Market Maker Manipulation Template
Also: market maker template, manipulation template, weekly manipulation template, MMMT
Visual Context Required
This concept requires chart visuals for full understanding.
A set of detailed intra-week trading blueprints that pair each weekly range profile with a mechanistic explanation of the manipulation that produces it and the PD array entry/exit framework for trading within it. Depicted on a 60-minute (1-hour) chart, each template describes: (1) how the market moves prior to forming the week's high or low (the manipulation phase), (2) the specific PD array or liquidity pool that constitutes the manipulation target, (3) the entry mechanism and required confluences, and (4) the profit target PD array and Fibonacci extension parameters. A key structural rule applies to all templates: the entry PD array must be in a lesser timeframe than the PD array used to frame the trade; the profit target PD array must also be in a lesser timeframe than the entry PD array. Target projection: fib extensions of 1.27 or 1.68 from the manipulation swing (or a 100% symmetrical price swing / measured move) overlapping with a lesser-timeframe PD array define the weekly range objective. Swing projection fulcrum = the highest high from which the retracement originates.
Identification4
- Higher-timeframe directional bias must be established (bullish or bearish) before selecting a template.
- Current weekly profile must be classified (see weekly-range-profile) using intra-week price behavior through Wednesday.
- The manipulation phase has occurred (stop run into a discount or premium PD array on the relevant day — Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday).
- The entry PD array (bullish order block, fair value gap, breaker, liquidity void, old high/low, etc.) must be on a lower timeframe than the framing PD array.
Entry4
- Entry is at the PD array in a timeframe lesser than the framing PD array. Example: if framing off a daily liquidity pool (old high), enter at a 4-hour discount PD array.
- For bullish templates: buy at discount PD array (bullish order block, fair value gap, breaker, mitigation block, or old high support after breakout).
- For bearish templates: sell at premium PD array (bearish order block, liquidity void, old low resistance after breakdown).
- Entry is confirmed inside a kill zone session (London or New York Open).
Stop2
- Beyond the manipulation extreme (below the Tuesday low for bullish templates; above the Tuesday high for bearish templates).
- Sized at 1% risk of account capital.
Target4
- Fib projection: 1.27 or 1.68 extension of the manipulation swing, measured from the swing projection fulcrum (highest high before retracement for bullish; lowest low before rally for bearish).
- PD array confluence: target level must overlap with a lesser-timeframe premium PD array (for longs) or discount PD array (for shorts) than the entry timeframe.
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- Hold until Thursday's New York session; Friday carry-over acceptable but not preferred.
Invalidation3
- Manipulation phase fails to reach the higher-timeframe discount or premium array (signals possible Seek and Destroy profile instead).
- Fair value gap or liquidity void closes without a meaningful reversal.
- Price continues through the entry PD array without reversing — wrong template classification.
Inferred Conditions (Unvalidated)
- The timeframe ladder rule: framing PD array → entry PD array → target PD array; each step must be a lesser timeframe than the previous.
- Example chain (bearish): Weekly high liquidity pool (weekly TF) → enter at 4h bearish order block → target 1h or 4h discount PD array + 1.27 fib extension.
- Templates are predictive, not reactive — the trader should anticipate which template is forming during Monday–Wednesday and prepare entry orders in advance.
- The Fibonacci extension applies to the manipulation price swing (the move from Sunday/Monday open to the manipulation high or low on Tuesday/Wednesday).
- Some templates allow for first-swing-grade, equilibrium, or third-swing-grade entries in the context of a multi-week price move, not just fresh highs or lows.
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ICT Quotes
"If you go through each one of these templates, it'll give you basically the idea of how the market manipulation has taken place, along with the market profile for that week. So we're gonna be blending the two ideas on why the market does what it does in these individual weekly profiles, and applying it to a template idea."
"What I gave you is basically the playbook that I use, when I go about trying to find my one shot one kills the weekly range, you'll find it generally will be one of these templates."
"The FIB overlap levels are based on the timeframe we enter on. We look for a lower timeframe to see a PD array and a premium range to overlap with that 127 and 168. When we get those two things, we have a high Confluence level where we have both time and price in a green where the algo may very easily retrieved for those levels."
Timeframes
Version History1 version
67-ICT Mentorship Core Content - Month 7 - Short Term Trading Market Maker Manipulation Templates.srt
"Welcome back, folks, this is lesson three, short term trading. This lesson is gonna be teaching market maker manipulation templates... every example here, much like in lesson two, all the charts or di…"
Initial definition in March 2017 content (Month 7, Lesson 3).
Notes
definition_requires_visual_context: true — all templates are described through diagrammatic 1-hour chart sketches that are not fully reproducible from transcript text alone. The Fibonacci projection mechanics (1.27 / 1.68 extensions, symmetrical price swings) require visual anchoring to the swing projection fulcrum point. Templates covered in this lesson (paired with weekly-range-profile names): - Classic Tuesday Low of Week → 3 template scenarios (liquidity pool run, old high retest, bullish order block) - Classic Tuesday High of Week → 3 template scenarios (liquidity pool run, old low retest, bearish order block) - Wednesday Low of Week → 3 template scenarios - Wednesday High of Week → 4 template scenarios - Consolidation Thursday Reversal (bullish and bearish) - Consolidation Midweek Rally (bullish) and Decline (bearish) - Seek and Destroy Bullish and Bearish Friday - Wednesday Weekly Reversal (bullish and bearish) See also: weekly-range-profile, one-shot-one-kill, ipda-data-range, fair-value-gap, liquidity-pool, order-block. RELATED 2023 CONCEPT: This file covers the 2016/2017 weekly manipulation templates (week-range profiles + intra-week PD array entry/exit). A separate and distinct concept — the Market Maker Buy/Sell Model (2023) — covers ICT's 2023 exposition of multi-stage accumulation/distribution with original consolidation, buy/sell side of curve, first/second stage re-accumulation, unicorn, and balanced price range. See market-maker-buy-sell-model-2023.yaml. The two concepts are complementary: the 2016 templates describe the weekly profile structure; the 2023 model describes the price delivery mechanism within those structures.
Asymmetry Notes
Each bullish template has a bearish mirror with reversed direction. Seek and Destroy and Wednesday Weekly Reversal templates have distinct nuances between their bullish and bearish versions. Consolidation Thursday Reversal templates are particularly sensitive to news events and require reduced position sizing regardless of direction.