ICT Intraday Profiles — London Protraction and Four Day Scenarios

Most traders analyze the day only while it's already happening. The ICT intraday profile method flips the order: before London even opens, you've already measured two overnight ranges, drawn the projection ladder and formed a concrete expectation — at what hour and on which side of price the extreme of the day will land. Intraday profiles (also called daily profiles) are the clip that binds the CBDR, the Asian Range and the false move at the open into one repeatable scenario for the day. In this article we break down all four variants — with every time in New York time (ET).

What Are Intraday Profiles

An intraday profile is a framework scenario for price behavior across a single trading day: it describes when the market consolidates, when it runs the manipulation (the false move against the day's direction) and when it delivers the real expansion. The model stands on three time blocks:

Block 1 — the CBDR. The 2:00–8:00 PM ET range, measured by candle bodies. It must be tight — under 40 pips. Its height becomes the projection unit (the standard deviation).

Block 2 — the Asian Range. The 8:00 PM – midnight ET range, ideally 20–30 pips. The overnight consolidation whose extremes will become liquidity.

Block 3 — the London protraction. In the midnight – 2:00 AM ET window, price should stage a run against the day's direction — up on a sell day, down on a buy day. It's the classic Judas Swing: a false move that collects liquidity and sets the day's extreme before the real delivery begins. The protraction shouldn't reach further than 2–3 CBDR standard deviations — a deeper run invalidates the profile.

When all three blocks are in place, you get a setup that ICT prices at 50–70 pips of daily movement — and more importantly, you get it at an hour you know in advance.

The Day's Schedule and the Four Profiles

All times are New York local time (set your chart to the "New York" timezone and the DST changeovers in March and late October/early November stop mattering). Which stage of the day the market is in right now — you can check at a glance in our NEXUS market-time widget (nexus.hornx.trading), which shows the sessions and AMD phases live.

The profiles split along two axes — the day's direction and the timing of the protraction — which gives four variants:

1. London Normal Protraction — Sell. Bearish bias, CBDR < 40 pips, Asia 20–30 pips. Just after midnight ET price rallies up, above the CBDR (a small dip before the rally is acceptable). The rally stalls within 2–3 deviations, and then on M5 or below comes a market structure shift (MSS) to the downside. Short from premium, stop above the London session high, target on higher-timeframe liquidity. The entry can be ready as early as 1:00–2:00 AM ET.

2. London Delayed Protraction — Sell. Bearish bias, but the rally after midnight doesn't come — the algorithm only enters the protraction after 2:00 AM ET. You then mark the current dealing range, wait for price to reach the premium zones and look for the short there — ideally with an MSS confirmation. Stop above the dealing range high, target at the discount zones or sell-side liquidity.

3. London Normal Protraction — Buy. The mirror image of profile 1: bullish bias, after midnight ET price dives below the CBDR, collects liquidity, and then prints an M5 MSS to the upside. Long from discount, stop below the London session low, target at premium or buy-side liquidity.

4. London Delayed Protraction — Buy. The dip doesn't come in the midnight–2:00 AM window, only after 2:00 AM ET. Entry from the discount PD arrays of the current dealing range, stop below its low.

Which to pick? Normal Protraction is better — in both directions. The Delayed variant can be treacherous: a run that starts after 2:00 AM sometimes never turns back and the day rides away in a single leg. If you're only just implementing the model, trade exclusively the Normal variants on demo for the first month.

How to Use Intraday Profiles in Your Trading

The complete procedure for one trading day:

1. Set the day's bias the evening before on D1/H4. A neutral day = no profile; don't force the chart to cooperate.
2. Mark both ranges. The CBDR (2:00–8:00 PM ET) by bodies — check it's under 40 pips; the Asian Range (8:00 PM–midnight ET) — check it fits within 20–30 pips. On crypto swap the pip thresholds for a comparison against ATR.
3. Draw the projection ladder. 1, 2 and 3 CBDR deviations above and below the range — the boundaries within which the protraction is allowed to stall.
4. Watch the midnight–2:00 AM ET window. A sell day: you wait for a rally above the CBDR. A buy day: for a dip below it.
5. Classify the profile. The move came inside the window — Normal. It came after 2:00 AM — Delayed. It didn't come at all and price sits still — there may be no trading day.
6. Wait for the trigger. An MSS on M5 or below, in the direction of the bias. The protraction candle by itself is not an entry.
7. Enter on the retest — in premium for a short, in discount for a long. Stop beyond the London session extreme (Normal) or the dealing range (Delayed), with a buffer.
8. Manage to the target. The higher-timeframe draw on liquidity, the opposite PD zone, or the default 50–70 pips. Remember that the day's second extreme likes to print only in London Close (10:00 AM – 12:00 PM ET).

Timeframes: D1 for the bias, M15 for the ranges, M5 for the trigger, M1 for the entry itself. Instruments: the model was born on NQ and ES, transfers beautifully to GBP/USD, EUR/USD and gold; on BTC and ETH the same time sequence works, because during the European and US hours crypto moves to the rhythm of the same sessions.

Here's how it looks in practice on a GBP/USD sell day. The evening before, D1 shows a series of lower highs — bearish bias. At 12:30 AM ET you measure: the CBDR is 28 pips (valid), Asia 22 pips (valid); you draw the deviation ladder above the CBDR. At 12:50 AM price starts rallying and at 1:40 AM the rally dies out 1.5 deviations above the range — the protraction came inside the window, so you classify the day as London Normal Protraction Sell. At 1:55 AM the M5 breaks the last local low — MSS. Short on the retest of the gap left by the impulse, stop above the protraction high with a buffer, target at the liquidity below the previous day's low. By 5:00 AM ET the position is halfway there; London Close (10:00 AM – 12:00 PM ET) prints the low of the day around −3 deviations and completes the scenario. One trade, zero improvisation — every decision was written down before the market executed it.

And when the conditions don't line up? A wide CBDR, a sloppy Asia or a missing protraction isn't a "weaker setup" — it's no setup: a day outside the model. On such days ICT allows at most scalps outside the profile's frame; in practice the best decision is often a day off. A model that tells you "don't trade today" is doing you the biggest favor a strategy can do.

Common Mistakes

• Skipping the size checks. A CBDR over 40 pips or an Asia over 30 invalidates the profile. Trading the model anyway produces random results — the preconditions are part of the edge, not bureaucracy.
• A position before the protraction. The Judas Swing is the catalyst. Whoever enters before the midnight–2:00 AM ET window usually stands exactly on the side the protraction is about to sweep.
• Confusing Normal with Delayed. A move after 2:00 AM ET isn't a "late Normal," it's a different profile with a different stop (the dealing range instead of the London extreme). The classification changes the trade management.
• Entering without an MSS. The protraction wick is only an invitation. Without a structure shift on M5 you're stepping into a run that may still be going.
• A stop exactly on the extreme. London's high/low tends to get retested. The buffer is standard practice, not cowardice.
• Ignoring the bias. A dip below the CBDR on a sell day is continuation, not a long opportunity. You always read the profile from the bias, never from the move alone.

Intraday profiles are the roof over ICT's entire time architecture: the CBDR provides the unit of measure, the Asian Range — the liquidity, the killzones — the execution windows, and the protraction — the starting moment. One layer is still missing: choosing the right day of the week. Why Tuesday and Wednesday most often print the extreme of the entire week — that you'll read in the article on weekly profiles.

FAQ

Rafał — Krypto Bez Ściemy

Trader and founder of Strefa Tradingu. He’s been breaking crypto down on YouTube for years — no hype, no signals, with a focus on market structure and risk management.

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