Asian Range
Also: Asian Session Range, Asian Session
Material Conflict
Versions contain contradictory rules — review version history below.
The price range established between 8:00 PM and 12:00 AM (midnight) New York time each day. This four-hour window represents the quiet Asian trading session during which institutional players allow orders to build above and below market price. A tight, narrow Asian range (20–30 pips) is a prerequisite for high-probability London Open killzone setups, as it signals banks are deliberately consolidating price to build float before London manipulation. The Asian range high and low serve as reference levels for standard deviation projections and stop placement in day-trade setups.
Identification6
- Time window: 8:00 PM New York time (start) to 12:00 AM midnight New York time (end)
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- If Asian range exceeds 40 pips it is considered unfavorable for London Open day trades
- Must visually appear as a clear narrow consolidation contrasting with prior day's intraday action
- The Asian range immediately follows the Central Bank Dealers Range (which ends at 8:00 PM NY)
Entry3
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- One to two standard deviations of the Asian range from the range boundary = projected London session extreme
Stop2
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Target2
- Two standard deviations of the Asian range project the London session high (sell day) or low (buy day)
- Scale out every two standard deviations of the Asian range
Invalidation2
- Asian range is wide, erratic, or trending rather than consolidating
- If Asian range is greater than 40 pips after a Central Bank Dealers Range also greater than 40 pips, the London delayed-protraction profile criteria must be met or London is avoided
Inferred Conditions (Unvalidated)
- The Yen pairs (AUD/JPY, NZD/JPY) and Oceanic pairs (AUD/USD, NZD/USD) may form their daily low or high during the Asian session rather than London — this is an exception to the general rule
- The narrow Asian range is evidence that banks are deliberately suppressing volatility to allow order accumulation above and below price
- An Asian range that is trending (not consolidating) means the major move likely began at zero GMT and will carry through to New York with little meaningful London retracement
ICT Quotes
"Every day at 8pm eastern standard time in New York time. This begins the Asian range. Every day at midnight Eastern Standard Time New York ends the Asian range."
"This is going to also have a classic range of 20 to 30 pips, if it's larger than that, again, this profile will not be existing."
"between 8pm New York time, midnight, New York time, we're gonna be looking for consolidation in the range of 20 to 30 pips. If they can consolidate Asian range 2030 pips after a larger than 40 pips central bank dealers range, then we can go back to electing to look for this profile."
Timeframes
Version History4 versions
74-ICT Mentorship Core Content - Month 8 - Defining The Daily Range.srt
""Every day at 8pm eastern standard time in New York time. This begins the Asian range. Every day at midnight Eastern Standard Time New York ends the Asian range.""
Definitive mentorship time boundaries for Asian range
ICT YT - 2022-02-02 - ICT Mentorship 2022 Episode 5.srt
""The idea of trading the Asian range and things like that — they are not applicable to these markets. Index futures do not use the Asian range model.""
MATERIAL CONFLICT: ICT explicitly states in Episode 5 of the 2022 mentorship that the Asian Range concept is NOT applicable to index futures (ES/NQ/YM). The Asian Range framework remains valid for Forex pairs (as defined in the 2017 content), but traders using this concept should be aware it does NOT transfer to equities index futures. Attempting to apply Asian Range standard deviation projections to ES/NQ will produce incorrect setups.
22 - ICT 2026 Smart Money Concepts Lecture ⧹ January 12, 2026.en.srt
"Asian session ends and closes around 5:00 a.m. Eastern time. Okay. So that's about right there. Okay. So if this is our delineation for Asian session close and this is for forex for equities, you know…"
2026 SESSION vs KILL ZONE TEACHING: ICT devotes significant time distinguishing the full Asian session (7 PM to 5 AM ET) from the Asian kill zone (7 PM to 9 PM ET, a 2-hour window). When looking for smooth highs/lows as liquidity draw targets, scan the ENTIRE session range, not just the kill zone. The kill zone is the optimal entry window; the session range defines the full scope of overnight liquidity formation. Same distinction applies to London: kill zone 2-5 AM ET vs session extending to 10-11 AM ET.
21 - ICT 2026 Smart Money Concepts Lecture ⧹ January 13, 2026.en.srt
"I misspoke last night and I said 7:00 a.m. to 900 pm in my haste. And that would have been something if it would have been a recorded session. I would have had controlm tapped and then fixed it... for…"
2026 CORRECTION: ICT corrects a prior stream misspeaking where he said "7 AM to 9 PM" for the Asian session kill zone. The correct kill zone is 7 PM to 9 PM Eastern time — a 2-hour window. Applies equally to forex and index futures. The full Asian session remains 7 PM to 5 AM ET.
Notes
The Asian range is structurally coupled with the Central Bank Dealers Range — CBDR runs 2:00 PM to 8:00 PM NY, Asian range runs 8:00 PM to 12:00 AM NY. Together they form the pre-London consolidation window. When both are narrow and tight, the London Open killzone setup probability is highest. The Asian range is also used as a standard deviation multiplier for projecting daily highs/lows — one standard deviation equals the full pip range of the Asian range added above (sell days) or subtracted below (buy days) from the respective boundary. MATERIAL CONFLICT — INDEX FUTURES INAPPLICABILITY (Ep 5, 2022): ICT explicitly states in the 2022 mentorship that the Asian Range concept and the "idea of trading the Asian range" are NOT applicable to index futures markets (ES/NQ/YM). This concept is FOREX-ONLY. The equivalent framework for index futures morning session is the Opening Range (see opening-range.yaml) based on the 8:30 AM NY reference and the Judas Swing extreme. Do NOT use Asian Range projections for index futures setups. 2026 SESSION vs KILL ZONE DISTINCTION (Jan 12-13, 2026): ICT emphatically distinguishes the Asian SESSION from the Asian KILL ZONE. The full Asian session runs from 7:00 PM to 5:00 AM Eastern time. The Asian kill zone is a 2-hour window (7:00 PM to 9:00 PM ET) — the "sweet spot for trading." ICT states: "Session is not kill zone. If it was just that easy, I never would have said kill zone." When searching for smooth highs/lows as liquidity targets, use the ENTIRE session range (7 PM to 5 AM), not just the kill zone. On Jan 13, ICT corrected a misspeaking from the prior stream where he said "7 AM to 9:00 PM" — the correct kill zone is 7 PM to 9 PM (a 2-hour window). London session similarly distinguished: London kill zone is 2:00 AM to 5:00 AM ET (with 4:00 AM as the sweet spot); the full London session extends to 10:00-11:00 AM ET. For PM session trading, look back through 2:00 AM to 11:00 AM for the broadbrush range of smooth highs and lows.
Asymmetry Notes
Symmetrical — same time window and width criteria apply regardless of bullish or bearish directional bias.