Entry Patterns
Entry patterns are signatures that repeat in price, telling you exactly where to enter and where to put the stop. Inside a market maker model you read the short-term / intermediate-term high trio, then enter from an FVG, breaker, mitigation block, or inversion FVG at the 50% equilibrium.
An entry pattern is a signature in price that repeats again and again. We use these patterns for two things: where to enter, and where to place the stop loss. A well-known example is the ICT 2022 model. The patterns form inside a market maker model, right after the Smart Money Reversal and an MSS, using the short-term and intermediate-term high (or low) structure you already learned.
The bearish entry pattern
In a bearish order flow, the retracement up builds a short-term high (STH). Your draw on liquidity, the target, rests below.
Spot it: First small swing high in the retrace = the STH.
Three entry patterns (same entry, different stops)
Pattern 1: enter at the FVG (or breaker), stop above the protected ITH, the safest choice. Pattern 2: same entry, but stop at the short-term high for a bigger reward-to-risk, with more chance of being liquidated. Pattern 3: an anticipation entry, taken before the right-hand STH fully forms, using an FVG or breaker. In all three, the target is the draw on liquidity, or a fixed 1:2 / 1:3.
The entry tools (PDRAs)
- FVG: the fair value gap, your most common entry.
- Breaker block: an order block that price broke through and then returns to from the other side; after a stop hunt it flips into support or resistance.
- Mitigation block: like a breaker but it forms without a stop hunt (a failure swing). It is still a valid PDRA to enter from.
- Inversion FVG (IFVG): an FVG that gets violated and then flips, so the old support becomes resistance (or vice versa) and you enter on the retest.
- Order block: the last opposite-color candle before the move, from the earlier lesson.
A bullish entry from a breaker
A bullish setup: price raids a low (a stop hunt) into a higher-timeframe PDRA. The draw on liquidity sits above.
Spot it: A poke below the low that snaps back up = the raid.
The 50% equilibrium
Draw a Fibonacci over the leg: the 50% is the equilibrium. Above it is premium (expensive), below it is discount (cheap). Entries cluster at the 50%, where the FVG, breaker, or mitigation block usually sits.
It is not 100%
Price does not always come back to your entry. Sometimes it runs without you. That is normal. Pick the pattern whose stop you are comfortable with, and accept that some setups will be missed.
How pros apply it
- Bullish: after a STL-ITL-STL formed, they entered at the breaker around the 50%, or at the FVG, stop below the latest low.
- Bitcoin and a 1-minute example: entries came from an FVG and an order block after the three lows formed, then price expanded to the draw on liquidity.
- GBPUSD: after the higher-timeframe FVG was hit, the entry was a mitigation block, and on another the entry was an inversion FVG. Both targeted the draw on liquidity.
Key takeaways
Entry patterns repeat: read the STH-ITH-STH inside the model, then enter from an FVG, breaker, mitigation block, inversion FVG, or order block at the 50% equilibrium. Use the safe stop above/below the protected ITH/ITL, or a tighter stop at the short-term level for more RR. Target the draw on liquidity or a fixed 1:2 / 1:3.
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