ICT Decoded · Daily bias
What Is ICT Daily Bias and How Do You Find It?
By Steve H — reads every firm’s official rulebook, checks prices and codes daily, and maintains the Enigma Score · Methodology · Editorial policy · Last updated October 31, 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: ICT daily bias is your read, before the session, of which side of yesterday's range today is more likely to reach: the previous day's high or the previous day's low. It comes from yesterday's candle: a close beyond the level before it (displacement) or a run that closes back inside (failure).
ICT Daily Bias Explained: How to Read It, and How to Know When It's Wrong · 7:53 · published October 31, 2026 · part of the ICT Concepts Decoded playlist
Watch the video
The full video is embedded above this article: ICT Daily Bias Explained: How to Read It, and How to Know When It's Wrong. This page is the written version, with every chart walked through step by step. Jump to any part of the video:
Key facts: daily bias at a glance
| Term | What it is | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Daily bias | Which side of yesterday's range today is more likely to reach | Your draw for the day: yesterday's high or yesterday's low |
| Displacement | Yesterday ran the level before it and closed beyond it | Continuation: the bias points the same way |
| Failure | Yesterday ran the level before it but closed back inside | The other side: the bias turns |
| No clean read | Yesterday stayed inside, or took both sides | Wait for the session to show its hand |
| Yesterday's 50% | Halfway between yesterday's high and low (its equilibrium) | The line the bias has to respect |
| First warning | A close back through yesterday's 50%, against the bias | The read is in trouble |
| Confirmation | The other side of yesterday's range taken, with a close beyond it | The bias is wrong for today |
Last verified 2026-10-31. All charts below are real historical CME NQ futures data, shown in New York time. "Yesterday" is the previous CME session, 6 PM to 5 PM New York time.
Here is the idea on one chart. On April 17, 2026, the day before had closed strongly above the previous high, so the read before the session was bullish and the draw was yesterday's high. Price dipped first but never traded below the middle of yesterday's range. At 7:51 it took yesterday's high, and by 12:36 it was more than 300 points above it.
What is daily bias in trading?
Daily bias is your read of which side of yesterday's range today is more likely to reach: yesterday's high or yesterday's low. Those two levels are pools of liquidity: buy stops above the high, sell stops below the low. The side you expect price to reach is your draw on liquidity for the day.
A bias is a map, not a trade. You write it down before the session, and you let price prove it or break it.
How do you find daily bias?
Compare yesterday's daily candle with the candle before it. A close beyond the level before it is displacement (continuation); a run through it that closes back inside is failure (the other side). Then check the daily trend.
Bullish daily bias: displacement above
Yesterday ran the high before it and closed above it. That is strength, so the bias is bullish and the draw is yesterday's high.
Bearish daily bias: failure at the high
Yesterday ran the high before it but closed back below it. The buyers could not hold it, so the bias turns bearish and the draw is yesterday's low. A failure under the low is the mirror and turns the bias bullish; a close below the low before it is bearish displacement.
If yesterday stayed inside, or took both sides, there is no clean read. Wait for the session to show its hand.
Check the trend
When the daily chart keeps taking the previous day's high, a bullish read is with the trend. A read against the trend needs more proof. See market structure.
Why does yesterday's 50% matter for daily bias?
Yesterday's 50%, halfway between its high and its low, is yesterday's equilibrium. On a bullish day price should hold above it; on a bearish day, below it. It is the line the bias has to respect.
So before the session you have three levels: yesterday's high, yesterday's low, and the 50% between them.
What does a bullish or bearish day look like?
ICT describes a bullish day as open, low, high, close: price opens, often trades lower first to make the low, then runs up through the high of the day. A bearish day is the mirror: open, high, low, close.
That first move against the bias is normal. What matters is where it stops, and whether it respects yesterday's 50%.
When is the daily bias wrong?
Two signs, in order: first a close back through yesterday's 50% against the bias, then the other side of yesterday's range taken with a close beyond it.
- First warning. A candle on your trading timeframe closes back through yesterday's 50%, against the bias, and stays there.
- Confirmation. Price takes the other side of yesterday's range and closes beyond it. That is displacement the other way, and now the other side is the story.
- Draw reached. If the draw is reached, the job of the bias is done for the day. Do not stretch it further.
What does daily bias look like on real charts?
A bullish read that delivered, a bearish read from a failure, and a bullish read that failed, each read from the daily chart and followed on the 15-minute chart.
Example 1: a bullish continuation, NQ, April 17, 2026
- From April 8, price takes the previous day's high session after session on the daily chart.
- On April 16 it closes at 26,464.25, above the April 15 high of 26,377.50. Displacement: the read for the 17th is bullish.
- On the 15-minute chart, mark the levels: yesterday's high at 26,564.00 and the 50% at 26,419.75.
- Price opens, and at 1:03 AM it makes the low of the session, 26,440.00, still above the 50%.
- At 7:51 it trades above yesterday's high, and the 15-minute candle closes above it. After that, price does not get back to the 50% that session.
- At 12:36 it reaches 26,884.75, and the session closes near the high: open, low, high, close.
Example 2: a bearish read from a failure, NQ, February 4, 2026
- On February 3, 2026, price trades above the February 2 high of 25,949.50, up to 26,027.75.
- It closes at 25,421.25, back below that high. Failure: the read for the 4th is bearish, and the draw is the February 3 low at 25,219.00.
- Yesterday's 50% is about 25,623. On the 4th, price does not trade above it that session.
- The high of the session comes early, at 2:50 AM, at 25,514.25.
- At 9:58 price trades below yesterday's low. It bounces to 25,305.00, then falls to 24,783.50 at 12:50.
Example 3: a bullish read that fails, NQ, February 26, 2026
- On February 25, 2026, price closes at 25,461.75, above the February 24 high of 25,078.75. Displacement: the read is bullish.
- Yesterday's high is 25,494.75, the 50% is about 25,243, and the low is 24,992.00.
- Overnight, price holds above the 50%. But the high of the session, 25,418.25, is made in the first minute of the evening, and the draw is never reached.
- After the 9:30 open, the 9:45 candle closes below the 50%. That is the first warning.
- At 10:16 price takes yesterday's low, and the 10:15 candle closes below it. That is the confirmation. Price reaches 24,861.75 at 10:34 and does not close back above the 50% that session.
The read was reasonable. Price said otherwise, and the two signs told you early.
How often is the daily bias right?
We checked 448 NQ sessions with a clear read, from June 2024 to September 2026: on about two days in three, price traded through the side the read pointed to; on about one day in five, it took only the other side.
That is why a bias is a starting point, not a prediction. It tells you which side to watch first, and the two warning signs tell you when to let it go.
How do you use daily bias in your own charting?
Write the bias before the session, with the reason, and let the two warning signs tell you when to drop it.
- Write it down. "Bias: bullish, draw: yesterday's high, reason: displacement" or "Bias: bearish, draw: yesterday's low, reason: failure."
- Mark three levels: yesterday's high, yesterday's low and the 50% between them.
- Expect the first move against you. Judge it by where it stops, not by its direction.
- A bias is not a trade. Some days the draw is reached early, or the read fails; on those days there is nothing left to do.
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
Is daily bias the same as the draw on liquidity?
They are linked: the daily bias names the side, and the draw is the level on that side, yesterday's high or yesterday's low.
Which timeframe do you use for daily bias?
The daily chart sets the read; a lower timeframe such as the 15-minute chart shows whether the session respects it.
What if yesterday was an inside day?
Then there is no clean read from yesterday's candle. Wait for the session to take one side.
Can the daily bias change during the day?
Yes. A close back through yesterday's 50% against the bias is the first warning, and the other side taken with a close beyond it confirms the change.
What does open, low, high, close mean?
It is ICT's description of a bullish day: price opens, makes its low first, then its high, then closes. A bearish day is open, high, low, close.
Is daily bias a trade signal?
No. It is a map for the day, not an entry. This page does not give trade signals.
Sources
- Concept: daily bias, the draw on liquidity and the shape of the daily candle as taught by ICT (The Inner Circle Trader, Michael J. Huddleston), who originated these ideas. The explanation, examples and charts on this page are our own.
- Data: every chart and the 448-session count are real historical CME Nasdaq-100 E-mini (NQ) futures data, shown in New York time.
- Video: ICT Daily Bias Explained: How to Read It, and How to Know When It's Wrong, FundedEnigma.
Last verified: 2026-10-31. 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.
Related ICT concepts
- Reading Candles: Open, High, Low, Close and Wicks: How to read a candle the ICT way: open, high, low, close, the order they print in, expansion, reversal and indecision candles, and the wick's 50%, on three real NQ sessions and 4,195 sessions of data.
- Dealing Ranges and Average Daily Range (ADR): What an ICT dealing range is, how to measure average daily range (ADR), and what 4,175 NQ sessions and 473 New York mornings say about each, on three real NQ charts.
- Phases of Price: Consolidation, Expansion, Retracement, Reversal: The four ICT phases of price (consolidation, expansion, retracement, reversal) with a testable rule for each, two real NQ sessions and what 527 days of 15-minute data say about each phase.
- Top-Down Analysis: From the Daily Bias to the Five-Minute Chart: ICT top-down analysis with one job per timeframe (daily bias, one-hour structure, five-minute timing), two real NQ sessions and what 1,264 five-minute shifts say about lining the timeframes up.
- The A+ Entry Checklist: ICT's Setup in Order: ICT's A+ entry checklist as seven checkable boxes, two real NQ sessions and what 1,919 five-minute setups say about ticking more of them.
- The Silver Bullet: ICT's One-Hour Window: ICT's Silver Bullet defined so it can be checked, two real NQ mornings and what 1,534 days say about whether the 10 to 11 AM hour matters.
- Breaker + FVG (the Unicorn) and the Box Setup: ICT's breaker + FVG pairing and the box setup, defined so they can be checked, four real NQ mornings and what 2020-2026 NQ data says about each.
- ICT's Son's Model and the Twitter Model: ICT's son's model and the Twitter model, defined so they can be checked, four real NQ mornings and what 2020-2026 NQ data says about each.
- Broadening Formations: ICT broadening formations defined so they can be checked: 15-minute, daily and session versions on real NQ charts, and what 2020-2026 NQ data says.
- Trading Without a Structure Break: Reading a raid before the market structure shift, defined so it can be checked: three real NQ mornings and what 2020-2026 NQ data says about the early read versus waiting for the shift.
- Stops, Sizing and Trailing for Prop Accounts: Stops placed where the idea is wrong, sizing by a fixed risk, and what tighter stops, trailing and losing runs looked like on 2020-2026 NQ data, for a prop account's drawdown limit.
- News and the Economic Calendar: Filtering the economic calendar, ICT's idea of news as the catalyst, three real NQ release days and what CPI, jobs-report and Fed days did on 2020-2026 NQ data.
- Why Traders Fail with ICT (and the Fix): Why traders struggle with ICT: the busy chart tested on 2020-2026 NQ, boxes drawn for no reason, losing streaks in one fixed rule, and how to make your trading measurable.
- Currency Futures and the Dollar Index (6E, 6B, DXY): 6E, 6B and the dollar index explained, why a forex pair is a fraction, and whether picking the pair from yesterday's daily candle worked on 2010-2026 daily data.
- EURGBP for Relative Strength (EURUSD vs GBPUSD): EURGBP as a live gauge of relative strength between EURUSD and GBPUSD, two real New York mornings, and a test of whether it tells you in advance.
- Internal vs External Liquidity: Where pullbacks stop and where the next leg goes: the back and forth between old highs and lows and fair value gaps.
- Market Structure: Read the trend from swing highs and lows, and tell a real change in trend from a pullback.
- Protected and Relevant Swings: Rank swing highs and lows, see how a swing becomes protected, and focus on the relevant ones.
- Market Structure Shift: Spot the turn: a stop raid, then displacement through the swing that started the last push.
- MSS vs Liquidity Grab: The wick shows the stops were taken; the close and what follows show whether price meant it.
- Premium, Discount and Equilibrium: Split the dealing range at its 50%: longs in discount, shorts in premium.
- Optimal Trade Entry (OTE): The 62-79% band of a clean leg: where to look on a pullback, with a reason inside it.
- Fair Value Gaps (FVG): Three candles that don't overlap: mark it wick to wick and judge it by the closes.
- Inversion Fair Value Gaps (IFVG): A gap a candle body closed through: it can flip sides, and where it forms decides if it matters.
- Order Blocks: The last opposite-close candles before the shift: frame them with bodies and only count them after a sweep, a shift and displacement.
- Breaker Blocks: An order block that failed after a sweep: frame the candles of the broken swing with bodies and judge them by the closes.
- Mitigation Blocks: A breaker's shape without the sweep: the second swing stops short, price breaks the swing between, and the candles in that second swing become the block.
- Propulsion Blocks: An order block built on an order block: a candle dips into a fresh order block, holds its middle, closes back out, and a close beyond its open makes its body the block.
- Change in State of Delivery (CISD): A body close back through the open of the run that made the high or low: the first sign that the other side has taken over.
- Killzones and key times of day: ICT's windows of the day in New York time, Asia, London and New York, plus the key opening times: when to look, not which way to go.
- Intraday bias: The daily bias read on the four-hour candles: which side of the last candle's range the next one is more likely to reach.
- Power of three (AMD): Accumulation, manipulation and distribution: the range, the wick and the body of a daily candle, and how to check a manipulation.
- Standard deviation projections: Which leg to measure, the -1, -2, -2.5 and -4 marks, when they are void, and how often NQ actually reached them.
- Inducement: The small swing high or low in front of a zone, why price runs it on the way in, and whether it helps the zone hold.
- SMT Divergence: When NQ and ES disagree at the same level, what that one-sided sweep says, the confirmation to wait for, and how often it held.
- High vs Low Resistance Liquidity: How to read the path between price and a pool: a clean path left by a fast move, or a crowded path of defended highs, and why distance matters more.
- London Reversal Daily Profile: The ICT London reversal daily profile: London runs one side of the night and turns, New York continues. Rules, real NQ sessions and how often it held.
- New York Daily Profiles: Three ICT daily profiles where New York turns the day: the New York manipulation, the New York reversal and seek and destroy, with real NQ sessions and how often each showed up.
- Weekly Profiles: Classic Expansion and Midweek Reversal: Two ICT weekly profiles, the classic expansion and the midweek reversal: which day makes the weekly wick, three real NQ weeks and how often each showed up.
- Weekly Profiles: Consolidation Reversal, Intraweek Reversal, Thursday Counter and TGIF: Four ICT weekly profiles, the consolidation reversal, intraweek reversal, Thursday counter and TGIF, on four real NQ weeks and 731 weeks of data.
- Draw on Liquidity: Which high or low price is most likely to reach next, and two simple reads to pick the side.
- Liquidity: Where stop orders rest above highs and below lows, and how price runs from one pool to the next.
- All ICT Concepts Decoded lessons (the series hub)
- The ICT Concepts Decoded playlist on YouTube
Keep learning
- How prop firm drawdown works
- How to pass a prop firm evaluation
- Trading futures with a funded account? Futures prop firms ranked and side-by-side comparisons