Candle Range Theory (CRT), Smart Money Concepts

Discover the Candle Range Theory (CRT) strategy for Forex pre-market trading. This ICT-based approach identifies false breakouts for counter-trend entries.

Published · Updated · Methodology: ICT

Part of: Candle Range Theory (CRT)

  • Methodology: ICT
  • Content type: strategy
  • Timeframes: Pre-market
  • Markets: Forex

Indicators used

  • Candle Range Theory (CRT)
  • Smart Money Concepts

Source video

Decoded from: Trading Algorítmico EN LIVE— GW CRT | Challenge WSF 25k by José Martínez - GreaterWaves — watch the original

Key timestamps:

  • 0:00 - Introduction to EA GW CRT
  • 0:00 - Explanation of Candle Range Theory (CRT)
  • 0:00 - Pre-market range definition
  • 0:00 - False breakout entry logic

Strategy overview

Candle Range Theory treats a single higher-timeframe candle as a range and watches for price to sweep one of its extremes and close back inside before turning. What this entry decodes is not a lesson in that idea but a live broadcast of it running unattended: the session is titled "Trading Algorítmico EN LIVE — GW CRT | Challenge WSF 25k", and the subject on screen is an expert advisor, GW CRT, trading a prop-firm evaluation account in real time on José Martínez's Spanish-language channel GreaterWaves.

That framing changes what is actually being demonstrated. The market decides whether a setup works; the firm decides whether the account survives, through constraints that exist nowhere inside CRT — drawdown ceilings and a profit target defined by the evaluation, with the specific limits of this one not on record here. An automated strategy inside a challenge is being judged on two things at once, and the second is path-dependent: the same set of trades in a different order can pass or fail. A live stream is the one format where that distinction is visible as it happens rather than summarized afterwards.

The single timeframe on record is "Pre-market", which is an unusual anchor for this method. CRT is normally built on a calendar candle — daily, weekly, monthly — whose boundaries are identical for everyone, whereas a pre-market window is defined by a venue and a broker's session hours, so the "candle" being ranged is not one fixed object across data feeds. The listed sections of the stream cover the EA itself, the CRT explanation, that pre-market range definition and a false-breakout entry, but all four markers carry the same 0:00 stamp, so they read as a topic list rather than a way to locate any of it inside the broadcast, and no rule set from this session is recorded on this page.

Topics

candle range theory · smart money concepts · ict trading · forex strategy · pre-market trading · trading strategy · false breakout strategy · counter-trend strategy · algorithmic trading · pine script · tradingview strategy

Frequently asked questions

What is Candle Range Theory (CRT)?

CRT reads a single higher-timeframe candle as a range and watches how price interacts with its high and low. A run through one extreme followed by a close back inside the range is read as a sign that the move through it was not accepted, and the range itself then frames where the trader looks next.

What does it mean to trade CRT as an expert advisor (EA)?

It means the discretionary judgments — which candle defines the range, what counts as a sweep, when an entry triggers — have been fixed in code so the system executes without an operator watching. This session shows such an automation running live rather than walking through how it was built.

Why does a prop firm challenge change how a strategy should be judged?

Because a challenge adds rules that come from the firm rather than the market: loss limits and a profit target inside an evaluation window. A method can be sound in principle and still fail an evaluation on sequencing alone, so a passing or failing run tells you about that account's particular path, not about the method in general.

Is the pre-market range the same on every platform?

Not necessarily. Pre-market is a session window rather than a calendar candle, so its start and end depend on the instrument's venue and the broker's session settings, and two data feeds can draw a different range for the same morning. Pinning that definition down is the first step in testing any pre-market-anchored idea — Strategy Decoder catalogs strategies like this one from video sources so you can compare how each version defines its range.

About this strategy page

This trading strategy was decoded by Strategy Decoder's AI from a public YouTube trading video and turned into a structured, reviewable specification. In the interactive app this page shows the full entry and exit logic, risk management settings, the indicators involved with their parameters, AlgoWizard-compatible logic and a Pine Script export ready for TradingView backtesting — plus an automated backtest verdict when one has been computed for this strategy.

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