What've you taken from ICT?

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outthislife

Well-Known Member
I haven't been around nearly as long as most people here. Definitely not. But I've watched & read ICT's work (and slugfx's notes - cheers!) multiple times now and I'd love to hear what you guys at FXG have gleaned from ICT thusfar.

Also, after ICT, what other resources have you learned a lot from? I've read dozens of books on FX, and the only one I could call "great" would be Beat the Forex Dealer. Most other books are great to read at the beginning, but they offer very little real substance. Just fluff.

Regarding ICT, what I've gleaned thusfar and have had great results with are:
  • Top down analysis
  • Big figure awareness
  • Understanding market structure
  • Kill zones, time of day/week awareness
  • Order blocks offering support / resistance
  • Fantastic risk control & goal control
And on a lesser extent utilizing USDX, COT data & yields. It helps see the big picture.

What about you?
 
I'd been lying low from the forum drama. ;)

At a functional level, everything? I first found ICT within 10 days of exploring Forex, so I'm about as close to a "pure" ICT student as you can find, that isn't his own kids.
 
sqa said:
I'd been lying low from the forum drama. ;)

At a functional level, everything? I first found ICT within 10 days of exploring Forex, so I'm about as close to a "pure" ICT student as you can find, that isn't his own kids.

Nice! Lucky :) What quantifies as 'everything' to you - on a daily basis? Weekly?

I need some time to let all the info sink in. I do see that everything ICT has said makes sense and is usable. I haven't yet needed 100% of the information; mostly pertaining to various holding timeframes that I don't/won't utilize.

I guess what I'm looking for is, does FX go any deeper than ICT material? Without unnecessary convolution, that is.

InnerCircleTrader said:
::Crickets Chirping:: :p

Figured it would cause either drama or avoidance, but it is what it is! Thanks for all your insights :)
 
It's good to understand that there is "you" the Trader and "you" the Student. ICT can teach you many things, but if you're a very short-term trader, you're just a short-term trader. If you're a 1+ month hold trader, you're a 1+ month hold trader. ICT can't teach you to be something you're not. Nor is there anything wrong with being a certain "type" of trader. But you have to figure that bit out yourself.

As for "everything": I'm not joking about starting fresh with just ICT. When I started investigating Forex, I went looking for someone that had a clue what they were talking about. I found ICT pretty quickly. (BP, for all its fault in the forums, as least has a basic "school" that's solid. It's why I started there.)
 
sqa said:
It's good to understand that there is "you" the Trader and "you" the Student. ICT can teach you many things, but if you're a very short-term trader, you're just a short-term trader. If you're a 1+ month hold trader, you're a 1+ month hold trader. ICT can't teach you to be something you're not. Nor is there anything wrong with being a certain "type" of trader. But you have to figure that bit out yourself.

Well said, thanks. I feel like this holds true in every industry. You find out the "best practices", apply them, and then mould them to how you operate best.

But on FXG and even twitter I see 2 things (you probably saw this on BP):

1) People blindly following ICT.
2) People blindly criticizing ICT.

I think both are a recipe for disaster. I want to know the ins and outs of the failures and successes of ICT students, and so far (for failure) it just seems like poor risk management..?

As for "everything": I'm not joking about starting fresh with just ICT. When I started investigating Forex, I went looking for someone that had a clue what they were talking about. I found ICT pretty quickly. (BP, for all its fault in the forums, as least has a basic "school" that's solid. It's why I started there.)

Crazy cool. Livin' the dream?
 
I know people say people "blindly following ICT", but I'll be really honest: you've never seen blind followers if that's true. There are people that over-praise ICT a little, but I've yet to see blind followers. He's got a lot of critics, though.

As for the "why" issue, that's a bit easier:

1) Time
2) Natural Talent
3) Patience
4) Self-Reflection

ICT isn't "selling a system". He's teaching a way to read the markets. How the student sees the Market is down to their personal make up. If you can only "see" one trade type, then that's fine. Just add 3-4 more pairs, and wait for that setup to appear, once a week.

Personally, I'm a retracement trader. I just can't bring myself to get into moves that are underway. In MM#3, ICT talks about chasing. I just don't do that. I can take In-Trend trades, but they're always pull backs. Breakouts/In-move Market Orders I just don't see and can't really do. So that's simply what I do. But, there is still a lot of work.

And, since this isn't a bunch of Push-Button type of work, it simply takes time. And that's just the Market Reading skill. The rest of trading: taking losses, handling risk, getting in properly, getting out properly. Everything that every other trader has to do... takes its own time. 2-3 years seems to be roughly the time frame most should be expecting. Not easy, is that?

That's why the names of the game are Patience & Perseverance. And that's if you have the ability to handle the work. A lot of people don't. And there's nothing wrong with that, either.
 
sqa said:
It's good to understand that there is "you" the Trader and "you" the Student. ICT can teach you many things, but if you're a very short-term trader, you're just a short-term trader. If you're a 1+ month hold trader, you're a 1+ month hold trader. ICT can't teach you to be something you're not. Nor is there anything wrong with being a certain "type" of trader. But you have to figure that bit out yourself.

As for "everything": I'm not joking about starting fresh with just ICT. When I started investigating Forex, I went looking for someone that had a clue what they were talking about. I found ICT pretty quickly. (BP, for all its fault in the forums, as least has a basic "school" that's solid. It's why I started there.)
]what ive seen so far is ict is like everyone is evolving as a trader the stuff he has dropped over the years to the new stuff in his mm vids which it seems to me the light bulb has gone on for him .
its not new to me no ,have i seen it before yes ,does ict present it better yes he does ,he is very good at making vids .
i have yet to come across 1 student who is successful trading his concepts guys who have been following his work for years ,thats the reality for all his fans on twitter who will fail its not the process its the mind thing traders dont get .
time is the most expensive commodity we have ,yes his work is free ,is it worth the time or effort only you know the answer to that one.
glgt
 
I havn't found anyone else who was able to teach me to make trades like this. You can make money with anything it's all in the money management. But this is pretty cool stuff!
 

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sqa said:
I know people say people "blindly following ICT", but I'll be really honest: you've never seen blind followers if that's true. There are people that over-praise ICT a little, but I've yet to see blind followers. He's got a lot of critics, though.

As for the "why" issue, that's a bit easier:

1) Time
2) Natural Talent
3) Patience
4) Self-Reflection

ICT isn't "selling a system". He's teaching a way to read the markets. How the student sees the Market is down to their personal make up. If you can only "see" one trade type, then that's fine. Just add 3-4 more pairs, and wait for that setup to appear, once a week.

Personally, I'm a retracement trader. I just can't bring myself to get into moves that are underway. In MM#3, ICT talks about chasing. I just don't do that. I can take In-Trend trades, but they're always pull backs. Breakouts/In-move Market Orders I just don't see and can't really do. So that's simply what I do. But, there is still a lot of work.

And, since this isn't a bunch of Push-Button type of work, it simply takes time. And that's just the Market Reading skill. The rest of trading: taking losses, handling risk, getting in properly, getting out properly. Everything that every other trader has to do... takes its own time. 2-3 years seems to be roughly the time frame most should be expecting. Not easy, is that?

That's why the names of the game are Patience & Perseverance. And that's if you have the ability to handle the work. A lot of people don't. And there's nothing wrong with that, either.

I prefer retracements and I think it's because I don't trust myself yet and they feel safer: you have one swing, then a second one, and the retracement. If you pair that with an order block for me that's the easier and safer trade to take (also the most conservative in terms of profit).

Regarding ICT, the most valuable thing he's teaching is reading the markets, exactly. You can find your own setups, patterns and whatnot once you understand the underlying mechanics of the market. Before I found his tutorials I followed people like Walter Peters, who teach effective candlestick patterns that only work half the time. And it was clear if they worked half the time, that they were not the real deal, but a shadow of a different, more reliable signal, that we couldn't see. If you look at most semi-reliable systems of technical analysis, they all hinge on the underpinnings that Michael teaches. But they're mere shadows, approximations. He saw the cogwheels and he's showing them to other people. That I think it's the most valuable thing you can take away.
 
G'day all!

I have been trading since 2012, but only found ICT this year!

I have tried just about every trading indicator in the book, with little success. At one stage early in January, I had that many indicators on my chart, you couldn't see if I had any candles...hehe

I was nearly ready to throw in the towel. But it was only the voice in my head that kept saying; "If others are successful, then I can be successful!"

Fortunately I found ICT. His teaching just rang true for me. Even though I already had a couple of years under my belt, I decided to start from scratch with ICT....

So, cut to the chase Tony! I hear you say! Well, what I have taken most of all from Michael is my independence. Up until ICT I was so dependent on a combination of lagging indicators, and EA's to do the job for me. Now I am truly able to see for myself on a plain vanilla chart using price action, a couple of S&R lines, and a Fib retracement....

So for me, I really don't care what the haters say! This is the freest I've felt since I started in 2012, so thanks Michael for opening my eyes, and sacrificing your time for us... :)
 
What I've taken from ICT?
An average performance of 10% a month so far. It took a long time to get here, "years and years", indeed I follow him since 2012. First I learnt to crawl, then to stand, then run, now I run faster and faster. Most will fail because the work to put in place is BIG, I am talking of hours and hours of study day by day, I think I reached 3000 hours already.

Initially he turned my trade from loss to B/E, then slightly profitable, then more and more profitable.

His teachings serve me as a "baseline" on which I built my own way of trading and being confident.
They helped me being patience, seeing the market for what it is and thanks to him I have now a truly objective view, I know what I am doing and the probability behind it. I still need to get good at running the weekly range properly, but I know with experience I'll definitely step into the inner circle, can't wait for that moment.
Also since I live in Switzerland I could follow the markets most valuable sessions very easily. My equity is currently building up. 8)
 
outthislife said:
I guess what I'm looking for is, does FX go any deeper than ICT material? Without unnecessary convolution, that is.
Imo, very much deeper, but the reality is if a person arrives at FX trading, the are sometimes vulnerable, they need to learn.
They will encounter many avenues, many sites, many gurus, many mentors, many experienced traders.

I would say that I have a reasonable experience of most those, Mike stands out as the only one who actually doesn't look for something, some say ego, I recall the opposite.

I am a fundamentalist, usually not so popular on forums, so what have I taken from (learned from) ICT? - actually quite simple - how to apply TA.
 
THAT THE GUY IS A KUNT THE INTERNET IS FULL OF THEM I have begin feeling that Michael is a big fraud. I now think that he himself can't even have an account that profits 10% annually let alone monthly. All the tell-tale signs are present: demo trading, creating a big following, not following through with the promise/self-created challenge. Its clear that he cannot do this.

As a matter of fact, I begin doubting him right as he trapped himself into suggesting that he will turn 20k into 100k in 6 months. It was a moment of outburst against all the calling out by his critics. But then, reality set in. He had nothing to show for all talk. Then it came down to 5k being turned into 20k in 3 months. Then, a conveninent 'vacation.' Even then, he messed up again:
He said thru a new tweet that his tweets auto-delete and he was still going to follow thru with the challenge - except now, he was going to dictate some new terms for the challenge thru a video later that evening. That video never happened. His tweets got 'auto-deleted' again, but this time, it happened even before the week expired. Now, there is no talk of the challenge. Like it never was discussed - ever.

Apart from this questionable behavior to say the least, he never goes in-depth into his concepts. My experience with his concepts show me that anytime his concepts are applied towards forming a bias, an opposing bias can also be found to be equally convicting using his same concepts again. If he was true, he would make his approach more reproducible by clarifying his methodolgy. Nothing gets offered in that sense - only more videos with his victories and his 'reasons' for entering into those trades. So disingenuous.

Go and check his twitter out - all his followers. See the complete disappearance of any pretentions of that myFXbook talk.

That leaves with the question of why he is doing this when he is not collecting any payments through it all. The answer is not that complex. He does not want money as much as he wants glory. He needs it. He has stated in his videos a few times over that he suffers from a few psychological disorders. He named ADHD and obsessive/compulsive disorder. Its the second one which is dictating his steps here: an obsession for being considered 'great.' It has its allure for him. He must not need all that money to survive so he may not actually be employed as he claims. But I don't think that he ever made 20 mil trading usd/jpy initially and then about 20 mil again trading the fiber and cable.

I don't like to pass judgments like this on anyone even if its true but I spent a lot of time with his concepts. I am not saying they are useless or unprofitable. But they or this market for that matter, cannot produce the windfall as he claims it has for him. And clearly he has no proof of any of this except for an online presence. Not even 5k turned into 20k. Sad.

Read more: http://forums.babypips.com/newbie-island/73982-innercircletrader-trading-fx-like-institutions-27.html#ixzz3fHT9NYdp
 
HE IS RUNNING SCARED TO TRADE AGAINST ME ,I WILL TAKE ON ANY STUDENT ALSO PM ME IF YOU WANT TO
IM STILL WAITING ROD NOT GOING ANYWHERE
TRADING VIEW INFRONT OF EVERYONE ICT SO U CANNOT HAVE MANY ID,S LIKE U DO HERE OR DELETE POST AND BAN ME ON TWITTER
 
HAVE A NICE DAY FOLKS SEE IN A FEW MONTHS TIME ,I DID LIKE THE ID THEFT LOL
whatever next :D
 
garry said:
...
As a matter of fact, I begin doubting him right as he trapped himself into suggesting that he will turn 20k into 100k in 6 months. It was a moment of outburst against all the calling out by his critics. But then, reality set in. He had nothing to show for all talk. Then it came down to 5k being turned into 20k in 3 months...

Who says you cant trade on Vac..? :D :D

-P
 

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