ICT Top Down Analysis Strategy Using Bias, Liquidity and OTZ

Learn the ICT Top-Down Analysis strategy using weekly bias, 4-hour market structure, and 15-minute entries. Identify liquidity sweeps, FVG, and order blocks for

Published · Updated · Methodology: ICT

Part of: Fair Value Gap (FVG)

  • Methodology: ICT
  • Content type: strategy
  • Timeframes: Weekly, 4-Hour, 15-Minute

Indicators used

  • Fair Value Gap (FVG)
  • Order Block
  • CISD
  • Optimal Trading Zone (OTZ)
  • Liquidity Sweeps
  • Change of Character

Source video

Decoded from: ICT Top Down Analysis Strategy Using Bias, Liquidity and OTZ by Com Lucro Trader — watch the original

Key timestamps:

  • 0:00 - Introduction
  • 0:40 - Strategy overview
  • 3:08 - Weekly Bias Identification
  • 3:58 - 4-Hour Market Structure Shift
  • 5:19 - Defining the Optimal Trading Zone (OTZ)
  • 7:02 - 15-Minute Aggressive Entry Model (FVG & OB)
  • 9:11 - 15-Minute Confirmation Entry Model (CISD)
  • 10:12 - 4-Hour Structural Entry Model

Strategy overview

A fair value gap is the imbalance a fast move leaves behind when price travels too quickly for both sides to transact, and it is usually taught as a standalone entry zone. This strategy treats it differently: the FVG is not the thesis, it is the last link in a chain of decisions that starts three timeframes higher. By the time a gap matters here, the direction has already been argued for on the weekly and confirmed on the 4-hour.

Decoded from the video "ICT Top Down Analysis Strategy Using Bias, Liquidity and OTZ" by Com Lucro Trader, the material walks down a fixed ladder: weekly bias first, then a 4-hour market structure shift, then the definition of an Optimal Trading Zone (OTZ), and only then a 15-minute execution model built around fair value gaps and order blocks. Supporting concepts — liquidity sweeps, change of character, CISD — appear as confirmation along the way rather than as separate setups. The emphasis is on sequence: each timeframe narrows the question the next one has to answer, so the 15-minute chart is never read in isolation.

That structure is what distinguishes top-down ICT work from single-chart pattern trading, and it is also where it gets demanding. Three timeframes mean three places to be wrong, and a clean gap on the 15-minute means little if the higher-timeframe bias behind it was misread. This page collects the concepts and timeframe roles the video covers; the full walkthrough of how each layer is defined lives in the source video itself.

Topics

ict trading · ict strategy · top down analysis · liquidity sweeps · fair value gaps · order blocks · optimal trading zone · weekly analysis · 4 hour strategy · 15 minute strategy · shorting strategy · price action · trading strategy · tradingview strategy · pine script

Frequently asked questions

What is top-down analysis in ICT trading?

Top-down analysis works from the highest timeframe to the lowest: a directional bias is established on a slow chart, refined on an intermediate chart, and only executed on a fast chart. Each step constrains the next, so lower-timeframe signals are only taken when they agree with the higher-timeframe read.

What timeframes does this strategy use?

Three: the weekly chart for directional bias, the 4-hour chart for the market structure shift, and the 15-minute chart for the entry model. The video assigns a distinct job to each rather than treating them as interchangeable.

What is an Optimal Trading Zone (OTZ)?

In ICT-style analysis, an OTZ is a narrowed area within a price leg where a retracement is expected before continuation — the region a trader waits for instead of chasing the move. In this video it sits between the 4-hour structure read and the 15-minute entry, defining where the entry model is allowed to look for a trigger.

How does the fair value gap fit into a top-down approach like this?

It functions as a trigger, not a signal on its own — the gap is only actionable once the higher-timeframe bias and the zone have already been established. Strategy Decoder catalogs strategies like this one from video sources so you can see how the same concept is applied across different frameworks.

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.

Strategy Decoder catalogs 2,229 decoded strategies. Each one is extracted with confidence scoring, cross-linked to the indicators it uses, and kept up to date as new videos are processed daily. Load this page with JavaScript enabled to use the interactive tools, or start from the strategy explorer to filter by methodology, market and timeframe.

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