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Nix Trades

14. Trade Checklist

3 min read

Maintained by Nix Young

This chapter turns the wider methodology into top-down, entry and expansion-timing checklists for reviewing context before a trade. It brings together narrative, draw liquidity, key levels, confirmation, timing, invalidation and whether the day has already delivered to its relevant objective.

Questions this chapter answers
What does the top-down checklist review?
It reviews weekly and daily direction, draw liquidity, key levels, confirmation, price action, timing and whether the draw has already been reached. Read this section
What is checked before an entry?
The entry checklist combines a key level and SMT with Strength Switch confirmation, clean higher-timeframe context, timing and a lower-timeframe trigger. Read this section
How is expansion timing assessed?
The chapter checks for a Strength Switch, a higher-timeframe open or a new key-level sweep, then weighs liquidity, displacement and driver context. Read this section

14.1 Top-down Checklist

Section titled “14.1 Top-down Checklist”
Community insights
  • Every setup needs five components: a draw on liquidity, a profile (how the candle is expected to form relative to its open), a key level, a crack in correlation confirming it, and a lower-timeframe expansion signature to actually enter on. — Afyz — live back-test session, 2:58
  • There's a hierarchy to building a trade idea, and cracks in correlation — even a strength switch — should be your last priority, not your first. Check the draw first, then whether the profile and wick size actually support reaching it, and only then look for the two-stage confirmation. Don't pattern-trade a two-stage SMT just because one is present with no draw behind it. — Erik — "Strength Switching" lecture, 28:14
  • "The Sequence": a two-variant top-down shortcut that puts you directly into the distribution phase of AMD without separately profiling the market. Variant one — a previous monthly high/low (or a monthly key level) as target, then a stop run of a previous weekly high/low with a weekly candle closure, then drop to the 4H for entry. Variant two — a previous weekly high/low (or weekly key level) as target, then a stop run of a previous daily candle with a daily closure, then a run of a previous session's high/low, then drop to H1/M15 for entry. Because the sequence itself encodes accumulation-then-manipulation, following it places you in distribution across every nested timeframe at once. — MMXM Trader — The Sequence, 1:16
  • A practical alerting workflow: set an alert at the refined key level itself (then wait for an hourly/30-minute close, not the raw touch), a second alert at the anticipated location of the future opposing candle for a CiSD, and a third at any untested continuation gap. — Anomaly — Livestreams — Full Chart Process, July 5, 2026, 51:03
  • A well-rehearsed, thoroughly backtested process reduces the felt danger of an objectively risky activity — the same principle behind free-solo climbers rehearsing identical hand/foot sequences on a route thousands of times before attempting it without a rope. A trading checklist practised enough that execution itself doesn't feel risky is applying the same idea. — Lathyrus Masterclass — Supplementary Lessons — Afyz Psychology Stream: Art of Doing Nothing, 1:37:24
  • Most traders' struggle with ICT concepts isn't a knowledge gap but an inability to filter down to a single PD array to actually trade off — pick one (FVG, inversion, breaker, order block, CiSD, or OTE/fib), pair it only with highs/lows/liquidity, and never combine several PDAs into one setup at once. — TTrades — "Why You're Failing with ICT Concepts", 0:11
  • '10-second rule': you should be able to identify a clear draw on liquidity within the first 10 seconds of looking at any chart; if you can't, the setup isn't clean enough to trade — move on to the next pair. — $niper — "This Will Simplify Your Trading | Weekly Prep | ICT Concepts", 2:25
  1. Where is the weekly candle going?
  2. Where is the daily candle going relative to the weekly?
  3. What is daily trading away from?
  4. Where is the session / 4h / 6h candle going relative to daily?
  5. Am I trading a 4h reversal or continuation?
  6. Is there any 1-stage / 2-stage variant?
  7. Is price close to a DoL?
  8. Is the draw low-resistance liquidity?
  9. Am I avoiding protected swings?
  10. Is there a close-proximity draw / gap?
  11. Is there a key level supporting swing formation?
  12. Is the SMT at a key level?
  13. Is there SMT?
  14. Is there SS / PSP?
  15. Is there displacement / gap?
  16. Is 30m / 1h price action clean?
  17. Is the current candle tradable?
  18. Is price close to a driver?
  19. Has price retraced into a gap before the driver and failed to reverse?
  20. Does RR support the trade?
  21. Has the DoL already been reached?

14.2 Entry Checklist

Section titled “14.2 Entry Checklist”
Community insights
  • Sticking to mechanical, criteria-based entries (only entering on an actual liquidity grab plus a confirmed market structure shift) protects you even when your overall directional bias turns out wrong — you'd still have bought a low and sold a high along the way, rather than being stuck holding a bad position, simply because you never entered anywhere the criteria weren't met. — TTrades — "ICT Daily Bias", 5:10
  • A flexible/blendable 4-item entry checklist: stop raid → market structure shift/displacement → retracement into discount or premium → a PD array (FVG, order block, OTE, or breaker block) — explicitly discard a PD array sitting in the wrong half of the higher-timeframe range even if otherwise valid, and drop to a lower timeframe to find one in the correct half instead. — TTrades — "A+ ICT Entry Checklist - ICT Concepts", 0:14
  • Explicitly waives the standard 'SMT divergence inside the internal-range-liquidity tag' checklist requirement when an asset has been in a clean, established single-direction trend for weeks or months — relies on the higher-timeframe order flow alone rather than requiring the step in that specific case. — $niper — "The Best ICT Trading Strategy", 1:08
  1. Key level hit with SMT:
    • Reversal: 1h+
    • Continuation: early uses 15m+, late uses 30m+
  2. Zoom into MTF and wait for SS:
  3. Anticipate 30m / 1h / 4h C3:
    • If C2 has already expanded, do not trade C3.
  4. For 4h C2, check:
    • small wick; or
    • large wick back to open.
  5. Confirm that 30m / 1h price action is clean.
  6. Prefer an entry near a new 90m / 4h / 6h opening.
  7. Use 3m / 5m CiSD / FVG as the entry trigger.
  8. Prefer a bulky-bodied CiSD.
  9. If the clean CiSD is too far away, consider whether a failure-swing CiSD is valid.
  10. Apply the CiSD selection rule:
  • continuation: prefer the first CiSD;
  • reversal: prefer the second CiSD.
  1. Place SL at SMT invalidation or the reversal candle extreme.
  2. After early entry, move SL to BE according to the plan.
  3. Give each reversal a maximum of two chances.

14.3 Expansion Timing Checklist

Section titled “14.3 Expansion Timing Checklist”

To decide whether expansion can be expected:

  1. Is there SS?
  2. Is there an HTF open, especially 90m+?
  3. Is there a new key level sweep / hit?
  4. If none of the three exists, is there a lagging-asset SMT-break sequence?
  5. Is there a low-resistance draw?
  6. Is there an LTF reversal signature / displacement?
  7. Did price retrace into a gap before a driver but fail to reverse?
    • If yes, the driver becomes an important expansion timing reference.

Personal study notes, shared as-is and in good faith. Educational material only — nothing on this site constitutes financial advice.