All lessons
Your ICT/SMC study rulebook: one page, clear decisions
If another learner cannot repeat your rules, the rules are not finished yet.
Combine context, setup, execution and review into an original, testable practice plan.
SMC means Smart Money Concepts, a broad community label for frameworks involving structure, liquidity and price zones. Choose one pattern first, not every acronym at once. Write the product, timeframe, reference range, dated session clock and the exact evidence that creates a candidate.
Next write entry method, expiry, protective order, cost assumptions and the rule for ambiguous fills. Include no-trade conditions and a total practice-session loss limit.
Version the plan before replay. Every later change gets a new version and a fresh independent check; a more complicated document is not automatically a better strategy.
These FX SAM examples and explanations are original educational work around attributed ICT vocabulary. You are learning how to question and test a framework, not buying a guaranteed market formula.
Let’s work through it
- Mark the reference before revealing the outcome.
- Combine context, setup, execution and review into an original, testable practice plan.
- Record the result and the conditions that would reject the idea.
Let’s use numbers · hypothetical example
Practice plan A: one product,10–11 New York entry window, confirmed candidate and fixed cost ceiling. Hypothetical risk 0.25% of demo equity per attempt, max 2 failed attempts per day. This is an example of explicit limits, not a recommended safe percentage or an approved live strategy.
Easy mistakes to watch for
- Mistaken assumption: Rewrite old losing records.
- Changing the definition after seeing the result.
- Ignoring spread, slippage or the loss limit.
Keep in mind
This is a hypothetical study, not a signal. A chart label cannot identify institutional intentions or guarantee a result; include costs and a predefined loss limit.
Your turn
Write your one-page plan, hand it to another learner and compare how you both classify the same ten unseen sessions.
A quick check before we move on
What should happen after a material rule change?
- Assume extra complexity proves an edge.
- Create a new version and evaluate on fresh unseen data.
- Rewrite old losing records.
Check answer
Create a new version and evaluate on fresh unseen data. Versioning preserves the old evidence and makes the new hypothesis distinguishable.
Sources and further reading
Content reviewed: 29 October 2026
Educational material with hypothetical examples. Trading can cause substantial losses. A course, pattern, stop order or past result cannot guarantee a profit or limit every loss. Practise in simulation and check current rules and product terms in your jurisdiction.
