ICT Decoded · Weekly Profiles: Classic Expansion and Midweek Reversal
What Are the ICT Weekly Profiles Classic Expansion and Midweek Reversal?
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 weekly profiles are templates for how the five trading days build the weekly candle, named by the day that makes the weekly wick. In a classic expansion, Monday or Tuesday makes the low of a bullish week (the high of a bearish one) and the week expands away. In a midweek reversal, Wednesday makes it.
ICT Weekly Profiles Explained: Classic Expansion vs Midweek Reversal (Real NQ Data) · 8:03 · published October 31, 2026 · part of the ICT Concepts Decoded playlist
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Key facts: the two weekly profiles at a glance
| Term | What it is (bullish; bearish is the mirror) | When |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly profile | A template for how the five days build the weekly candle | Labelled for sure after Friday's close |
| The week | Five CME sessions, Sunday 6 PM open to Friday 5 PM close; each day runs 6 PM to 5 PM | New York time |
| The wick | The low of a bullish week (Friday closes above the week's open) | The day it prints names the profile |
| Classic expansion | The wick prints on Monday or Tuesday; the high comes later in the week | About 7 weeks in 10 (our data) |
| Midweek reversal | The wick prints on Wednesday, usually after Monday and Tuesday ran against the week; the high comes later | About 1 week in 8 (our data) |
| In-week check | The daily bias read at the close of the day that made a new low or high for the week | Every day's close |
Last verified 2026-10-31. All charts below are real historical CME NQ futures data, shown in New York time.
Here is one on a real week. In the first week of June 2026, Monday and Tuesday pushed higher, and on Wednesday at 9:32 AM price reached 30,807.75. It looked like an up week, and it was not: by Friday's close price was almost two thousand points below that high. Wednesday's high was the high of the week.
What is an ICT weekly profile?
A weekly profile is a template for how the five days build the weekly candle, as ICT (Michael J. Huddleston) describes it. It is the daily profile idea one size up: days instead of sessions. Like the power of three on a daily candle, the week often runs against itself first. That run makes the weekly wick, and the expansion builds the body.
- Classic expansion: the wick is in early. On a bullish week, Monday or Tuesday makes the low of the week, and the days after expand away from it.
- Midweek reversal: Monday and Tuesday usually run against the week. Wednesday turns it and makes the wick, and Thursday and Friday expand.
How do you identify a classic expansion or a midweek reversal?
In this lesson we define them so they can be tested on real data. A week is the five CME sessions from Sunday's 6 PM open to Friday's 5 PM close, and each day runs from 6 PM to 5 PM, the same futures day as our daily lessons.
- Direction: if Friday closes above the week's open, it is a bullish week and its low is the wick. If it closes below, it is bearish and its high is the wick. The other extreme is the body side.
- Classic expansion: the wick prints on Monday or Tuesday, and the body side comes later in the week.
- Midweek reversal: the wick prints on Wednesday, and the body side comes later, almost always on Thursday or Friday.
That needs Friday's close, so it is a label for after the week. During the week, use the read from our daily bias lesson at each day's close: a close beyond the previous day's high is a displacement and reads bullish; a run through the previous day's low that closes back inside, without taking the previous day's high, is a failure and also reads bullish. Bearish is the mirror. A day that stayed inside the previous day's range, or took both sides, gives no read.
What do weekly profiles look like on real charts?
Example 1: a bullish classic expansion, the week of April 6, 2026
- The week opens on Sunday at 6 PM at 24,093.50.
- On Tuesday, late in the morning, price runs below Monday's low and reaches 23,941.50 at 11:06 AM. Then it turns, and Tuesday closes at 24,399.25, back above Monday's low.
- In the daily bias lesson, that is a failure: a run through the previous day's low that closes back inside the range. The read for Wednesday is bullish.
- Wednesday expands to 25,257.00. Thursday pushes a little higher, and the high of the week comes on Friday at 11:24 AM, at 25,393.00.
- The week closes at 25,333.00. Tuesday's low was the wick of the week, and three days of expansion built the body.
Example 2: a bearish midweek reversal, the week of June 1, 2026
- The week opens at 30,415.50. Monday and Tuesday go the other way, and Tuesday closes at 30,743.00, above the week's open.
- On Wednesday price runs above Tuesday's high, to 30,807.75 at 9:32 AM. Then it closes back below Tuesday's high, at 30,495.00. A failure at the high, so the read for Thursday is bearish.
- Thursday closes lower. On Friday, price falls through the previous week's low, 29,676.25, the draw on liquidity for a bearish week, and reaches 28,781.25 at 4:48 PM.
- The week closes at 28,829.25. Monday and Tuesday made the run against the week, and Wednesday's high was the wick.
Example 3: the week that fooled the label, June 22, 2026
- Monday makes a high at 30,968.00 at 10:10 AM, and Tuesday falls hard.
- On Wednesday, price runs below Tuesday's low to 29,264.75 at 3:13 PM, then closes back above it, at 30,095.25. A failure, a bullish read. It looks like a bullish midweek reversal.
- Thursday says otherwise. It trades above Wednesday's high, as high as 30,263.75 at 8:30 AM, then closes back below it, at 29,759.25. Now the read is bearish.
- That night, early in Friday's session, price takes Wednesday's low and reaches 29,160.50. The week closes down. Monday's high was the wick: a bearish classic expansion, not a midweek reversal.
How do you tell if the low or high of the week is in?
Not by picking the template on Monday. Wait for a day to make a new low or high for the week, then check the daily bias read at that day's close. If the read points away from the new extreme, it may be the wick. If the next day's close flips the read, as that Thursday did, it may not be. Either way, the label only becomes final on Friday.
How often does each weekly profile happen?
The classic expansion is the most common week by our rule. We ran these rules on 731 full weeks of Nasdaq futures, from June 2010 to September 2026, leaving out weeks with a missing trading day and weeks with a contract roll.
- The wick of the week printed on Monday about half the time, and on Tuesday a bit more than one week in five. So the classic expansion came up about seven weeks in ten, and the midweek reversal about one week in eight. Since June 2024 it is about the same.
- That is hindsight. At Tuesday's close, the low of the week so far went on to hold for the whole week about half the time. When Tuesday closed with a bullish daily bias read, about two times in three.
- The high so far held about one week in three, and with a bearish read a little under half. NQ closed up in about six weeks in ten over that stretch, which is part of why lows held more often than highs.
- When Wednesday made a new low or high for the week and closed with the read pointing the other way, that extreme held for the week only a little over four times in ten, against about three in ten for every Wednesday that made a new low or high. The read helps, but more often than not a midweek turn was not the wick.
How do you use weekly profiles in your own charting?
Use them to describe the week as it builds, not to predict it.
- Let the wick form first. A weekly profile is named after the fact; during the week you only have the read at each close.
- Check the day that made the new extreme. The daily bias read at its close is the one in-week check we tested.
- Expect the read to be wrong often. Even with it, a midweek low or high held for the week less often than not.
- Do not treat them as signals. This page describes how price behaved, not a trade.
More concepts in the series are on the ICT Concepts Decoded hub, including the New York daily profiles. 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
Which day usually makes the low or high of the week?
In our NQ data the wick of the week printed on Monday about half the time and on Tuesday a bit more than one week in five, so by Tuesday's close it was in on about seven weeks in ten. You only know which day it was after Friday's close.
Is a Monday low always the low of the week?
No. In our NQ data, Monday's low held as the low of the week only about one week in three, and a little under half the time when Monday closed with a bullish daily bias read. By Tuesday's close, the low of the week so far held about half the time, and about two times in three when Tuesday's close gave a bullish read.
What is the difference between a classic expansion and a midweek reversal?
The day the wick prints. In a classic expansion it is Monday or Tuesday; in a midweek reversal it is Wednesday, usually after Monday and Tuesday ran against the week.
How is a weekly profile related to daily bias?
The daily bias read at each day's close is how you check, during the week, whether a new low or high could be the wick. The weekly profile is the label you give the week once it is done.
Are weekly profiles trade signals?
No. They are templates for describing the week. This page does not give trade signals.
Sources
- Concept: weekly profiles, including the classic expansion and the midweek reversal, as taught by ICT (The Inner Circle Trader, Michael J. Huddleston), who originated them. The rules, examples and charts on this page are our own.
- Data: every chart and the 731-week count are real historical CME Nasdaq-100 E-mini (NQ) futures data, shown in New York time.
- Video: ICT Weekly Profiles Explained: Classic Expansion vs Midweek Reversal (Real NQ Data), 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.
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