et-loader
Models & SessionsICT Trading EducationArticle 27 of 100

ICT Silver Bullet: A Precision Kill Zone Entry Model

The Silver Bullet is what happens when AMD is compressed into one hour. A sweep, a displacement, a Fair Value Gap retracement — three sequential steps, in a specific window, producing one of the highest-precision entry setups in the ICT framework.
The Inner Circle Traders
Updated July 2026
10 min read
Cluster: Models & Sessions
Key Takeaways
  • The ICT Silver Bullet is a three-step precision entry model: a liquidity sweep, a displacement creating an FVG, and an entry on the retracement into that FVG
  • Three windows: London SB (3–4 AM UTC), New York AM SB (8–9 AM UTC), New York PM SB (2–3 PM UTC)
  • The Silver Bullet is AMD and MMXM compressed into a 1-hour kill zone sub-window
  • Daily bias must be established before any Silver Bullet session — the sweep direction confirms the bias, the FVG entry is with it
  • The entry trigger is the FVG left by the displacement — not the displacement itself and not the sweep

What is the ICT Silver Bullet?

The ICT Silver Bullet is a three-step entry model that plays out within a specific 1-hour sub-window inside a kill zone. It is AMD — Accumulation, Manipulation, Distribution — compressed into a single hour: the sweep corresponds to the Manipulation phase, the displacement to the transition, and the FVG entry to the beginning of the Distribution phase.
Three-step structure

Step 1: A liquidity sweep against the daily bias direction at the opening of the Silver Bullet window.
Step 2: A displacement move in the daily bias direction, leaving behind a Fair Value Gap.
Step 3: Price retraces into the FVG — this is the entry point.

This makes the Silver Bullet one of the cleanest, most well-defined setups in the ICT Models library. It has a clear sweep to identify, a precise entry zone (the FVG), a clear stop (beyond the sweep extreme), and a clear target (the next liquidity draw in the bias direction). The precision comes from the time constraint — the window is short enough that ambiguous setups are effectively filtered out.

ICT Silver Bullet Times

There are three Silver Bullet windows. Each is a 1-hour sub-window within the broader kill zone sessions covered in Article 24.
ICT Silver Bullet time windows within kill zones A 24-hour UTC timeline showing three Silver Bullet windows as narrow hatched bands within their respective kill zones. London Silver Bullet at 3 to 4 AM UTC, New York AM Silver Bullet at 8 to 9 AM UTC, and New York PM Silver Bullet at 2 to 3 PM UTC. 00:00 04:00 08:00 12:00 16:00 20:00 24:00 UTC London SB 3–4 AM UTC NY AM SB 8–9 AM UTC NY PM SB 2–3 PM UTC Silver Bullet (dense hatch) = the 1-hour precision window within each kill zone (light hatch)

Figure 1 — The three Silver Bullet windows (dense hatch) shown within their respective kill zones (light hatch) on a 24-hour UTC timeline.

Silver Bullet SessionUTC TimeEST TimeKill Zone Context
London Silver Bullet3:00 AM – 4:00 AM10:00 PM – 11:00 PMWithin London Open (2–5 AM UTC)
New York AM Silver Bullet8:00 AM – 9:00 AM3:00 AM – 4:00 AMWithin New York Open (7–10 AM UTC)
New York PM Silver Bullet2:00 PM – 3:00 PM9:00 AM – 10:00 AMNew York afternoon session
Times shift slightly with daylight saving adjustments. Always verify your broker’s server time before trading any session-dependent model.

The Three-Step Silver Bullet Setup

The diagram below shows all five critical elements of a bullish Silver Bullet trade on one chart: the sweep, the displacement, the FVG, the entry, the stop, and the target.
Silver Bullet entry setup with stop and target A price chart showing the complete Silver Bullet setup: a liquidity sweep at session open, a strong displacement move upward leaving a Fair Value Gap, price retracing into the FVG for the entry, stop loss below the sweep low, and target at the next buy-side liquidity level. SSL BSL target sweep FVG entry stop loss target Sweep SSL → displacement creates FVG → retest FVG for entry → stop below sweep → target BSL

Figure 2 — The complete Silver Bullet setup: sweep of sell-side liquidity → displacement creates an FVG → retracement into the FVG is the entry → stop below the sweep low → target at buy-side liquidity above.

At or near the opening of the Silver Bullet window, price makes a sharp move against the daily bias direction — sweeping stop orders from traders positioned in the bias direction. For a bullish Silver Bullet, this sweep goes below a recent swing low, taking out sell-side liquidity. This is the AMD Manipulation phase.
The sweep does not need to be large. What matters is that it clearly breaks a defined swing point and takes the resting stops there. A single aggressive wick or candle pushing through the level and immediately reversing is the signature.
Immediately after the sweep, price displaces strongly in the daily bias direction — a fast, momentum-driven move that leaves behind a Fair Value Gap. This FVG is the specific three-candle imbalance covered in Article 15: candle 1’s high and candle 3’s low fail to overlap, with the displacement candle (candle 2) creating the gap between them.
Do not enter during the displacement itself. It happens too fast, the entry is imprecise, and the stop would need to be placed below the sweep rather than at a tighter FVG level.
After the displacement, price retraces back toward (but not through) the FVG. When price enters the FVG, that is the entry trigger. Some traders enter on a rejection candle within the FVG for additional precision; others enter on the first touch of the zone’s upper boundary (for a bullish trade).

Silver Bullet Entry — Stop Loss and Target

Stop loss: Below the sweep’s extreme low (for a long) or above the sweep’s extreme high (for a short). This is the most logical invalidation point — if price returns to and trades through the sweep extreme again, the setup has failed.
Target: The nearest buy-side liquidity draw for a long (a swing high or equal highs where stops are resting) or sell-side liquidity draw for a short. See our guide to Buy Side vs Sell Side Liquidity for how to identify the target before entering.
Risk-to-reward: Given that the stop is below the sweep and the entry is the FVG (which typically sits well above the sweep low), the stop distance is usually tighter relative to the target than a standard order block entry. A 1:2 or better risk-to-reward is realistic on most well-formed Silver Bullet setups.

Silver Bullet and Daily Bias

The Silver Bullet is not a counter-trend model. The sweep at Step 1 must go against the daily bias, and the displacement at Step 2 must go with it — otherwise the structural logic of the setup breaks down entirely. A “Silver Bullet” where Step 2 displacement goes against daily bias is simply a counter-trend trade using the same pattern recognition, and carries materially more risk.
Establish your daily bias before any Silver Bullet session opens. See our complete guides to ICT Daily Bias and our Daily Bias Mechanical Framework for the full process.

Common Mistakes in Silver Bullet Trading

Entering during the displacement, not after. The displacement is not the entry — the FVG retracement is. Entering during the displacement means chasing a fast move with a wide stop and no precision entry zone.
Trading outside the exact 1-hour window. A setup that otherwise looks like a Silver Bullet but forms outside the three windows is not a Silver Bullet — it is a generic FVG entry. That may still be a valid trade, but the specific Silver Bullet framework does not apply.
Taking setups against daily bias. A sweep and displacement that goes against the daily bias — Manipulation in the wrong direction — may be a real trade opportunity, but it is a counter-trend setup and should be treated as such, not labelled a Silver Bullet.
Confusing any kill zone FVG with a Silver Bullet. For the Silver Bullet, Step 1 (the sweep) must precede Step 2 (the displacement and FVG). An FVG that forms without a preceding sweep within the same window is a different setup entirely.

Frequently Asked Questions

Advanced Silver Bullet: Multi-Window Sequencing

Experienced Silver Bullet traders often track all three windows simultaneously, looking for setups that build across windows rather than treating each as isolated. A common high-probability sequence: the 3:00-4:00 AM window identifies the directional manipulation (a sweep of the Asian low during the early London session). No clean FVG presents itself at 3:00 AM. By the 10:00-11:00 AM New York window, the same directional bias is confirmed — the London sweep held, price is delivering higher. The 10:00 AM window provides the clean FVG entry that the 3:00 AM window set up contextually.
This cross-window analysis is not required for Silver Bullet trading — each window is independently valid. But it elevates the quality of the 10:00 AM entry by giving it the contextual backing of the 3:00 AM sweep. When two or more windows point in the same direction, the institutional delivery conviction is higher and the R:R targets can be set more aggressively.

Silver Bullet on Different Instruments

The Silver Bullet is taught primarily in the context of equity index futures (NQ, ES) and forex pairs (EURUSD, GBPUSD). For equity indices, the most reliable Silver Bullet window is 10:00-11:00 AM New York — it falls within the peak liquidity period of the New York session and consistently produces clean FVG setups after the opening range is established.
For forex pairs, the 3:00-4:00 AM New York (7:00-8:00 AM London) window is particularly reliable because it coincides with the London open — the highest-volume forex window of the day. The EURUSD and GBPUSD Silver Bullet at the London open produces some of the cleanest FVG entries of the trading day, driven by concentrated European institutional order flow entering at session open.

Watch: ICT Silver Bullet: A Precision Kill Zone Entry Model

Original ICT teaching on this concept from the Inner Circle Trader YouTube channel.
What is the ICT Silver Bullet strategy?+

The ICT Silver Bullet is a three-step entry model that plays out within a specific 1-hour sub-window inside a kill zone. The three steps are: (1) a liquidity sweep against the daily bias at the window's open, (2) a displacement move in the bias direction that creates a Fair Value Gap, and (3) an entry on the retracement into that FVG, with a stop below the sweep and target at the next liquidity draw.

What are the ICT Silver Bullet times?+

There are three Silver Bullet windows: London Silver Bullet at 3:00–4:00 AM UTC (10–11 PM EST), New York AM Silver Bullet at 8:00–9:00 AM UTC (3–4 AM EST), and New York PM Silver Bullet at 2:00–3:00 PM UTC (9–10 AM EST).

What is the entry trigger for the Silver Bullet?+

The entry trigger for the Silver Bullet is the Fair Value Gap left behind by the displacement move. Price retraces back into the FVG after the displacement — that retracement is when the entry is taken, not during the sweep or the displacement itself.

Can the Silver Bullet be traded against the daily bias?+

Technically yes, but it should be treated as a counter-trend trade and handled with more caution. The Silver Bullet's structural logic — sweep against bias, displacement and FVG with bias — assumes daily bias alignment. Without it, you are entering against the dominant session order flow, which significantly increases the risk of the setup failing.

What is the difference between a Silver Bullet and a standard FVG entry?+

A Silver Bullet has three specific preconditions that a generic FVG entry does not: (1) it must occur within the 1-hour Silver Bullet window, (2) there must be a preceding liquidity sweep in the counter-bias direction, and (3) the FVG must be created by the displacement move immediately following that sweep. An FVG alone — without a preceding sweep within the same window — is not a Silver Bullet, even if it looks similar on a chart.

Test Your Knowledge

5 questions · Takes about 2 minutes
Question 1 of 5 Score: 0
Question 01
    Select an answer to continue
    0 / 5
    Questions Correct
    Next Article →

    Learn ICT in a Structured Framework

    The mentorship programme takes you from individual concepts to a complete, executable trading system.
    Article Cluster
    You are reading
    Models & Sessions — Article 5 of 8
    62% through this cluster
    CRT Community
    Join us on WhatsApp & Telegram
    Whatsapp
    Telegram