ICT Mentorship Core Content - Month 1 - How Market Makers Condition The Market

ICT introduces the concept that markets are divided into two groups—a large circle of "uninformed money" (retail traders) and a small circle of "smart money" (banks/institutions) (0:08). Retail traders are led to believe their collective size drives price through supply and demand, but this is described as a "facade." The real price drivers are the small institutional group who quietly control the marketplace.

Traditional trading tools like stochastic, RSI, Williams %R, moving average crossovers, trendlines, and supply/demand concepts are characterized as deceptions that keep traders in the "uninformed money" circle (1:15). ICT shares personal experience of once believing these indicators drove price, emphasizing that momentum indicators are redundant when used together.

Using the analogy of a car engine and belt system, ICT explains that the small group of institutional traders (banks) is the actual "drive shaft" or motor that spins price higher or lower (3:00). The large retail community is not the market mover despite their numbers—the liquidity provider is the true engine of price movement.

The daily range follows a specific, repeating pattern: Asian range consolidation → post-midnight manipulation (Judas swing) → London open reversal/expansion → New York consolidation (5:00-8:00 AM) → New York retracement (8:00-8:30 AM) → expansion into 10:00-11:00 AM → London close reversal → end-of-day consolidation (9:45). This is presented as the core algorithmic model for intraday price delivery.