ICT London Intraday Profiles: Session Patterns to Test
An overview of commonly discussed London-session scenarios, including sweeps and reversals, with a repeatable way to log all qualifying sessions and test whether any pattern adds value.
Framework note: ICT terms are interpretations of price action, not proof of institutional motives or a market algorithm’s intent. No setup is guaranteed. Test clearly defined rules, account for costs and slippage, and use risk limits before risking capital. Read our editorial policy.
ICT intraday profiles are templates traders use to categorize possible session behaviors. They should be treated as hypotheses, not repeating paths that a session is required to follow. Test each profile against a chronological sample and include sessions that do not fit.
Why Sessions Have Profiles
Each trading session has a unique institutional agenda. The Asian session establishes a range and accumulates orders. The London session, opening at 7:00 AM London time, is when the largest institutional players in the world — the major European banks, hedge funds, and central bank desks — begin executing. They have specific daily objectives: fill the Asian range gaps, reach the daily draw on liquidity, and position for the New York session.
Because these institutional players have repeating objectives that align with the same time windows each day, the price behavior that results from their actions forms recognizable profiles. These profiles are not random — they reflect the systematic execution of institutional order flow within predictable time structures.
The London Session Profiles
Profile 1 — London Sweep and Reverse: Price opens the London session and immediately sweeps the Asian session high or low (collecting liquidity), then reverses and delivers in the opposite direction for the remainder of the London session. This is the most common London profile. The sweep happens in the first 30-60 minutes, the reversal follows, and the session closes near the opposite extreme of the Asian range.
Profile 2 — London Continuation: Price opens and continues in the same direction as the Asian session trend, without a significant sweep of the Asian range extremes. This profile is less common but appears when there is a strong daily or weekly bias that overrides the typical manipulation phase.
Profile 3 — London Consolidation: Price opens and remains within the Asian range, making small sweeps of both sides without committing to a direction. This is the least common London profile and typically precedes a significant New York session move.
Identifying the Profile Before It Develops
Before the London session opens, mark the Asian session high and low (the range from midnight to 6:00 AM London time). These levels represent the buy-side and sell-side liquidity pools that London will most likely target. Then evaluate: does the daily bias favor sweeping the high (bearish daily) or sweeping the low (bullish daily)? A bearish daily bias suggests London will sweep the Asian high first before delivering lower. A bullish daily bias suggests London will sweep the Asian low before delivering higher.
The London Close Profile
The London close (11:00 AM – 12:00 PM New York time) produces its own consistent profile. As London banks close their books for the day, they often retrace against the London session move to close positions. If London ran higher, the London close retraces lower before New York takes over. If London ran lower, the London close bounces. This retracement is often the setup for the New York continuation trade — entering at the London close retracement in the direction of the overall daily bias.
For a session-profile test, record a consecutive sample of London sessions, mark the Asian range using a fixed timezone rule, and log sweeps, continuation, reversal and no-trade outcomes. Do not reuse an unverified 60–70% frequency or call the pattern an edge without data and costs.
Worked hypothetical example: classify a London-session profile
Before London opens, a trader chooses a profile rule based on the Asian range, an initial range break and the location of the subsequent close. On one hypothetical day the range expands upward, revisits the boundary and closes near the high; it receives the predefined label. The label must be based on information available at the classification time, not the day's final high and low.
Failure case and what to test
Sessions can reverse, range, or break both sides, so a profile name should not be used to claim the day's direction before its conditions are met. Test how often each profile can be identified in real time and whether it adds value beyond range and volatility measures.
Test checklist
- Define each profile's objective conditions and latest classification time.
- Avoid using future candles when assigning the profile.
- Track unclassifiable and mixed-profile sessions as well as clean examples.
- Measure incremental value on held-out data, including costs and slippage.
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