Open Float Liquidity Pool
Also: OFLP, 120-day-open-float, revolving-open-float-range
Visual Context Required
This concept requires chart visuals for full understanding.
An Open Float Liquidity Pool is the set of buy-stop and sell-stop clusters identified within a rolling 120-trading-day window centred on the current date: 60 trading days of look-back plus 60 trading days of cast-forward. The highest high and lowest low within this 120-day window mark the macro open float for large-fund traders — buy stops rest above the highest high; sell stops rest below the lowest low. Within the window the 20-day, 40-day, and 60-day sub-intervals define three nested tiers of liquidity pools: near-term (20-day high/low), short-term (40-day high/low), and intermediate-term (60-day high/low). Every 20 trading days, a new high and low form, each creating a fresh liquidity pool above and below it. The direction of institutional order flow is read by observing which side of the float is being consistently cleared: if buy stops above successive 20-day highs keep getting taken out while sell stops are rarely hit, institutional order flow is bullish; the reverse confirms bearishness.
Identification8
- Establish the 120-day window: look back 60 trading days and cast forward 60 trading days from the current date (or the quarterly-shift anchor date).
- Identify the highest high and lowest low within the full 120-day window — these are the macro large-fund open float targets (buy stops above the high; sell stops below the low).
- Within the look-back portion, sub-divide into 20-day, 40-day, and 60-day intervals and mark the highest high and lowest low at each tier.
- Near-term open float: highest high and lowest low in the last 20 trading days — targets for day trading and intraday scalps.
- Short-term open float: highest high and lowest low in the last 40 trading days — targets for daily chart swing setups.
- Intermediate-term open float: highest high and lowest low in the last 60 trading days — primary IPDA institutional reference for quarterly-scale moves.
- Roll the 120-day window forward with each new month: add a new 60-day cast-forward, drop the oldest 60 days.
- Within the cast-forward portion, monitor each new 20-day high and low as it forms — circle or note these because buy stops and sell stops are building above and below them.
Target4
- Near-term targets: 20-day high (buy stops) or 20-day low (sell stops) — appropriate for intraday/scalp trades.
- Short-term targets: 40-day high or low — appropriate for daily chart swing trades.
- Intermediate-term targets: 60-day high or low — appropriate for quarterly position trades.
- Macro target when range is cleared: first significant high or low outside the 60-day boundary, visible on weekly and monthly charts.
Invalidation2
- The highest high of the 60-day look-back has been taken out AND the lowest low of the 60-day look-back has been taken out — the current range is fully cleared; look outside 60 days for the next macro draw.
- A quarterly shift within the cast-forward period resets the look-back anchor.
Inferred Conditions (Unvalidated)
- Every 20 trading days a new swing high and swing low form; each creates a fresh mini liquidity pool. The trader should continuously note these and monitor which side gets cleared consistently.
- If buy stops (above 20-day highs) keep getting taken out and sell stops (below 20-day lows) rarely get touched, institutional order flow is confirmed bullish on that timeframe.
- The open float liquidity pool at the 60-day level is the primary target for the quarterly shift; the 20-day and 40-day pools are intermediate waypoints.
- The 120-day revolving window means the trader is always looking at the same fixed amount of data regardless of where in the calendar they sit.
- When price is at the 60-day equilibrium (midpoint of highest high to lowest low) with no clear directional expansion, expect range-bound price action until a high-impact catalyst appears.
ICT Quotes
"Open float is simply just taking the last three months, or taking the last month and a half to the next month and a half in the future. encapsulating that time and basically you're looking at three months of data. And by doing that, what we'll do is give you a range to look for the highest high and the lowest low on the daily chart."
"We have 120 trading days of what we call open float. We're looking for the highest high and the lowest low in that range. But every 20 days, there's a high and a low form."
"The near term open float is what's the highest high and the lowest low in the last 20 trading days. The short term open float is what's the highest high and the lowest low in the last 40 trading days. And the intermediate term open float is going to be the highest high and lowest low in the last 60 days."
"If you notice, where the intermediate term highs are, if intermediate term highs keep creating lower intermediate term highs... it's telling you that it wants to seek the sell side of liquidity."
Timeframes
Version History1 version
42-ICT Mentorship Core Content - Month 5 - Defining Open Float Liquidity Pools.srt
"Open float is simply just taking the last three months, or taking the last month and a half to the next month and a half in the future. encapsulating that time and basically you're looking at three mo…"
Initial definition in January 2017 delivery of the 2016 Premium Mentorship.
Notes
This concept is the operationalised, tiered version of Open Float (see open-float.yaml). File 42 is a step-by-step walkthrough using the Canadian dollar futures and USD/CAD daily chart, walking through August through December 2016 month-by-month to show how the 120-day window rolls forward and how buy-stop clearing confirmed bullish institutional order flow throughout. The near-term (20-day) / short-term (40-day) / intermediate-term (60-day) labelling of open float tiers is introduced explicitly in file 42 and provides a practical framework for matching trade timeframe to liquidity tier: - Day traders / scalpers → 20-day near-term open float - Daily chart swing traders → 40-day short-term open float - Position / quarterly traders → 60-day intermediate-term open float The concept is distinct from general Liquidity Pool (liquidity-pool.yaml) in that it is specifically anchored to the IPDA 20/40/60-day data range framework rather than being a standalone definition of stop clustering.
Asymmetry Notes
Symmetrical. Buy-side and sell-side pools are mirror constructs within the same 120-day window.