ICT Decoded · The A+ Entry Checklist: ICT's Setup in Order
What Is the ICT A+ Entry Checklist?
By Steve H — reads every firm’s official rulebook, checks prices and codes daily, and maintains the Enigma Score · Methodology · Editorial policy · Last updated November 1, 2026
ICT concepts were created and are taught by Michael J. Huddleston, The Inner Circle Trader (X · YouTube). This lesson is FundedEnigma’s own summary, not affiliated with or endorsed by ICT.
In short: The ICT A+ entry checklist is ICT's setup written as boxes in order: liquidity taken (a stop raid), a market structure shift with displacement, a return into discount or premium, and a PD array there. On 1,919 real NQ setups, ticking more boxes did not make price go one more leg more often.
ICT A+ Entry Checklist Explained: Do More Boxes Mean a Better Setup? (Real NQ Data) · 8:43 · published November 1, 2026 · part of the ICT Concepts Decoded playlist
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The full video is embedded above this article: ICT A+ Entry Checklist Explained: Do More Boxes Mean a Better Setup? (Real NQ Data). This page is the written version, with every chart walked through step by step. Jump to any part of the video:
Key facts: the A+ checklist at a glance
| Part | What it is | How we define it |
|---|---|---|
| Required | Stop raid | A pool taken: a named one, or a recent five-minute swing |
| Required | Shift | A five-minute market structure shift after it, 8:30 AM to noon |
| Required | Return | The first pullback into the right half of the shift's own leg, before price trades past the leg's end |
| Box | Named pool | Previous day, previous week, Asia or London high or low |
| Box | Displacement | The shift leg is a fast, one-way move |
| Box | PD array | A fair value gap or order block in the right half |
| Box | Killzone | The shift came between 7:00 and 10:00 AM |
| Box | Daily bias | The daily bias rule points the shift's way |
| Box | Clean path | No more than one old five-minute swing in the way to the next named pool, after a fast move away from it |
| Box | SMT | Nasdaq and the S&P disagreed at that pool |
| Outcome | One more leg | The shift's leg again, beyond its end, before price trades back beyond the raid's extreme |
Last verified 2026-11-01. All charts below are real historical CME NQ futures data, shown in New York time.
Here is the idea on a real chart. On August 28, 2025, the previous day's high was raided, the five-minute chart shifted down with displacement and left a gap, it was the New York killzone and the daily bias was bearish: six boxes of seven. Price came back up into premium, exactly where the checklist says to look. Seventy minutes later it traded above the raid's high, and the setup was cancelled.
What is the ICT entry checklist?
ICT (Michael J. Huddleston) teaches a setup as a sequence, and the checklist simply writes that sequence down so you wait for it in order.
- A stop raid: liquidity above an old high or below an old low is taken.
- A market structure shift with displacement: the swing before the raid is traded through by a fast move. See our market structure shift lesson.
- A return: price comes back into discount of an up move or premium of a down move, often into the optimal trade entry. See premium and discount.
- A PD array there: a fair value gap, an order block or a breaker.
Traders call a setup "A+" when every box is ticked. This lesson asks whether more boxes actually mean a better result.
What makes an A+ setup in ICT?
In this lesson, three things are required and seven more are boxes you can tick. The required part is the stop raid, a five-minute shift between 8:30 AM and noon, and the first pullback into the right half of the shift's own leg. If price trades past the leg's end before it comes back, that range is over and there is no setup. The moment price touches the right half, we check the boxes: named pool, displacement, a gap or order block in the right half, the New York killzone, the daily bias, a clean path to the next named pool (our high vs low resistance liquidity rule) and SMT divergence between Nasdaq and the S&P.
What does the checklist look like on real charts?
Example 1: four boxes, one more leg, May 12, 2026
- At 9:45 AM the London high at 29,292.25 is taken. Price reaches 29,296.00.
- At 9:57 AM price trades below the 9:35 candle's low at 29,143.00: a shift down, with displacement. The leg runs to 29,088.25 at 10:04 AM.
- The order block is the 9:50 AM up candle's body, 29,219.50 to 29,224.00, in the premium half of the leg.
- At 10:14 AM the first pullback reaches the premium half. Four boxes are ticked: named pool, displacement, the order block and the killzone. Three are not: the daily bias was bullish (the day before closed above the high of the day before it), the next named pool lower was last week's low, more than 1,500 points away with dozens of old swing lows in the way, and there was no SMT.
- At 10:19 AM price trades into the order block and tops out at 29,228.25 at 10:20. It never trades back above the raid's high.
- One more leg, at 28,880.50, is reached at 11:24 AM. Four boxes, one of the missing ones the daily bias, and it went one more leg anyway.
Example 2: six boxes, cancelled, August 28, 2025
- Daily: August 27 ran above the high of August 26 and closed back inside at 23,542.00. A failure, so the daily bias is bearish.
- At 9:30 AM yesterday's high, 23,689.00, is taken, and price reaches 23,742.25 at 9:34.
- At 9:52 AM price trades below the 8:25 candle's low at 23,593.50: a shift down, with displacement. The leg ends at 23,572.50 at 9:57 and leaves a bearish gap from 23,662.75 to 23,689.25 in the premium half.
- At 10:06 AM the first pullback reaches the premium half. Named pool, displacement, the gap, the killzone, the daily bias and a clean path to the London low: six boxes. The only one missing was SMT. There was one, but it pointed the other way: the S&P took its London low and Nasdaq did not.
- Price works higher. At 11:16 AM it trades above 23,742.25 and the setup is cancelled. NQ makes its high of the day, 23,803.75, at 3:54 PM. Six boxes described the setup well. They did not decide what came next.
Do more confluences make a better setup?
On our data, no: ticking more boxes did not make one more leg more likely. We took every five-minute shift between 8:30 AM and noon with a leg longer than an average five-minute range, from January 2020 to September 2026, leaving out contract roll days: 4,817 shifts on 1,497 days.
- Only about four in ten (1,919) came back into the right half as their first pullback. Of those, about 15 in 100 went one more leg and about three in four were cancelled first.
- By the number of boxes: two or fewer, about 15 in 100 went one more leg; four boxes, about 18; five or more, 8 of 61 (about 13 in 100); six or seven, none of 9.
- One box changed something else. With a gap or order block in the right half, about 67 in 100 were cancelled first, against 79 without one, for small legs and big legs alike. Those setups held to the close more often, but went one more leg about 15 in 100 either way.
- Displacement looked similar at first, but the difference showed up only in the biggest legs, so we don't count it.
- The killzone went the other way: shifts inside it were cancelled more often, partly because a later shift has less of the day left.
How do you use the A+ checklist in your own charting?
Use the checklist to keep your read in ICT's order, not as a score that predicts the result.
- Keep the sequence. Liquidity first, then the shift, then the return, then the PD array. If a step is missing, it is not the setup.
- Describe, don't grade. Writing down which boxes are ticked and which are not gives you something you can check later.
- Always write the cancel level. In our data, three setups in four reached the raid's extreme first.
- Don't expect more boxes to do the work. Five or more boxes did no better than two.
More concepts in the series are on the ICT Concepts Decoded hub. If you trade futures with a prop firm, you can look up a firm's rules on the challenges page or set two firms side by side on the compare page.
Frequently asked questions
What are the steps of the ICT entry checklist?
A stop raid, a market structure shift with displacement, a return into discount or premium, and a PD array there, such as a fair value gap, an order block or a breaker.
Does an A+ setup go one more leg more often?
Not on our data. None of the 1,919 setups ticked all seven boxes. Setups with five or more went one more leg 8 times in 61, against about 15 in 100 for two or fewer boxes.
Which checklist box made a difference?
A fair value gap or order block in the right half came with fewer cancels: about 67 in 100 against 79. It did not come with more follow-through.
Why does the return have to be the first pullback?
If price trades past the end of the shift's leg before it comes back, that range is over, and a later pullback belongs to a new range.
Is the A+ checklist a trading strategy?
No. It is a way to read a setup in order and describe it. It does not tell you when price will move, and this page is education only.
Sources
- Concept: the setup sequence (stop raid, market structure shift, return, PD array) as taught by ICT (The Inner Circle Trader, Michael J. Huddleston), who originated it. The checklist rules, examples and charts on this page are our own.
- Data: every chart and count are real historical CME Nasdaq-100 E-mini (NQ) futures data, with S&P 500 E-mini (ES) futures for SMT, shown in New York time.
- Video: ICT A+ Entry Checklist Explained: Do More Boxes Mean a Better Setup? (Real NQ Data), FundedEnigma.
Last verified: 2026-11-01. Written by Steve H.
Disclaimer: This page is for education only and is not financial advice. Trading futures involves substantial risk of loss. Past price behaviour does not guarantee future results.
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