearly, because this is really important.

You can see the line I was using here. This is the highest candle body within this swing high.

Over here, these candle bodies traded slightly higher, so that’s a run against these highs.

Relative equal highs failure

[15:38] The wicks are allowed to do the damage, but notice what’s happening here. We have relative equal highs in the candle bodies.

Write that in your notes: this is a run on relative equal highs.

Those relative equal highs are sitting right here, and the candlestick order flow is telling you something important—the bodies can’t even reach the Consequent Encroachment of that gap carried forward from Thursday’s 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time pre-market session.

[16:15] Those levels aren’t stale, so the fact that the candle bodies can’t reach them matters.

Based on the way I teach order flow through candlesticks and PD Arrays, is that bullish or bearish?

It’s bearish.

The bodies can’t grasp the midpoint of that gap, but the market can throw two wicks up into it and effectively say, “I can’t do it.”

Then right here, it gives up the ghost.

If price comes back down and takes out this gap here—after already running the relative equal highs with the candle bodies up here—that becomes important confirmation.

Once we get this close right here, you’re going to see the market break lower. That validates this as a potential Inversion Fair Value Gap.

Price trades back up into it beautifully, then caresses this low here, breaks through it slightly, and then accelerates lower. It takes out this low, trades down into this short-term low, then rips right back up into this low where we have a gap.

IFVG at range quadrant

[17:21] That gap is sitting right on this level here. I’m also measuring these levels—the dealing range high and low. The high is here, because these are relative equal highs to the tick, and the low is down there.

So these horizontal lines are grading the 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. dealing range in terms of time and price.

Now look at this Fair Value Gap. Why is it valid as an Inversion Fair Value Gap?

Because it’s sitting right on the upper quadrant at 0.25. See that? Isn’t that perfect?

The market rallies back up into that Inversion Fair Value Gap. Why is it going there?

Because it’s weak. It already showed you that here. I told you there was unfinished business at the August 6th low.

[18:30] Go back and look at the tweet and the time I posted it. It’s going to go there again, folks. And here we have it.

Price can’t even get back to equilibrium of this range from low to high. So where is it going to be sensitive? The premium sensitivity is from the midpoint down toward the low of the range.

Look at what happens. Price trades right up to it.

What, are you crazy? Look at this.

It goes right to the octant—within one tick.

We get one more rally back into that Inversion Fair Value Gap, tapping it again before price rips straight through.

Look at this. Who could have known it was going to behave like that?

Well, price was consolidating between 7:00 and 9:00 a.m., and good old ICT’s logic comes shining through again.

First-hour range targets

[19:34] But nobody wants to talk about that. Make an exposé video on that, jokers. Come on now.

Price trades down into the New Day Opening Gap, flutters through it a few times, then rallies back into it. What does it use it as?

A premium PD Array. Then it drops lower and takes out what again? The August 6th low. What? That’s diabolical.

Once it does that, look at the time of day. Right here is the first hour’s dealing range. That’s the low.

Now price is going to attack the range formed between 9:30 and 10:30.

[20:15] Draw that range out on your own chart and find its equilibrium.

Then wait for price to trade above it and back up into the New Day Opening Gap.

Now watch. Here’s the morning session. 9:30 is right here. So where are the stops? Right above this high.

What PD Arrays is price likely to roll back to? Right there.

And there you go. Price hammers back down into consolidation and does absolutely nothing.

A Nothing Burger Profile. You like that one?

[20:50] Children, are we taking notes? Are we learning anything?

The logic I’m teaching starts with time. The algorithm refers back to time first. Right now, time is more important than price.

So how is the market behaving here? It’s consolidating.

Now compare that with how price was trading before this time reference. That was trending. This is consolidation.

What does that suggest the next phase is likely to be?

[21:27] Trending. And in which direction? Bearish.

Why? Because these highs remain above, and price can’t even reach Consequent Encroachment.

It gave you a wonderful entry here, another wonderful entry right there, and then it was off to the races.

After that, price reverses and retraces back into the 9:30 to 10:30 dealing range, bumping into that high.

And because it’s Friday, the rest of the day turns into consolidation.

A nothing-burger session designed to kill everybody.