ICT Liquidity Void Explained: Fills, FVGs and Entries

A currency pair leaves a narrow trading range in three large candles. Minutes later, someone marks the entire move and says price must return to fill the liquidity void. That statement combines a useful observation with a dangerous assumption. The rapid move is visible. A guaranteed return, a deadline for that return, and a profitable trade back through it are not.

ICT liquidity void analysis becomes more useful when you separate the range being studied from the decision to trade it. You need a consistent boundary, a way to distinguish a partial revisit from a complete traversal, and independent evidence for an entry. Without those distinctions, a chart can eventually reach your predicted level while the actual trade loses money first.

This guide explains the concept through institutional order flow thinking without pretending that a retail candle reveals every transaction. It compares liquidity voids with fair value gaps, develops a repeatable measurement convention, and works through two hypothetical EUR/USD trades. One reaches its target, while the other stops out before the anticipated range is revisited. Ghana session timing and transaction costs are included throughout.

1. What is an ICT liquidity void?

In ICT’s original Month 4 lesson on liquidity voids, the discussion centres on broad directional ranges, often visible as long candles leaving a consolidation, and the possibility that price later trades back through them. The lesson also states that there is no fixed timetable for such a revisit. A large move can appear as several candles on a lower timeframe and as one candle on a higher timeframe.

The word void is therefore a chart interpretation rather than a literal statement that nobody traded inside the interval. Every completed transaction has counterparties. An ordinary candle records an open, high, low, and close from a particular feed; it does not show the full sequence of transactions, resting orders, cancellations, or dealer inventory that produced those prices.

Directional delivery versus measured market liquidity

In ICT and SMC language, an aggressive decline is often described as sell-side delivery, while an aggressive advance is described as buy-side delivery. These phrases emphasise the direction in which price moved. They should not be read as evidence that a decline contained no buyers or that an advance contained no sellers. Likewise, a lack of visible retracement on a five-minute chart does not prove that no two-way trading occurred within each candle.

The BIS report on FX execution algorithms and market functioning describes a fragmented market in which internalisation reduces trade visibility and complicates liquidity measurement. The practical inference for a retail chart reader is modest: candlestick geometry is insufficient to measure the whole market’s available liquidity. That does not make the geometry useless, but it limits the claims you can make from it.

Name the void by the move that created it

This article calls an interval created by a rapid decline a bearish displacement void, and one created by a rapid advance a bullish displacement void. That naming convention describes formation direction. A later long trade into a bearish displacement void is still a long trade. Keeping the formation label separate from the order direction prevents an easy source of confusion in journals and tutorials.

The original move can continue for a considerable distance before any meaningful return. Alternatively, price can begin revisiting the interval almost immediately. The presence of the marked range does not decide which path will occur. Your analysis must account for surrounding structure, nearby liquidity references, timing, and whether the current session has already delivered its main objective.

2. Liquidity void versus fair value gap versus session gap

A liquidity void describes a broader area of rapid delivery. A fair value gap uses a specific relationship between three candles. A session opening gap compares prices across a trading interruption or session boundary. These features can coexist, but they are not three names for exactly the same interval.

Consider three bearish EUR/USD candles with a broad body envelope from 1.09346 down to 1.09162. If the first candle’s low is 1.09271 and the third candle’s high is 1.09224, the nested bearish FVG is only 1.09224 to 1.09271. The void envelope is 18.4 pips wide, while that FVG is 4.7 pips wide. Returning through the smaller interval does not automatically traverse the larger one.

Nor does the FVG mean that those prices were never traded. The middle candle passed through the interval in the displayed sequence. The FVG condition concerns the non-overlap of the first and third candles’ wicks. Our fair value gap guide develops that three-candle construction; this article focuses on the broader displacement range and its later treatment.

A weekend or daily session gap requires a different timestamp comparison. The New Week Opening Gap guide explains why market hours and broker feeds matter there. If your platform simply missed quotes, check another reliable view before assigning an institutional narrative to the blank space.

3. How to identify and draw a liquidity void consistently

There is no single rectangle that every trader must draw around every rapid move. Some studies include all wicks, while others focus on bodies or smaller imbalances inside the move. You need a declared convention so that another person can reproduce your measurements. Changing boundaries after a partial return makes your fill statistics meaningless.

For the worked examples, we use an illustrative three-candle body-envelope protocol. This is an editorial research convention, not an official mechanical definition attributed to ICT. It intentionally narrows the broad visual concept into something that can be recorded before the outcome:

1. Mark the starting context. Record the compact range or other price area from which the departure begins. Use completed information and note the execution timeframe.
2. Select the first three qualifying departure candles. They must close in the same direction, with each real body occupying at least sixty percent of its own high-to-low range. The first must close beyond the premarked starting range.
3. Compare size with recent movement. Require the resulting body envelope to be at least twice the median full candle range of the preceding twenty completed candles. This is a relative expansion filter, not a universal threshold for market illiquidity.
4. Freeze the envelope after the third close. Its upper edge is the highest open or close across those three candles. Its lower edge is the lowest open or close. Store the start and end timestamps.
5. Draw nested features separately. Record any FVG, body midpoint, and full wick extremes under their own labels. Do not merge them simply because they occur during the same departure.
6. Track subsequent visits from that point onward. If later candles extend the move, keep the original study interval fixed. Any additional interval needs a separate identifier and must not be counted as an independent trade without justification.

Apply the measurements to the bearish example

The three selected candles have open-to-close movements of 1.09346 to 1.09278, 1.09278 to 1.09216, and 1.09216 to 1.09162. Their bodies measure 6.8, 6.2, and 5.4 pips. Their full ranges measure 8.3, 7.7, and 7.3 pips, so each body exceeds the sixty-percent requirement. The preceding twenty-candle median range is assumed to be 3.1 pips. The 18.4-pip envelope is larger than twice that median, 6.2 pips.

The fixed upper edge is 1.09346 and the lower edge is 1.09162. The envelope midpoint is (1.09346 + 1.09162) ÷ 2 = 1.09254. The full wick extremes are 1.09354 and 1.09151, which would produce a different 20.3-pip interval. We retain those extremes in the record without silently substituting them for the body-envelope boundaries.

A different timeframe can compress the three candles into one larger bar or reveal many smaller reactions inside them. Preserve the original timestamps and prices when changing chart scale. A new candle representation does not retroactively change the interval you committed to studying. If the boundaries change because you intentionally switch methods, start a new measurement record.

4. Partial revisit, midpoint touch, and complete traversal

A return into a range is not an all-or-nothing event. For a bearish displacement void revisited upward, price reaches the lower edge first, then may move toward the midpoint and upper edge. For a bullish displacement void revisited downward, the sequence begins at the upper edge. Define these events separately instead of assigning the word “filled” to any touch you find encouraging.

For an upward revisit into our bearish interval, penetration percentage is (highest subsequent price inside or beyond the interval − lower edge) ÷ interval width × 100, bounded between zero and one hundred percent. The corresponding downward measure uses the upper edge minus the lowest subsequent price. These are measures of price reach, not transaction volume or restored order-book depth.

If the highest subsequent price reaches 1.09283, the upward penetration is (1.09283 − 1.09162) ÷ (1.09346 − 1.09162) × 100 = 65.8%, rounded. Price has exceeded the envelope midpoint but has not reached its far edge. The highest revisit should be measured only after the formation is frozen, otherwise you would accidentally count the original departure’s own prices as a return.

A gap across the interval can satisfy an extreme-based reach measurement without demonstrating continuous trading through every price. Record that separately. Likewise, a wick touching the far edge and a candle body closing beyond it are different observations. Choose the event that your research calls a complete fill, and use that definition consistently.

Repeated partial revisits do not add together like water poured into a container. Two visits that each reach halfway do not equal a complete traversal. Track the greatest qualifying penetration or the actual coverage measure you specified. Do not invent a cumulative fill percentage by summing overlapping price movements.

5. Why the void matters, and when it should not drive a trade

A marked interval can help organise the potential path of a later move. If price has taken a nearby liquidity reference and displaced back toward the interval, the near edge, midpoint, and far edge provide measurable objectives. The void then contributes to a directional scenario without becoming the sole reason to enter.

It can also help you avoid chasing the original displacement. A late entry after several expanded candles may leave an awkward stop distance or place the trade close to the next opposing area. Recording the interval gives you something specific to reassess if price returns, rather than treating every pullback as either a missed opportunity or a guaranteed reversal.

Trading into the range and trading away from it are different models

A trader anticipating a revisit may look for a reversal setup outside the interval and use the void as an objective. A continuation trader may instead study a return into a nested FVG or order block, then look for renewed movement in the original direction. Both discussions can involve the same chart, but they require different triggers, stops, and targets.

Do not switch between those interpretations to defend an open position. A long intended to participate in an upward revisit is not automatically justified when the market rejects a nested bearish FVG and resumes declining. Conversely, a continuation short is not improved merely because the broader interval remains partly unvisited. The trade needs its own invalidation rule.

There is no countdown to a fill

A news-driven repricing can leave price away from the marked interval for longer than your trading horizon. A void that is revisited weeks later cannot justify holding an intraday position indefinitely. Define a session or research horizon before entry. If that horizon ends without the expected event, record the observation honestly.

Higher timeframe context can also conflict with a local revisit idea. If the original displacement is aligned with a strong move toward a still-unreached liquidity objective, an immediate counter-direction trade requires more than an empty-looking rectangle. Compare the quality of the new structural evidence with the strength and location of the original move. Sometimes the appropriate result is to keep the range on the chart and place no order.

6. A practical entry process for trading toward a void

For this guide, the range is a possible destination. The entry model is a separate sequence: a run beyond a previously marked swing, a completed displacement through a relevant internal swing in the opposite direction, and a later retest of that broken internal level. This combines the void with a liquidity sweep and a clearly defined market structure shift.

The run beyond the earlier swing is observable. The presence of stop orders there is an ICT liquidity hypothesis unless you have direct order data. Mark the swing before it is crossed, and record the completed close that breaks internal structure. “It looked like a stop hunt” is not enough detail to reproduce a decision.

After that confirming close, the illustrative long uses a buy limit at the broken internal high; the short uses a sell limit at the broken internal low. The stop is outside the confirmation candle’s adverse extreme with a stated buffer. This is a local response model. It does not require a stop beyond the entire sweep, and it does not claim that the broader reversal is impossible after the local stop is hit.

Before placing an order, calculate remaining reward to a target selected inside the void and include transaction costs. Our study requires at least 2R after the stated allowance, allows one attempt per selected setup, and expires an unfilled order after fifteen minutes or at the session cutoff, whichever comes first. Cancel an unfilled order if its target is reached first. These are teaching rules chosen to make the examples testable, not proven optimal settings.

Once filled, the plan uses one protective stop and one full-position target. If neither is reached before the session cutoff, exit at the available executable price and record the actual result. Do not widen the stop because the far edge of the void remains unvisited. Scheduled news, abnormal spreads, and unavailable order distances should be handled through written exclusion rules before the trade, rather than improvised explanations afterward.

7. Complete long example into a bearish displacement void

This is a hypothetical five-minute EUR/USD sequence during a winter London session. All times are candle closing times in Ghana GMT. A compact starting range spans 1.09325 to 1.09361. The three bearish candles described earlier close at 8:05, 8:10, and 8:15 AM. After the third close, the body-envelope void is fixed at 1.09162 to 1.09346.

Price pauses below the interval. The 8:20 AM candle establishes an internal high at 1.09181, while subsequent movement produces a low at 1.09129. At 8:30 AM, price trades below that low to 1.09104 and closes back above it. This supplies the illustrated sweep observation. No long is assumed at the sweep low.

The 8:35 AM candle closes at 1.09204, above the previously marked internal high of 1.09181. Its high is 1.09212 and its low is 1.09142. Only after that close does the plan place a buy limit at 1.09181. The protective stop is 1.09126, 1.6 pips below the confirmation candle’s low. The target is 1.09331, 1.5 pips before the void’s far edge.

The later 8:40 AM retracement reaches 1.09169, allowing the planned fill in the simplified reference-price sequence. Subsequent movement reaches the target around 9:00 AM. The illustrated final high of 1.09339 still falls short of the 1.09346 far edge. The trade can therefore achieve its objective without the study interval being completely traversed.

At entry eligibility, the confirmation high has already reached (1.09212 − 1.09162) ÷ 0.00184 × 100 = 27.2% of the interval. The planned target corresponds to (1.09331 − 1.09162) ÷ 0.00184 × 100 = 91.8%. These percentages describe the void’s geometry. They are not the trade’s profit percentage or its probability of success.

Position sizing and execution

For a hypothetical US$4,000 account, a chosen risk budget of 0.25% equals US$10. A standard EUR/USD contract of 100,000 euros has a US$10 pip value in a US dollar account. Using the 6.4-pip cost-inclusive loss, position size is US$10 ÷ (6.4 × US$10) = 0.15625 standard lot. Rounding down to 0.15 lot when the broker permits 0.01-lot increments gives an estimated stop loss of 6.4 × US$1.50 = US$9.60 and target profit of 14.1 × US$1.50 = US$21.15.

The 0.9-pip allowance combines spread, commission expressed in pips, and expected execution friction in a simplified reference-price model. Real execution can be worse. A long opens at the ask and closes at the bid, so a bid-chart touch alone does not necessarily establish the assumed entry. If your test uses executable bid-and-ask quotes, the spread is reflected there; add only remaining costs instead of charging the spread twice.

The local stop lies above the sweep low. That is intentional: the trade tests a response around the broken internal high after confirmation. It can fail before the entire reversal hypothesis fails. A plan requiring a stop beyond the sweep would need a different risk calculation, smaller position, and fresh eligibility assessment before entry.

8. Short example: the void is revisited after the trade loses

For a separate hypothetical winter New York session, three bullish candles create a body-envelope interval from 1.08327 to 1.08513. Their open-to-close movements are 1.08327 to 1.08396, 1.08396 to 1.08457, and 1.08457 to 1.08513. Each meets the study’s body-proportion filter, and the 18.6-pip envelope exceeds twice the assumed preceding twenty-candle median range of 3.0 pips. The midpoint is 1.08420.

After the advance, price runs above a previously marked high of 1.08536 to 1.08564. A later bearish confirmation candle closes at 1.08451 at 12:35 PM Ghana GMT, below the internal low of 1.08488. Its high is 1.08531. The subsequent plan uses a sell limit at 1.08488, a stop at 1.08542, 1.1 pips above the confirmation high, and a target at 1.08343, 1.6 pips before the void’s lower edge.

Price risk is (1.08542 − 1.08488) ÷ 0.00010 = 5.4 pips. Price reward is (1.08488 − 1.08343) ÷ 0.00010 = 14.5 pips. The planned ratio before costs is 14.5 ÷ 5.4 = 2.69R, or approximately 1:2.69. With the same illustrative 0.9-pip round-trip allowance, it becomes (14.5 − 0.9) ÷ (5.4 + 0.9) = 13.6 ÷ 6.3 = 2.16R.

The 12:40 PM retracement reaches 1.08504 and fills the reference-price entry. At 12:45 PM, a further rise reaches 1.08546, passing the planned stop at 1.08542. This trade loses an estimated 6.3 pips including the allowance. Only later, at 1:10 PM, does the hypothetical decline reach 1.08324, beyond the void’s lower boundary.

The final range revisit does not turn the stopped trade into a winner. The chronological record is entry, stop, then later far-edge traversal. Holding the position through the stop because the void “still needed filling” would be a different, unbounded decision. This is why a fill-rate statistic cannot substitute for testing an entry strategy.

A short closes at the ask, which can trigger its protective stop even when a bid-only chart appears just short of that level. Record the broker’s actual trigger and fill information. The illustrative outcome above assumes the stated reference prices and cost allowance; actual losses can differ if spreads expand or execution slips.

9. Ghana session times and practical chart preparation

Ghana remains on GMT throughout the year. New York changes between UTC−5 and UTC−4. The familiar London Kill Zone of 7 to 10 AM Ghana time and New York Kill Zone of noon to 3 PM Ghana time are winter conversions of the New York anchors used here. The corresponding summer conversions are one hour earlier. The underlying offsets are documented in the Ghana time zone reference and New York clock-change reference.

This table converts specified New York windows. It does not claim that London’s local opening has a constant relationship to New York throughout the weeks when their clock-change dates differ. Record the timezone used by your platform and whether candles are labelled by opening or closing time. All worked-example timestamps in this article refer to closes.

Before the session, check scheduled releases for both currencies, identify nearby higher timeframe areas, and record any existing voids separately from new ones. A range from yesterday can remain a useful observation, but it should not inherit today’s entry eligibility automatically. The London Kill Zone guide provides broader preparation; this method adds fixed interval boundaries and explicit revisit tracking.

If a release causes a sudden expansion, wait until your measurement and execution conditions are satisfied. Large candles do not reduce the significance of spread, slippage, or unavailable quotes. The speed of the move is precisely why a plausible chart setup can still be impractical to execute.

10. How to test a liquidity void without inventing an edge

Keep an interval record and a trade record. The interval record stores timeframe, feed, starting context, formation timestamps, boundary convention, width, nested FVGs, first revisit, deepest penetration, far-edge reach, and the observation horizon. The trade record stores the trigger, order placement time, executable fill, stop, target, costs, and realised outcome. Linking them preserves the difference between a good forecast and a good trade.

Choose the observation horizon before collecting results. “Reached within the same session” and “reached at any point in the next month” are different claims. A sample ending before the chosen horizon is complete should be marked incomplete, not automatically classified as a permanent failure or silently removed. Report the number of such records.

Also avoid selection bias. If you save only dramatic moves that eventually return, your sample cannot estimate how often returns occur. Use a consistent formation rule, include intervals that remain untouched, and avoid counting multiple overlapping boxes from one departure as independent evidence. The purpose of the three-candle protocol is to make that discipline possible, not to assert that its thresholds are uniquely correct.

For trades, preserve losses that occur before an eventual range traversal. If a candle contains both stop and target and the available data cannot establish the order, mark it ambiguous or apply a disclosed conservative assumption. Review costs using the actual quote conventions of your account. A small theoretical advantage can disappear when idealised fills are replaced by executable prices.

The CFTC’s forex customer advisory discusses leverage and dealer-dependent trading conditions. Its US regulatory references do not establish a broker’s authorisation in Ghana. For this study, the practical application is to verify contract specifications, margin requirements, order behaviour, and transaction costs, then use replay and demo execution before considering capital exposure.

11. Frequently asked questions

Build the surrounding framework with the guides to fair value gaps, ICT order blocks, and market structure shifts. Use London Kill Zone preparation and the ICT Judas Swing explanation to organise session context. Then study each void as a fixed price interval, with a separate record for the trade you actually could have taken.