HTF PD Array Hierarchy
Also: PDA Array Hierarchy, PD Array Order of Importance, Premium Discount Array Hierarchy, PDA Arrays
Visual Context Required
This concept requires chart visuals for full understanding.
The HTF PD Array Hierarchy is an ordered framework for identifying and prioritising institutional price reference levels (PD arrays) on higher timeframe charts (monthly, weekly, daily) when price is expected to travel from a discount to a premium (bullish) or from a premium to a discount (bearish). Price moves between the extremes of a defined range — premium (resistance) and discount (support) — with the midpoint as equilibrium. Arrays are consulted in a specific sequence depending on whether price is approaching from below (seeking premium) or from above (seeking discount). The hierarchy ensures the analyst does not skip to a distant array when a closer one will intercept price first. A breaker block (bullish or bearish) takes absolute precedence over all other arrays on its side of the market when present below or above current price respectively; if a breaker exists, the higher arrays (fair value gap, order block) are unlikely to be reached. The same hierarchy applies identically to monthly, weekly, and daily charts. PREMIUM ARRAY HIERARCHY (price travelling up from equilibrium/discount, listed in order encountered — lowest to highest): 1. Mitigation Block 2. Bearish Breaker 3. Liquidity Void 4. Fair Value Gap 5. Bearish Order Block 6. Rejection Block 7. Old High / Historical Low (acting as resistance) DISCOUNT ARRAY HIERARCHY (price travelling down from equilibrium/premium, listed in order encountered — highest to lowest): 1. Mitigation Block 2. Bullish Breaker 3. Liquidity Void 4. Fair Value Gap 5. Bullish Order Block 6. Rejection Block 7. Old Low / Historical High (acting as support)
Identification6
- Define the current trading range using the most recent swing high and swing low on the target timeframe
- Mark equilibrium as the midpoint of that range
- Determine whether price is in premium (above equilibrium), discount (below equilibrium), or at equilibrium
- From current price, scan left on the chart for arrays in the expected travel direction using the hierarchy order
- A bearish breaker present above current price in a sell scenario, or a bullish breaker present below in a buy scenario, takes precedence and limits expectation to that level
- If no mitigation block or breaker exists, check for liquidity void, then fair value gap, then order block
Invalidation2
- Breaker block does not hold — price trades through it; escalate to next array in hierarchy
- Array at a given level has already been traded to previously — remove it from the chart; it no longer acts as the same reference
Inferred Conditions (Unvalidated)
- When a daily PD array fails to hold, the next supportive level is a weekly PD array — not a lower daily level
- When a weekly PD array fails to hold, the next supportive level is a monthly PD array
- Rapid, one-sided price moves (e.g., post-election surges) reaching a distant array indicate that closer arrays have been absorbed or were insufficient
- All prices ultimately oscillate between premium and discount; equilibrium is always the minimum rebalancing target
- Even a market that fails to reach full premium or full discount will at minimum return to equilibrium — this is always a reasonable minimum target
- In an uptrend on the daily chart, every down candle is a potential bullish order block where institutions are building longs; price returning to that candle later is a re-entry signal
ICT Quotes
"The algorithm has similar thought processes built into it. And we look at it in the form of a premium and a discount market."
"Old High old low. The next thing you'd be looking for as a rejection block... Then the bearish order block, a fair value gap. Liquidity void. Bearish breaker and the mitigation block."
"Breakers by themselves even though they're low end on this list. That's the first thing you're going to encounter. Because if you're at equilibrium, and price has already been moving away from a resistance level, you're looking up now for any potential areas to resell at. First, when you look at the mitigation block, or bearish breaker."
"When markets are at a premium or a discount, they're always going to initially look to rebalance. That means the equilibrium price point between the last recent range."
Timeframes
Version History1 version
52-ICT Mentorship Core Content - Month 5 - Defining HTF PD Arrays.srt
"I want to teach you the hierarchy on the tools that I use for framing the trades... these same arrays are the same things that we've talked about since the beginning of the mentorship, but we're going…"
Initial definition from January 2017 mentorship lesson 6.1
Notes
This lesson is explicitly labelled lesson 6.1; lesson 6.2 (file 53) provides the practical application to the USD/JPY November 2016 long trade. The array types referenced (order block, breaker, fair value gap, liquidity void, rejection block, mitigation block) are defined in earlier mentorship modules and in separate YAML concept files. The hierarchy applies identically across monthly, weekly, and daily timeframes. ICT uses the phrase "PDA arrays" and "PD arrays" interchangeably.
Asymmetry Notes
The hierarchy is structurally symmetrical between bullish (discount) and bearish (premium) directions, with arrays mirrored. A bearish breaker in the premium zone stops upward progression; a bullish breaker in the discount zone stops downward progression. The order block is always deeper into premium or discount than a breaker, and the old high/low is the deepest extreme.