NQ Trade Review & Deep Dive Into Price Delivery

Date: 2026-08-28

[00:01] Folks, good morning. How are you? Happy Friday, happy Friday.

It’s the last trading day of the week, August 28th, 2026, and the current time is 7:50 a.m. Eastern Time.

I’m going to cover what I went through yesterday and how I traded the first day of the Jackson Hole Symposium.

We have this dealing range from the high down to this low. Within that range, I’m expecting price to go higher.

Why would I expect it to go higher? If you look at the daily chart, which I have in the upper-right corner, you’ll see why.

Daily imbalance sets bullish draw

[00:45] I’m going to talk about this for just a moment, and then we’ll shift our attention down to a maximized view of the 1-minute time frame.

This is the area I showed you a couple of weeks ago when I explained why price was likely to reach up here. It eventually failed in this area, so now we’re turning our attention down here.

You can probably see this gray-shaded area. Some of you have been asking what that gray area represents on my intraday charts when I’m doing executions.

[01:14] If you’ve been watching the videos, you already know it’s this area right here.

I graded this buy-side imbalance, sell-side inefficiency from this candlestick’s close up to this candlestick’s low. That’s what these horizontal levels represent.

The gray box itself is simply the entire range of that buy-side imbalance, sell-side inefficiency, including the Volume Imbalance at the low.

It’s not a Suspension Block because there is no Volume Imbalance at the high.

It’s simply a buy-side imbalance, sell-side inefficiency—BISI.

When price traded lower and failed to reach an objective I thought it could easily get to, that told me something.

Using the way I read price action through PD Arrays, key levels, and key times, that failure suggests the market is undergoing a return to premium. So I’m looking for price to move higher.

Where would we expect it to go?

We can look at these individual highs, the Consequent Encroachment of this wick, and the low of this SIBI.

[03:19] We have a Volume Imbalance at the high and another Volume Imbalance at the low, between these two candlesticks. That makes this SIBI a Suspension Block.

A Suspension Block has a Volume Imbalance at both the high and the low.

If we extend that forward, you can see price is drawing up into it.

So if price trades up into this Volume Imbalance, which it did yesterday, the next order of business would be the Consequent Encroachment of this wick. Price reached that level and traded through it.

Then we’re met with this gap here. While price is bullish, that gap should provide something useful intraday—an area where you can look to go long.

And that’s exactly what happened. Price traded into it and was sent higher.

[04:04] Now we’re trading below this gap, so that qualifies it. If the market were going to continue lower through here, we could use this as an Inversion Fair Value Gap intraday. You’d see shorts in this area, including a short right here.

But now we’re no longer bearish because price is showing a willingness to stave off any further drive lower into this Volume Imbalance. That means we have to change gears and anticipate higher prices.

So I’m looking for longs, drawing price back up into this area. Once this Volume Imbalance is taken out, the next order of business would be this high and the remaining portion of this SIBI.

[04:42] That’s what those levels represent, and that’s the basis for why I was looking for longs on Thursday, which was Day 1 of the Jackson Hole Symposium.

Day 1 carries the highest likelihood of producing a Seek and Destroy Day. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen on Day 2 if it doesn’t form on Day 1. It simply means I’m looking for it first on Day 1.

That’s because of all the commentary surrounding the event and the people participating in it. Those talking points get thrown out into the ether, and then the market does what it does with them. It uses that information as a smokescreen.

Opening liquidity sweeps

[05:28] Now we’re going to shift our attention completely to the 1-minute time frame.

We have this high here, which is the buy-side liquidity pool I was initially targeting. I was simply looking for price to reach this high.

There are a couple of different things going on here.

For instance, look at the lay of the land at 9:30. We open here and trade down. What is price doing? It’s taking out sell-side liquidity here.

Then price rallies and takes out buy-side liquidity here, while leaving this buy-side liquidity intact. Notice this high is slightly lower.

Price then drops back down into the gray-shaded area in the background.

[06:51] That gray area is the daily buy-side imbalance, sell-side inefficiency I was just talking about. We’re near the high of that range and digging down into it.

Price trades lower, clears the sell-side liquidity here and here, and reaches the upper octant.

That’s what this horizontal line represents—the upper octant of the daily buy-side imbalance, sell-side inefficiency.

The first time price drops down, it stops at that level because it isn’t random. The market is bullish, so it’s using that level as support.

From there, price rallies and takes out anyone who was short with a stop loss resting above this high. Then, for good measure, it comes back and runs these highs as well, trading right up into this inefficiency over here, which is part of the dealing range from here to there at that moment.

[08:31] But I’m expecting price to trade up one more time and take out this liquidity because we’re likely in a Seek and Destroy profile.

So price goes up, down, up to clear stops, then down again to clear stops.

All you have to do is look to the left and see what price is sweeping.

It’s sweeping. It’s sweeping. It’s sweeping.

And it does it through expansion.

What it’s creating is an environment where everyone trying to position themselves is getting knocked out. So you have to trade it very nimbly.

Based on everything I discussed on the daily chart, I was expecting price to be drawn higher. Specifically, I was expecting it to take out the stops that had formed around the upper octant, which is this level right here at 29,451.

False break long thesis

[09:49] Look at that low right there. Did the candle bodies close at or below it? No.

That tells me this is a key level, and it’s occurring on a day where I’m anticipating a Seek and Destroy profile.

So price rallies, and now I want to see whether it can break lower. It does. That creates relative equal lows right here, then price rallies back up into a Fair Value Gap.

It trades into the gap and sells off aggressively. Beautiful run.

That’s a nice little short right there.

[10:21] There’s nothing wrong with that. If you took that short, traded it down into the sell-side liquidity, and used that as your closure or terminus, that’s perfect execution. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it.

But if you’re day trading with more of an intraday swing position in mind, that’s different. This is scalping—Fair Value Gap to liquidity. There’s nothing wrong with scalping. You can make a lot of money buying and selling throughout a day, regardless of whether the overall profile is bullish or bearish.

[10:56] But I was expecting price to take out these relative equal lows and potentially trade down into the first presented Fair Value Gap.

When price trades toward a key level like this and the candle bodies show no willingness to reach that level and close below it, that’s telling you this is likely a low. It’s building the narrative that price ultimately wants to go higher.

But it can still be subjected to a stop run—a raid on liquidity—after this rally here.

[11:41] When you understand the economic calendar, you know that Day 1 of the Jackson Hole Symposium—and really the entire week—can be wild. It can produce these crazy price runs that are fun when you’re onside, but if you’re not expecting unusual volatility at unusual times, it can catch you by surprise.

Here, because of the expectation I already had, I’m looking for price to trade below these lows. It gives you this little short here. Wonderful. But I’m not going short because I already know what I’m focusing on.

[12:13] So price could trade down into last Friday, August 21st, 2026’s first presented Fair Value Gap. I’m giving it room to do that.

But I’m also looking at the range from this low that formed down to the high of last Friday’s first presented Fair Value Gap—the first Fair Value Gap presented after 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

So in my mind, I’m watching this blue line and this candlestick right here. Go back and watch the video again, okay?

If you’ve been studying with me and we’re at this low right here, and I’m saying, “I’m concerned about the Consequent Encroachment of the premium wick. I want to see price get above that,” what am I talking about?

[13:39] You understand that I’m piercing this low and talking about going long. So what does that tell you?

I’m treating this as a false break below the low. I’m watching the midpoint of that wick and looking for it to behave a certain way. I want to see price get above it.

I don’t always have to walk you through every detail, and I’m not going to be the perfect teacher in that regard. What I’m saying and describing is more important than what my cursor is pointing at.

[14:06] That’s why it’s important to learn my language. Once you understand my language, you don’t need to see my cursor. I could talk about the chart without even referencing the specific minute marker, and if you’ve been here long enough, it’ll be that easy to follow.

But sometimes I’m trading a fast market that demands my full attention. I’m more concerned with executing and managing the trade than pointing out every specific detail on the chart.

Think about what I’m doing. There’s a lot involved.

[14:37] I have to read and interpret price, determine what I think it’s going to do, and judge how far it might trade down.

While this candlestick was moving lower, I wanted to see whether it could close below the midpoint. I didn’t draw that level on the chart, but with experience I can look at these two points and roughly eyeball where the midpoint is.

Price wasn’t able to close below it.

If it had, I would’ve waited for price to reach last Friday’s first presented Fair Value Gap down here.

[16:23] Saying you're wrong and I'll take your lunch money, thank you. And because this candlestick opened and started to go down a little bit but then failed to continuously move lower, I said I can't hold any longer. I gotta, I gotta get in it now because once it starts going above here, it's going to take off. And it did. Why? Because of the day. It's the first day of Jackson Hole Symposium. Because it's taken out liquidity here, where is it going to run? There. That was my first target.

[15:05] As soon as price touched the high of that discount array, I would’ve gone long because it would have satisfied the requirement of taking the stops. Then price could trade down into that discount array and perform like this.

But this candlestick traded below the low and couldn’t close below the midpoint between these lows and that high. Because it couldn’t do that, I gave the very next candle a moment to see whether it would spike down there and reach it.

[15:33] It didn’t. That’s why, if you go back and listen, you can hear the concern in my voice while it was happening. There’s my fill right there.

It’s below that low, which satisfies the minimum criteria for buying sell-side liquidity. Anything at that price or lower means you’re buying where Smart Money buys.

You’re buying the sell stops. You’re buying from the breakout traders who are selling short on the break. I’m standing in front of them.

[16:23] I’m basically saying, “You’re wrong, and I’ll take your lunch money. Thank you.”

This candlestick opened and started to move lower, but then failed to continue down. That’s when I said, “I can’t wait any longer. I have to get in now,” because once price started moving above this area, I expected it to take off. And it did. Why?

Because of the day. It’s Day 1 of the Jackson Hole Symposium. Price had already taken out liquidity here, so where was it likely to run next? There. That was my first target.

[16:52] I had my limit order about one tick below the high just to make sure I got filled. Then I wanted to see whether price could continue into this area.

I eventually changed my terminus to this high, which is marked here as buy-side liquidity.

While price was still down here, I knew that if it was going to rip back above this low quickly, then I needed to see it close above the Consequent Encroachment of this wick.

That’s this level right here. And we get that close here.

IFVG confirmation and stop management

[17:29] I already knew the likelihood of this gap—from this candlestick’s low to this candlestick’s high—becoming an Inversion Fair Value Gap if price was going to continue higher. So two things happened quickly.

This candlestick closed above the Consequent Encroachment of this wick. Then price traded and closed above the midpoint, or Consequent Encroachment, of this wick on that candlestick.

At the same time, we closed right at the midpoint, or Consequent Encroachment, of this gap.

The next candle opens and trades higher, and I was saying that I wanted to see it close above the Inversion Fair Value Gap.

[18:36] Once it does that, it confirms this as an Inversion Fair Value Gap, and there should be no reason for price to trade back down. Why? Because we’re so close to running these stops, and price is going to want to move quickly up here and here to take that liquidity.

They’re not going to give those traders a lot of time to pull their orders. Price isn’t going to spend a lot of time moving back and forth or digging down here first—not when it’s this close to the liquidity.

[19:01] So when this candle closes above the Inversion Fair Value Gap, that confirms it. The next candlestick opens, trades higher, then comes back down and taps the Inversion Fair Value Gap again. At that point, the gap has fulfilled its requirement.

Once price moved up here, I rolled my stop loss to 29,501.75. Look at the low—you’ll see it in the recording. Price came within one tick of my stop.

I read a comment from a viewer saying, “If that had been a real broker, the stop would’ve been hit.”

[19:49] Here’s the problem with that argument: everyone trading futures has the same low and the same high. Futures aren’t like Forex.

In Forex, one broker can show different highs and lows from another. It’s the Wild Wild West over there. Futures are a gentleman’s market—everybody gets the same low price. If you want to use extremely tight stop losses, futures are where it’s at.

[20:21] Try doing that in Forex and they’ll smoke you because you’re trading inside that broker’s individual liquidity pool. They can widen the spread and take you out.

That doesn’t mean there’s no manipulation in futures—there is. But if you know what you’re doing and what you’re looking for, you can manage a stop loss very tightly. Price can get extremely close without it being a case of, “There’s his stop. Snatch it.”

The broker can’t simply widen the spread. The broker doesn’t control the price. They’re the dealer, the facilitator, the intermediary.

[20:51] So my stop loss was sitting right below that wick. Price traded down and got extremely close to it.

And if I had been stopped out, I would’ve gone right back in immediately. Right there.

I would’ve put the full position back on and placed the new stop right below that low.

So for the people arguing among themselves in the comments of other videos saying, “He got lucky there…”

[21:28] How many times am I getting lucky when my stop loss is right where it is and price never reaches it? Come on, man.

Not to brag or anything, but my stop-loss management is the best in the game. You just don’t see anybody doing that kind of stuff.

But that’s 33 years of experience—34 years in November—doing this. You develop that experience by practicing the way I’m teaching you to read price action. Now look at my initial target from the entry down here. It was this high.

Pyramiding at equilibrium

[21:57] Why? Because it’s Seek and Destroy.

High, low, higher high, lower low, and then reach for that high.

If price is going there, then I know this old high to the left—to the left, to the left, right there—is also a likely draw.

So if that’s how far price is likely to extend above this first high, I’m going to target that one too. Now watch what happens.

I teach that when I’m pyramiding a long position, the addition needs to occur at Consequent Encroachment or equilibrium of the range I’m trading in. [22:31] Or lower.

If I’m shorting, I need to be entering at equilibrium or higher. Once price breaches equilibrium—the halfway point of the range between my entry and the target I’m participating toward—I’m no longer permitted to add to or pyramid the position. That’s simply a rule of thumb, and it has served me well.

Initially, the range is this. Now look at where I made my second entry with four contracts. Here’s the midpoint, or equilibrium, of the range between here and there. That’s where I entered.

[23:04] So this becomes the new range. Originally, the range was defined by these two points, but it widens each time price takes the stops.

So now, after my entry, the range becomes this low to that high, and I’m targeting this high here, which fits the characteristic of Seek and Destroy. What is the market doing?

It’s seeking liquidity and destroying the hopes and dreams of traders trying to profit from the wrong side of the move. That’s what it is.

[23:40] So with the market now using this expanded range, is this entry valid based on the rule I just explained? Yes.

For pyramiding into a long position, any new long entry should be added at equilibrium or below.

[24:38] The market rallies and then moves back and forth in here.

I know it’s unlikely to go lower because of this Inversion Fair Value Gap and this wick right here. Look at that wick. See it?

This wick is behaving just like this one.

The upper half of the wick is what I’m focused on when I’m reading real order flow. You don’t need any gimmicks or special tools. You read the open, high, low, and close. Everything is there.

[25:18] This is why I tell all of you: you act like they’re going to change something that will significantly take away your advantage if you understand how markets book price.

They can’t change these things, folks. It would undermine the entire structure. Markets have to promote people’s interest in buying and selling, so they’re not going to wreck that. They already have a perfect little casino going.

Most people can’t control themselves. Most people over-leverage. Most people over-trade.

[25:50] Even if you have a winning system, you can still lose because you’re the person who’s going to wreck it.

You can buy your son or daughter—and I’ve done this—a very expensive, very nice car. You know they’ll listen to your advice, but that doesn’t mean they’ll follow it. They’ll get in with their friends, drive too fast, cross the yellow line—Cameron—and cause an accident. Things are going to happen if you’re not prepared.

[26:19] You can buy nice things, try to make a lot of money trading, and use a really good model. But if you over-leverage, over-trade, enter before you should, or fail to manage the trade properly because you’re emotionally focused on what you could make or afraid of losing your unrealized profit, you’re going to react emotionally.

That’s why I teach you to anticipate. We’re not reacting to anything.

[26:43] We’re not reacting. We’re predicting.

And every trader is predicting, whether they want to admit it or not. If you’re going long, you’re predicting that price is going to go higher.

I don’t understand why everyone tries to circumvent that reality instead of simply standing on it and saying:

“Yeah, I’m predicting the future.”

[27:16] What are you going to do about it? Nothing.

So we have the upper boundary of this wick. When price is above it and I’m bullish—or we’re collectively bullish—the upper half of that wick should support price.

That means the candle bodies should remain inside the section I’ve highlighted in blue.

You’ll hear me calling that out in the video while I’m managing the trade live.

I’m really focusing on a market that could pull a fast one on me and get me.

[27:51] So I want to stay focused on the trade while still making it educational. When price was hammering around in here, I didn’t like this drop.

Admittedly, I was thinking, “No, I don’t like that. It has to show me something here.”

What bothered me was that this candle closed just below the midpoint of this upper portion. That made me nervous because it’s usually indicative that price wants to probe a little lower.

I had to lean heavily on what I know: if price does go lower, it should only be with a wick, and it shouldn’t reach the Inversion Fair Value Gap. We’ve already used it here, used it here, and then tried to reach it again but failed.

[28:30] So what’s the midpoint between the high of the Inversion Fair Value Gap and the midpoint of this wick? That’s Event Horizon.

I’m reading and interpreting this wick right here. It didn’t want to put a candle body down there, so it’s telling me everything is still onside for the long. I simply have to endure whatever minor wicking action occurs.

Then we open here, wick lower, and price comes within one tick of my stop. One tick, with a real broker.

It doesn’t matter where you look. Anyone trading the September NQ contract has the same low.

[29:04] Look at the candle seven minutes after 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The low on the September NQ contract is 29,502.00.

Everybody has that price. It’s not Forex. If I were trading Forex with a stop that tight, the broker could widen the spread and take me out. That’s why I call futures a gentleman’s market. You’re a cowboy, you trade Forex.

Now, because I’m aiming for this target, this entry doesn’t meet my criteria for adding to the position. For me to pyramid a long, the additional entry has to occur at or below equilibrium of the range between where I’m entering and where I believe the move is complete—my terminus.

[29:49] Initially, my terminus was here. But before I started the trade, I already had the idea that if price showed a strong willingness to reach this area, I would put something up here as well.

It wouldn’t be the full position. I’d leave something like a runner to take out that higher high. This green area here is that SIBI.

It’s a long explanation because what we’re dealing with is complex. That’s why I tell you to avoid the Jackson Hole Symposium, especially Day 1. There’s going to be a lot of commentary from unelected people trying to influence global trends.

[30:32] There’s a lot of influence because of the money involved.

Now look at this entry right here. It doesn’t meet my criteria for adding to a long position at or below equilibrium.

This blue level at 29,514.5 is the equilibrium derived from this high and this low. If I’m going to pyramid and build a larger long position, I need to add at or below that blue line.

This entry is above it. So it doesn’t qualify, does it?

[31:05] So did I mess up? No.

By this point, after watching everything develop in here, I was already committed to the idea that price could potentially reach that higher level.

So in my mind, I was measuring from this level down to that low and estimating the halfway point. I just eyeballed it, and I knew equilibrium would be slightly higher than this original blue line.

Now watch what happens when I raise the measurement up to this higher target. The blue equilibrium line shifts higher, right here.

[31:37] Now watch. Where is my entry relative to that adjusted equilibrium? It fits.

“Oh, you’re just form-fitting.”

No, dude. If that’s what you heard from what I just explained, you’re too new here.

[34:03] From this position, I was initially aiming for this level, then expanding the boundary higher to here, with the possibility of reaching for that buy-side liquidity.

That meant I was still able to go long within the logic of buying off the upper half of this wick, because price should be supported there. Look at the candle bodies. Do they stay inside it? Yes.

[34:32] We open right here and immediately show a strong rally higher. That was good.

You’ll actually hear me say, *“Yes. Good. That’s what I want to see.” *What was I referring to?

Not simply the fact that price was going up. I was referring to the fact that we opened slightly below the midpoint of the upper half of that wick, dipped a little lower, came very close to my stop loss, and then immediately started rallying higher.

[35:02] To me, that was confirmation: “Okay, we’re done.”

This wick now becomes a barrier or boundary. What I mean is that we’re still using the same Consequent Encroachment logic, just slightly lower.

Watch. I’m going to take this measurement from the wick, remove this portion, and align it with the open of these candlesticks. Look at that.

Once price did this, I felt confident that anything afterward would simply follow the same logic I use with the upper half of that wick.

[38:21] We open, trade down, and wick into this area. Price trades right into it, but it doesn’t violate the level with a close or leave a candle body down there. It respects the upper half of the wick. Wonderful.

The next candle opens and trades down into it again. What’s happening?

Same thing. It’s respecting the upper half of this wick—and this one too.

So when this candlestick closes, we can anticipate the next move.

And yes, I understand that when you watch the live video, sometimes what I’m doing may look too good to be true.

[38:54] Thank you for the compliment. I worked very hard for more than three decades to get here.

What I wanted to see was this candlestick become a strong, large up-close candle—a big green candle.

While price was still down here, I was already illustrating where I expected it to go. Take the audio commentary out and watch the execution video again. You’ll still understand what I’m communicating by what I’m pointing to and highlighting on the chart.

I’m drawing attention to specific areas, pointing here and here, and then I draw a smiley face because I already knew I was going to speed the video up.

[39:33] Like I told you in the video, once you see the sped-up section, you’ll understand that while price is still down here, I already expect it to trade up here and take this high—and then this one. Why?

Because everything I just outlined about these wicks is telling me that.

And understand: everything I just explained about using wicks is only the introduction to one chapter. There’s much more to learn.

[40:00] That’s why it’s important for you to slow down. Slow down.

If you learn these things correctly the first time, you won’t have to constantly backpedal because you rushed through the material just trying to reach the next video.

Simply watching my videos isn’t going to make this appear in your hands. You have to take what I’m teaching and go back through your own charts.

[40:29] You’ll see me doing exactly that next week with my son Caden. I’m going to work through Monday through Friday, every single day.

I’ll explain what he’s supposed to look for, what he’s supposed to log, how to use that information for backtesting, and how it becomes useful going forward.

I’ll show him what should be annotated on the chart, why it’s important, and why it’s salient at his stage as a beginning trader.

If you’re floundering or struggling to find your way through all of my content, next week’s material is going to be very beneficial to you.

[40:59] But anyway, this candlestick behaved exactly as I expected.

I anticipated a large up-close candle taking out that.

I wanted to see the majority of my position come off here. I wanted to take five of my six remaining contracts off at this level because I had already taken a partial of four contracts here.

[42:06] So I had built the position up to 10 contracts. The original entry was six contracts long, then I added four contracts by pyramiding in discount. I took four contracts off just above this high, leaving six contracts on.

From there, I wanted to take five contracts off at this high and leave one contract as a runner to see if price could reach this other target, which defines the range from this low up to this high.

[42:33] That higher level would become my terminus.

Originally, this lower high was my terminus, where I intended to close the entire position. But because of how price behaved in here, I became fairly confident that it was going to reach the higher objective.

Once price got above here, you’ll see my exit. Look right here. It’s at the high of the imbalance shaded in green. See that?

That’s why I chose that level. If I believe price is going to trade up here, then it should touch the high of that green-shaded area, which is this gap right here.

[43:01] The buy-side liquidity still remains.

Because it’s wild and woolly, price does get very close to my target, but then it comes back and stops me out.

Now, in hindsight—and permit me to use hindsight here—what I did less than optimally was leave my stop down here. I should have moved the stop to this candlestick’s open.

See where the stop-out occurs? Right there.

If price is going to continue using that buy-side liquidity as the draw, it should not trade through this candlestick’s open, because of these last two up-close candles.

Order block and liquidity engineering

[43:43] What this is indicating is that these two candles are becoming an Order Block.

So I don’t want to hold my stop below the Change in the State of Delivery, but I simply let it go.

That’s why I should have had my stop loss at that price level or just above it. If price is going to continue toward the draw, it should come down and use this entire two-candle range as an Order Block.

Then price trades right up to the midpoint of that green-shaded inefficiency.

[44:15] Consequent Encroachment prevents price from going higher there, and it trades right back down into this same gap.

Now watch this. How is this support and resistance? What is this candlestick actually reacting off of? What support or resistance level is there? Look at that.

That’s why I have this level marked. I posted it on X facetiously: “Hello, where is this coming from?”

It’s coming straight from the pages of good old ICT and the logic he teaches. Everybody else is going to look at this and call it a bear flag.

[44:44] What’s the unfinished business? That high. That liquidity.

Also, I forgot to mention this cork idea. I called it that because price was building this little block of price action.

Usually, when you see a bull flag, it’ll slope slightly downward. This isn’t doing that. It’s building more of a square while slightly sloping upward.

That’s why I’ve always envisioned this type of formation as a cork.

[45:13] What is that like? Opening a bottle of champagne.

When you pop the cork, all that pressure builds up and then releases, sending it higher. That’s what we saw happening here.

It was a very slow bleed before price finally got there, but it’s a beautiful illustration of using my logic, not somebody else’s borrowed, rebranded crap.

I also talked about wanting this area to remain partially unfilled before price reached my target. That’s basically this section from here to here.

[45:58] We want that portion to stay open. We don’t want price filling all of it because this is essentially the upper half of the inefficiency.

We already used it here with an Institutional Order Flow Entry Drill. Price pierced that low right there, and that’s usually what you get.

If you go back through my paid mentorship where I discuss Fair Value Gaps, price runs, equilibrium, and where price is relative to the high end of a move, you’ll hear me explain that when price is close to its target, those gaps often do not fully fill before price reaches the objective.

Why? Because price is in a hurry to reach the liquidity.

[46:36] Even though this move was slow and drawn out, price simply wasn’t being allowed to move lower because it was going after the stops above here.

It ran very close to that high and then dropped lower.

That was engineering liquidity—encouraging more traders to place buy stops above that high.

What does that accomplish? It gets people willing to buy at a high price while price is dropped lower into discount.

Then price can move higher again because now there are willing participants who went short down here—and especially short right here.

[47:06] And where are they going to put their stop losses?

Here, here, and just above this area—especially the traders looking at the chart and saying, “Well, this was resistance, so I better put my stop above it.”

When you view price action through that lens, everything else starts to look nonsensical.

Price runs from here all the way up, trades into an Order Block and Fair Value Gap right here, pulls down into it, and then rallies higher.

Price takes out the liquidity, and then look what happens. It starts behaving strangely. It trades down for some unknown reason, uses this gap, then tries to reach this level but can’t.

Is that bullish or bearish? Bearish.

Price trades lower. Where is it trading back into?

The gray-shaded area, which is the daily-chart buy-side imbalance, sell-side inefficiency.

[48:07] We’re getting a reaction from that area. But more specifically, what is price keying off of that I gave you yesterday?

Let’s go back to the upper half of this wick and anchor it to the original wick right here. Now let’s mark the midpoint.

There’s the midline—the Consequent Encroachment of the wick.

Look at what price is doing. Is it touching Consequent Encroachment? No.

Are the candle bodies staying inside the upper half of the wick? Yes.

[48:39] Are either the bodies or the wicks touching Consequent Encroachment? No.

Based on what I teach, is that bullish or bearish? Bullish.

Now look above: minor buy-side liquidity, minor buy-side liquidity, and relative equal highs. Look at the momentum coming off this area.

We’re trading inside the gray-shaded daily buy-side imbalance, sell-side inefficiency, and right here the background turns white. That’s the high of the daily BISI.

So price should have a lot of energy behind it. And this is occurring immediately before the macro.

Then macro time arrives and—bang—11**:50 starts spooling very quickly**.

[49:20] All of these consecutive down-close candles form an Order Block. That’s a Change in the State of Delivery.

So if price returns back into this level, we have an opportunity to see higher prices.

Look what’s happening here.

We have a Change in the State of Delivery. Price trades into the Order Block, rallies, then consolidates inside that old gap shaded in green.

[49:58] We have buy-side liquidity here and more buy-side liquidity here.

Price runs through both of them and boom, runs through that ultimately. Look at that. It’s almost like this stuff works sometimes.

That’s a beautiful price run, and then price trades back into the range again. Where is it trading to?

The high of that daily buy-side imbalance, sell-side inefficiency.

Again, that’s a daily PD Array, so we should expect price to react to it.

[50:46] It’s tradable. Now look at the lay of the land. When price trades down into that area, look to the left and scan through the prior price action.

What’s the first thing that jumps out? Relative equal highs.

To the left of that, we have a SIBI sitting inside the shaded area. That’s another gap. So trading above these highs and into that gap—toward the low of this old inefficiency, the green-shaded area—is a high-probability draw.

[51:18] Now look at this. What is it?

That’s a SIBI that has been overtaken, and we also have a Market Structure Shift through this high right here.

So when price drops back down into that area, it has a strong probability of becoming an Inversion Fair Value Gap.

Extend it to the right. Right here is your buy, aiming for the low of that gap. Look at the reaction. Look.

Pyramid. Add more. Pyramid. Add more.

*“I wouldn’t do that.” *Well, that’s you. You’re not ICT.

And then price rips higher. Bang. Hits the target.

MOC delivery into daily IFVG

[52:04] Consequent Encroachment of the green-shaded area—that’s the old gap we identified earlier when looking to the left.

Look at that reaction. Beautiful price run. Now look at the time. Ready?

Here’s the macro. I actually talked about this in Trader Roundup yesterday: the 2:50 to 3:10 macro for the final hour of Regular Trading Hours. That’s Macro 1.

Then at 3:15, another window begins and runs through 3:45.

[52:41] Look at what’s happening. They’re running it.

So what are they going to do? They’re going to keep pushing price higher.

What are they going to run out? The high that was formed right here.

Look at that. Then we move into the final 20 minutes of trading. Where is price at?

Right here, in the final 10 minutes of the hour, we have Market on Close—MOC.

What are they doing? They’re using those final 10 minutes to supercharge the move, put the sugar on top, and run price up into some seemingly random level—which is actually the Inversion Fair Value Gap on the daily chart.

[53:32] What are we talking about? Look at that. It’s a weird bounce, isn’t it? Weird. Who could have expected that? Oh my goodness, if only I could’ve known.

That’s this gap right here—the daily-chart Inversion Fair Value Gap I talked about earlier.

When we’re looking for opposing PD Arrays, there it is. And this level here is the Consequent Encroachment of that wick.

Look at that: 29,662.

That’s where this level comes from. That’s what you’re seeing over here.

[54:05] This entire range here corresponds to this small gap right here and this wick.

We’re trading inside this Suspension Block, defined by these Volume Imbalances at the high and low. Those two Volume Imbalances are what make this SIBI a Suspension Block.

[54:54] So we want to see whether price can continue drawing higher. It can remain bullish up to that level while still being bearish longer term.

This level here would shift the outlook from short-term bullish to intermediate-term bullish. From there, we could potentially look for price to trade above it and reach back into this daily inefficiency once more.

But look at the delivery of price here. It’s beautiful.

When price reaches this Inversion Fair Value Gap, it trades directly into Consequent Encroachment.

[55:24] Price trades slightly above Consequent Encroachment, but look at the candle bodies.

They’re saying, “I can’t touch Consequent Encroachment.”

So if the market is bearish and trades into a key PD Array—key because it’s coming from the daily chart—and the candle bodies can’t even touch or close above Consequent Encroachment, what is price doing?

It’s respecting the lower half of the PD Array. Is that bullish or bearish? Bearish.

When you’re bearish, that’s exactly what you want to see.

And then we get one final little kiss right here.

[55:54] There’s a small Inversion Fair Value Gap right there. I’ll draw it for you. Look at that. Look at that, man.

Come on now. Come on, give it up for the old man. That is absolutely perfect.

You may not see it yet, but it keeps repeating over and over again—every week, every day—and it won’t stop.

That should inspire you. That should encourage you.

So that’s going to be it for today.

[56:33] Hopefully that was a well-rounded explanation of what was going on and why I considered it a good opportunity to trade.

And look at this. Look at that right there.

Consequent Encroachment of a daily-chart Inversion Fair Value Gap.

You’re going to get price runs like this from key daily PD Arrays.

“I want to know when the really good price runs are coming. You always seem to know when the big runs are going to occur.”

You have to find them on the daily chart.

[57:07] You have to measure things on the daily chart:

Wicks. Consequent Encroachment. Old highs. Old lows. Inefficiencies.

What I’m talking about is the market. It is the source code.

[58:02] It’s the very thing that makes these markets tick—where they stop, where they start running, and why price refuses to do certain things.

I have a rhyme and reason for all of it, and my executions prove it. So I think that’s going to be it. Look at that again.

The bodies. The bodies. Nope, nope, nope, nope. Right back down. Where is price trading to?

Back down into that old inefficiency, and it sweeps the old high—these relative equal highs back here. Why?

Because the algorithm refers back to where there was interest around those old highs before.

So it’s Friday, Day 2 of the Jackson Hole Symposium.

Just expect the unexpected. Expect the unexpected.

[59:24] I don’t want to subscribe to the idea that we’re going to get a TGIF setup today.

I don’t want to do that. Until I talk to you next time, be safe.