ICT Mentorship Core Content - Month 1 - Impulse Price Swings & Market Protraction

The foundational concept describing price movement as a series of directional swings from high to low and low to high (0:00). Every price move can be decomposed into these impulse swings, and understanding this zigzag structure provides critical detail about market direction and potential turning points.

A specialized subset of impulse price swings that are highly sensitive to specific times of day (1:30). Unlike general impulse swings, protractionary moves are designed for manipulation—they are small counter-trend impulse swings that fake traders out before the real directional move begins.

There are three primary protractionary market moves every 24 hours (2:00)—the Asian session near 0 GMT (8 PM New York), the London session after midnight New York (4 GMT on forex), and the New York session after 7 AM New York time. Each window presents a potential false move that precedes the true directional expansion.

At the 0 GMT delineation, a small impulse move up or down occurs, but ICT states he doesn't believe Asia is that influential initially (2:15). This is the least significant of the three protractionary windows but still worth monitoring.