ICT Decoded · The Silver Bullet: ICT's One-Hour Window
What Is the ICT Silver Bullet?
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 Silver Bullet is a one-hour time model: inside the 10:00 to 11:00 AM New York hour (or 2:00 to 3:00 PM), liquidity is taken, then the first fair value gap forms the other way, toward the next draw. On 1,534 days of NQ futures, the morning gap did about as well as a random start.
ICT Silver Bullet Explained: Does the 10 AM Hour Actually Matter? (Tested on Real NQ Data) · 6:57 · published November 1, 2026 · part of the ICT Concepts Decoded playlist
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The full video is embedded above this article: ICT Silver Bullet Explained: Does the 10 AM Hour Actually Matter? (Tested on 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 Silver Bullet at a glance
| Part | How we define it |
|---|---|
| Window | 10:00 to 11:00 AM New York time (morning) or 2:00 to 3:00 PM (afternoon) |
| Raid | Inside the window, a pool taken: a named one (like the London high) or a recent five-minute swing |
| Gap | The first one-minute fair value gap the other way, within 15 minutes of the raid, complete before the hour ends |
| Next raid | If a raid gets no gap in time, the next raid in the window is tried; one per window per day |
| Measure | Over the next hour: does price cover the distance back to the raid's extreme (1x), or twice it (2x), the gap's way, before trading beyond that extreme? |
| Failed gap | A one-minute body close beyond the gap's far edge |
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 September 10, 2026, at 10:24 AM, inside the morning Silver Bullet hour, price ran a five-minute high. Two minutes later a one-minute fair value gap opened the other way, by the book. At 10:31 a candle closed back above the gap, and at 10:36 price traded above the high it had just raided. The idea was over in twelve minutes.
What time is the Silver Bullet?
ICT (Michael J. Huddleston) teaches the Silver Bullet in the 10:00 to 11:00 AM New York hour, with an afternoon hour from 2:00 to 3:00 PM. He also teaches a London open Silver Bullet, from 3:00 to 4:00 AM New York time, and lists it first of the three; this lesson tests the morning hour. The morning and afternoon hours sit inside the times covered in our killzones lesson. Inside the hour, you wait for liquidity to be taken, then look for the first fair value gap in the other direction, pointing toward the next draw on liquidity.
How do you find the Silver Bullet setup?
In this lesson, the Silver Bullet is a raid inside the window, then the first one-minute fair value gap the other way, formed within fifteen minutes and complete before the hour ends.
- Inside the window, a pool gets taken: a named one, like the London high, or a recent five-minute swing.
- Then the first one-minute gap the other way, within fifteen minutes of that raid, complete before the hour ends.
- If a raid gets no gap in time, wait for the next raid. The first raid that gets one counts, and only one per window per day.
To have a line to beat, we also start at a random minute in the same hour, in a random direction, with the same distance. And we run the exact same rule in the hours before and after, to see if the Silver Bullet hour is special.
What does the Silver Bullet look like on real charts?
Example 1: the gap holds, May 22, 2026
- At 10:23 AM price trades below a five-minute swing low at 29,495.75. It bottoms at 29,490.25 at 10:24.
- It turns up fast and leaves a bullish one-minute gap from 29,523.75 to 29,529.50, complete when the 10:26 candle closes.
- The distance back to the raid's low is 41.25 points. Price covers that distance higher at 10:30, and twice that distance at 10:39. No one-minute candle closes back below the gap.
- By 1:30 PM Nasdaq trades up to 29,749.00, the high of the day. This is the version everyone shows.
Example 2: the gap fails, September 10, 2026
- At 10:24 AM price trades above a five-minute swing high at 29,251.75 and reaches 29,263.00 in the same minute.
- It drops and leaves a bearish one-minute gap from 29,215.00 to 29,229.00, complete when the 10:27 candle closes.
- Price comes straight back into the gap. At 10:31 a one-minute candle closes above it, at 29,234.50. By our fair value gap rule, the gap has failed.
- At 10:36 price trades above the raid's high. It never covered the first distance lower. Same hour, the same pattern, and the opposite result.
Does the Silver Bullet work?
On our data, the Silver Bullet hour was not special. We ran the rule on Nasdaq futures from January 2020 to September 2026, leaving out the days around contract rolls: 1,534 days.
- A morning Silver Bullet gap formed on about seven days in ten. Usually the first thing taken was a recent five-minute swing; in about one of those mornings in six, a named pool went in the same move, and those did about the same.
- Price covered the first distance before the raid's extreme about 47 times in 100, and twice the distance about 22 times. A random start in the same hour did about the same: about 47 and about 23. The afternoon hour was about the same.
- The same rule in the hour before, the hour after and the early afternoon did about as well: between 46 and 49 in 100 for the first distance.
- About three gaps in four had a one-minute candle close back through them within the hour, and when the daily bias agreed with the gap, it did no better.
How do you use the Silver Bullet in your own charting?
Use the Silver Bullet as a clear hour to pay attention and a rule for what to look for, not as an edge on its own.
- Keep the order. Raid first, then the first gap the other way.
- Write both levels when the gap forms. The far edge tells you when the gap has failed; the raid's extreme tells you when the idea is over.
- Don't treat the time of day as the edge. In our data, the same pattern at 10 o'clock and at 11 o'clock behaved about the same.
- Read it with the day around it. Our daily bias lesson covers the larger read; on this test, the bias agreeing did not improve the gap.
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 time is the ICT Silver Bullet?
10:00 to 11:00 AM New York time, with an afternoon window from 2:00 to 3:00 PM. ICT also teaches a London open Silver Bullet, 3:00 to 4:00 AM New York time.
What is the Silver Bullet setup?
Inside the window, liquidity is taken, then the first fair value gap forms the other way, toward the next draw on liquidity. We use a one-minute gap formed within fifteen minutes of the raid.
Does the Silver Bullet hour make the setup more likely to work?
Not on our data. The morning gap covered its first distance about 47 times in 100, about the same as a random start in the same hour and the same rule in the hours around it.
When has a Silver Bullet gap failed?
When a one-minute candle closes beyond the gap's far edge. That happened to about three gaps in four within the hour.
Is the Silver Bullet a trading strategy?
It is a time window and a pattern to look for. This page tests how it behaved on past NQ data for education only; it does not tell you when price will move.
Sources
- Concept: the Silver Bullet time window and model, as taught by ICT (The Inner Circle Trader, Michael J. Huddleston), who originated it. The 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, shown in New York time.
- Video: ICT Silver Bullet Explained: Does the 10 AM Hour Actually Matter? (Tested on 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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