Trading and Crypto

How to Find Trading Entries With the ICC Markup Method

How I Find My Trading Entries | Trading Course 003

Video: How I Find My Trading Entries | Trading Course 003

Need articles like this for your video? They help promote it on YouTube and Google — order them in the Telegram bot @sat_sit_bot. Articles with your video embedded are written and posted by the bot itself — on popular topical sites (no ads). Try it free: 50 articles on us.

· based on the channel SCI

Key takeaways

  • Entries come from context first: mark up the chart before you look for a trigger.
  • ICC stands for Indication, Correction, Continuation — three phases of one move.
  • The manipulation leg (the sweep of a prior high or low) is the part most traders trade too early.
  • Confirmation should come from a lower timeframe shift in structure, not from a feeling.
  • Risk is defined before entry: stop behind the invalidation level, size from that distance.
  • Sci's Trading Course 003 walks through entry timing on instruments like XAUUSD.

Finding a trading entry starts long before you click buy or sell: you mark up the chart, identify the ICC sequence (Indication, Correction, Continuation), wait for a manipulation leg to sweep an obvious high or low, and only then take a confirmation from a lower timeframe shift in structure. The entry itself is the last five percent of the work — the other ninety-five percent is context, level selection and risk definition. The full walkthrough of this process is in SCI's Trading Course 003, and you can follow the author's live trades and updates through his Instagram.

Why entry timing looks simple until you actually trade it

Entry timing is the skill that separates a plan on paper from a filled order in a live market, and it is the part beginners underestimate most. Marking up a chart after the fact is easy because the outcome is already visible; the same chart in real time offers dozens of plausible triggers, most of which are noise. That gap between a clean historical chart and a messy live one is where most accounts lose money, not in the analysis itself.

The practical fix is to reduce the number of decisions you make at the moment of entry. Instead of asking "should I buy here?" on every candle, you predefine three things: the level you are watching, the condition that invalidates your idea, and the timeframe that must confirm it. When those three are fixed in advance, the entry becomes a checklist item rather than a judgement call.

The ICC markup: Indication, Correction, Continuation

ICC is a three-phase reading of price that describes how a directional move is built, and it is the framework behind the entries shown in the course. The phases are:

  1. Indication — the market shows its hand with an impulsive move that breaks a meaningful structure or leaves a clear imbalance behind.
  2. Correction — price retraces or consolidates, often sweeping liquidity above a high or below a low to trap traders positioned the wrong way.
  3. Continuation — price resumes in the direction of the indication, and this is where the entry is taken.

The order matters. Traders who enter during the indication are chasing; traders who enter during the correction are guessing; traders who wait for continuation are trading a confirmed sequence. The markup is drawn on the higher timeframe first, because a continuation on a 15-minute chart inside a correction on the daily chart is not the same trade.

Marking up the chart before you look for an entry

Markup is the step that turns a blank chart into a set of decisions you have already made, and it should happen when the market is closed or quiet. Work top-down:

  • Identify the higher timeframe trend and the last significant swing high and swing low.
  • Mark the obvious liquidity pools: equal highs, equal lows, session highs and lows, and prior day extremes.
  • Locate any imbalance or fair value gap left by an impulsive move.
  • Note the level where your idea would be wrong, not just the level where you want to enter.

Once those marks exist, you are no longer scanning for opportunities — you are waiting for price to arrive at a place you already chose. This is the single biggest change most traders report after switching from indicator-based entries to a markup-based process.

Reading the manipulation leg without getting trapped

The manipulation leg is the move that sweeps an obvious high or low right before the real direction shows itself, and it exists because stops cluster in predictable places. If a level is visible to you, it is visible to everyone, which means resting orders sit just beyond it. A sweep of that level is often the fuel for the actual move, not the start of a reversal.

The trap is entering on the break itself. A break of a high is not a buy signal; it is an event that needs a response. What you want to see after the sweep is a failure to continue — price reclaims the level, structure shifts on a lower timeframe, and the candles that pushed through the level get absorbed. If price simply keeps going after the break, there was no manipulation, and there is no trade.

Confirmation and the actual trigger

Confirmation is the evidence that the correction is over and continuation has begun, and it should come from a lower timeframe than the one you used for markup. The standard sequence looks like this: price sweeps a marked level, then on a lower timeframe it breaks a minor structure in the opposite direction of the sweep, and the first pullback into that broken structure holds.

That pullback into the broken structure is the entry zone. It is a specific, repeatable location rather than a mood, which is why it can be backtested and journaled. On volatile instruments such as XAUUSD the same logic applies, but the lower timeframe you use for confirmation should be adjusted, because gold produces larger wicks and faster moves than a major currency pair.

Risk, position size and invalidation

Risk must be defined before the entry, not after the position goes against you. The invalidation level comes from the chart: it is the point where the continuation thesis is dead, usually beyond the extreme of the manipulation leg. Once that level is known, position size is arithmetic — the distance from entry to invalidation, multiplied by your size, must equal the amount you are willing to lose on the trade.

Two rules keep this practical. First, never widen a stop to avoid being taken out; the invalidation level was chosen when you were objective, and moving it means the thesis has already failed. Second, take partial profit at the first logical target and let the remainder run toward the higher timeframe objective, so a single good continuation pays for several failed attempts.

Common questions traders ask about entries

The questions that come up most often around entry timing are about patience, frequency and discipline rather than about chart patterns. Many traders understand the framework intellectually but still enter early because waiting feels like missing out; others take every marked level instead of only the ones aligned with the higher timeframe.

The workable answers are unglamorous. Fewer setups, better locations, and a written record of every trade so you can see which conditions actually pay. If you find yourself taking entries that are not on your markup, the problem is not the strategy — it is that the markup was never finished. Reviewing your own journal against the original ICC sequence will show you quickly where the discipline broke down.

Building entries into a repeatable process

Finding entries is not about a secret indicator; it is about a fixed sequence you run the same way every session. Mark up the chart, wait for the ICC phases to complete, let the manipulation leg do its work, and take the confirmation from a lower timeframe only when it actually appears. Define invalidation and size before you enter, and treat every trade as data rather than as a verdict on your ability. SCI's Trading Course 003 is a useful companion here because it shows the process applied in real conditions rather than on cherry-picked charts. Follow along at https://www.instagram.com/tradesbysci if you want to see the entries as they happen.

Source: How I Find My Trading Entries | Trading Course 003 · Markdown version

Questions & answers

What does ICC stand for in trading entries?

ICC stands for Indication, Correction and Continuation. The indication is the impulsive move that reveals direction, the correction is the retracement or sweep that traps late traders, and the continuation is the resumption of the original move where the entry is taken. The sequence must appear in that order for the setup to be valid.

How do I know if a break of a high or low is manipulation or a real breakout?

You do not know at the moment of the break — you wait for the response. If price reclaims the swept level and structure shifts on a lower timeframe, the break was likely a liquidity grab. If price keeps extending without reclaiming the level, there was no manipulation and no trade to take.

Which timeframe should I use for confirmation?

Use a lower timeframe than the one you marked up, typically one or two steps down. On volatile instruments like XAUUSD, expect larger wicks and adjust accordingly, because the same confirmation pattern appears faster and with more noise than on major currency pairs.

How much should I risk on a single entry?

Risk is determined by the distance between your entry and the invalidation level, not by a fixed dollar amount. Choose the percentage of your account you are willing to lose on the trade first, then calculate position size from that distance, and never widen the stop after the position is open.

Read next