IPDA Data Ranges
Also: IPDA-data-range, interbank-price-delivery-algorithm-data-ranges, 20-40-60-day-ranges, lookback-cast-forward
Visual Context Required
This concept requires chart visuals for full understanding.
IPDA Data Ranges are the three standardised lookback windows — 20, 40, and 60 trading days — that ICT asserts the Interbank Price Delivery Algorithm (IPDA) uses to locate institutional liquidity targets. The algorithm scans the highest high and lowest low within each of the three ranges to identify where large-fund stop orders (buy stops above highs, sell stops below lows) are resting, then reprices toward those levels. The same three intervals are applied symmetrically: the trader looks back 20, 40, and 60 trading days from the most recent quarterly-shift anchor to identify pre-existing liquidity pools, fair value gaps, liquidity voids, and order blocks; then casts forward 20, 40, and 60 trading days to define the time window within which a significant price delivery event or new quarterly shift is expected. The total observable window (look-back + cast-forward) is 120 trading days.
Identification12
- Anchor to the first trading day of the calendar month containing the most recent quarterly-scale market-structure shift.
- Count 20 trading days to the left of the anchor: note the highest high and lowest low in that near-term range — these are near-term liquidity pool targets.
- Count 40 trading days to the left of the anchor: note the highest high and lowest low in that short-term range — these are short-term liquidity pool targets.
- Count 60 trading days to the left of the anchor: note the highest high and lowest low in that intermediate-term range — these are the primary IPDA reference levels.
- Within each look-back interval, also mark: fair value gaps (price inefficiencies), liquidity voids (one-sided delivery), order blocks (last opposing candle before impulse), and equilibrium (midpoint of the range).
- Map all premium and discount PD arrays within each lookback period. Price above equilibrium = premium; price below = discount.
- Premium PD array hierarchy (top down): bearish mitigation block → bearish breaker → liquidity void → fair value gap → bearish order block → rejection block → old high → old low.
- Discount PD array hierarchy (bottom up): bullish mitigation block → bullish breaker → liquidity void → fair value gap → bullish order block → rejection block → old low → old high.
- Cast forward 20 days from the anchor: expect a near-term significant high or low to form within this window.
- Cast forward 40 days from the anchor: expect a short-term structural shift or significant setup within this window.
- Cast forward 60 days from the anchor: the outer boundary of the current data-range cycle; a major intermediate-term structural event is expected within 60 days.
- Use MT4 trendlines anchored to the vertical line and dragged to count bars as the practical measurement tool.
Entry2
- Entries are not directly triggered by IPDA ranges; ranges provide PD array candidates from which entries are refined on lower timeframes.
- For short-term/one-shot-one-kill: all setups must occur within the 60-day lookback boundary.
Stop1
- For long-term position trades: stop below lowest low of last 40 days (bullish phase 1) or 20 days (bullish phase 2). See position-trade-management.
Target5
- Near-term target: highest high or lowest low in the last 20 days (buy stops above / sell stops below).
- Short-term target: highest high or lowest low in the last 40 days.
- Intermediate-term target: highest high or lowest low in the last 60 days.
- When all levels within 60 days have been swept, the next target is the highest high or lowest low just outside the 60-day boundary.
- Secondary targets within each range: fair value gaps, liquidity voids, order blocks, and equilibrium price points.
Invalidation2
- If all buy stops above the 60-day lookback high and all sell stops below the 60-day lookback low have been cleared, the current 60-day range is exhausted — look outside the range for the next draw; expect a larger-than-usual move.
- A new quarterly shift within the cast-forward window resets the anchor; begin a fresh 20/40/60 measurement from the new anchor.
Inferred Conditions (Unvalidated)
- The 20-day interval corresponds approximately to one trading month; the 40-day to two months; the 60-day to three months — the three-month quarterly cycle.
- Equilibrium within the 60-day range (midpoint of the highest high to lowest low) is the gravitational level when no directional expansion is occurring — price will consolidate there during low-liquidity periods.
- If price is at the 60-day highest high with market structure still bullish, overbought condition on an institutional basis is reached — a quarterly shift is imminent.
- If price is at the 60-day lowest low with market structure still bearish, oversold condition on an institutional basis is reached — a quarterly shift is imminent.
- The algorithm does not look at individual retail stop orders; it processes the highest high and lowest low of 20/40/60-day ranges as proxies for where large-fund stops will logically reside.
- Explosive moves outside the 60-day range occur when all internal stops have been cleared and the only remaining liquidity is in an older range beyond 60 days.
- Weekly and monthly chart confluence with a 60-day IPDA level significantly increases reliability — the level is confirmed when multiple timeframes agree.
ICT Quotes
"The algorithm will reach back about three trading months worth of data. That's the average where the reach back. The 60 to 40 and the 20 trading days left of the most recent calendar month."
"The EPA data range, okay, you have a 20 day, look back and cast forward range, you have a 40 day, look back and cast forward range. And you have a 60 day look back and cast forward range."
"Last 60 days, where's the high in the low? Last 40 days? Where's the high in the low? Last 20 days? Where's the high in the low? That's where your liquidity pools are."
"If everything's been cleaned out, above and below the highs and lows, there's no more buy stops, there's no more sell stops, it has to create a new expansion."
"It's all time and price. Time. And price. Time is date on the higher timeframe. It's not time of day, its date, calendar days, and their calendar days that the markets trade."
Timeframes
Version History3 versions
39-ICT Mentorship Core Content - Month 5 - Quarterly Shifts and IPDA Data Ranges.srt
"The algorithm will reach back about three trading months worth of data. That's the average where the reach back. The 60 to 40 and the 20 trading days left of the most recent calendar month."
Initial definition. File 39 introduces the framework; file 41 provides the practical application walkthrough using the Australian dollar futures contract.
68-ICT Mentorship Core Content - Month 7 - Short Term Trading Blending IPDA Data Ranges and PD Arrays.srt
"While we're looking at IP the data ranges that we're referring to specifically time and PD arrays are dealing specifically with price. So blending the two elements together, you blending time and pric…"
Month 7 extension: explicitly blends IPDA time windows with PD array matrix for short-term one-shot-one-kill trading. Introduces the ordered PD array hierarchy (mitigation block → breaker → void → fair value gap → order block → rejection block → old high/old low) within each lookback period for both premium and discount ranges. Also introduces the practice of identifying premium vs. discount PD arrays above and below current market price within each of the three lookback windows as a routine pre-analysis step.
22 - ICT 2026 Smart Money Concepts Lecture ⧹ January 12, 2026.en.srt
"I use the frame of reference of a look back period of 20, 40, and 60 days, your highest probability precision, high frequency setups are going to form in the last 20 days. So if you're looking back ov…"
2026 20-DAY PRIORITY TEACHING: ICT explicitly ranks the 20-day lookback as producing the "crispest, most precise, most salient, most responsive, respected" PD arrays. While all three ranges (20/40/60 trading days) remain in the framework, the 20-day window yields the highest-probability intraday setups. Also reiterates: trading days, not calendar days. Also teaches that gaps/levels remain relevant even after being traded through — they should not be discarded for at least 5 days (echoing the new-day-opening-gap shelf life concept).
Notes
IPDA = Interbank Price Delivery Algorithm. ICT uses this term to describe his belief that a centralised price-setting mechanism at the central-bank level operates on systematic data lookbacks to move price toward large-fund liquidity. The 20/40/60 ranges are purely based on trading days (not calendar days). On a standard 5-day trading week, 20 trading days ≈ 1 calendar month, 40 ≈ 2 months, 60 ≈ 3 months — which maps precisely to the quarterly shift cycle. IPDA Data Ranges are the operational/mechanical sub-component of the Quarterly Shift concept. See quarterly-shift.yaml for the macro framing and anchor logic. File 41 is the largest teaching in Month 5 (3785 lines / ~2 hours) and contains an extended worked example on the AUD futures contract (March 2017 delivery) demonstrating the look-back identification and cast-forward projection. File 41 also contains a significant digression on open interest as a confirming indicator of institutional intent; that material is captured in open-float.yaml.
Asymmetry Notes
Symmetrical — the 20/40/60 lookback and cast-forward protocol applies identically for bullish and bearish market conditions.