When I first stumbled into ICT trading, one concept that completely mystified me was liquidity voids. I kept hearing experienced traders casually mention them, almost as if it was obvious, and I remember thinking, “What void? What liquidity?” It wasn’t until I really dove into the ICT framework that I started understanding the power behind these invisible gaps in the market.
The reader outcome is behavioural: turn this guidance into a repeatable decision without relying on urgency, hindsight or one-off results.
The Behaviour to Practise
Mark the condition in advance and wait for confirmation instead of labelling it after price moves.
Why This Behaviour Matters
Technical concepts become behavioural skills only when the trader defines what must be visible before entry. Pre-marking reduces hindsight bias and makes the setup testable.
For beginners, understanding liquidity voids for beginners can save you from common mistakes, improve your timing, and give you a real edge in trading. In this article, I’ll break it down, share my early mistakes, and explain how to use liquidity voids effectively.
What Are Liquidity Voids?
A liquidity void is essentially a gap or imbalance in the market where price moved too quickly without much counter-trade activity. In ICT terms, it’s often the result of institutional players aggressively moving the market to capture liquidity, leaving behind a “void” in the order book.
Think of it like a pothole on the road. Cars (traders) usually fill in the space, but if no one was there, you have a gap. Later, price often retraces to fill this void because the market seeks balance.
In simple terms: a liquidity void is a price area that hasn’t been fully tested, and institutions often come back to these zones to fill orders.
Why Beginners Should Care About Liquidity Voids
Early in my ICT journey, I was so focused on order blocks and stop hunts that I ignored liquidity voids completely. Big mistake. Here’s why they matter:
H3: They Highlight Market Imbalances
Liquidity voids show areas where the market moved too fast, leaving unfilled orders. Recognizing these voids helps you see where price might return to “balance” itself.
H3: Improve Trade Timing
If you enter a trade blindly, you may get trapped in a void and experience a sudden retracement. Spotting voids allows you to anticipate retracements and plan your entries more effectively.
H3: Avoid Common Pitfalls
One of my first trades was against a bullish trend. Price hit an order block, I entered, and suddenly it retraced sharply. Later, I realized there was a liquidity void just below my entry. If I had known, I could’ve waited for price to fill the void first, avoiding unnecessary risk.
How to Identify Liquidity Voids
Identifying liquidity voids is simpler than it seems once you know what to look for.
H3: Look for Fast Moves
A liquidity void often appears as a strong candle or series of candles with little overlap. These rapid moves indicate that institutions moved quickly to capture liquidity, leaving behind a gap.
H3: Check for Gaps and Imbalances
On your charts, a void will appear as a price area that hasn’t been tested or filled. Look for zones where price moved sharply with minimal counter-trading. These areas are likely to attract price revisits in the future.
H3: Combine with Order Blocks and Market Structure
Liquidity voids become much more actionable when paired with other ICT concepts like order blocks and market structure shifts. For example, if a bullish order block aligns with a void, it’s a high-probability area to watch for entries.
Practical Ways to Use Liquidity Voids
Once you can spot them, liquidity voids can be incorporated into your trading strategy in several ways:
H3: Plan Entries Around Filled Voids
Often, price retraces to fill a void before continuing in its primary direction. Waiting for the void to fill can give you a better entry point with less risk.
I learned this the hard way. I once entered a long trade before a void below was filled. Price spiked downward, stopped me out, and then continued higher. Lesson learned: patience pays off.
H3: Use Voids to Set Targets
Liquidity voids can act as natural target zones. Institutions often revisit these areas, so placing partial profits or exit points near voids can be effective.
H3: Combine With Confluence
A void alone isn’t a trade signal—it’s more of a clue. Combine it with:
Market structure breaks
Order blocks
Liquidity pools
This confluence increases probability and reduces risk. One of my most memorable trades involved a bullish order block, a liquidity void below it, and a confluence with a swing low. The setup worked perfectly.
Mistakes Beginners Make With Liquidity Voids
Even after understanding them, beginners often make common mistakes:
H3: Mistake #1 – Ignoring the Void
Some traders focus solely on trend direction or order blocks and forget to check for voids. This can result in entering trades prematurely or at suboptimal levels.
H3: Mistake #2 – Overreacting to Every Void
Not every void needs to be filled immediately. Some voids are revisited weeks later or not at all in the short term. Patience is key.
H3: Mistake #3 – Trading Voids Without Context
A void is only meaningful when combined with other ICT concepts. Jumping into a void without considering market structure, order blocks, or liquidity pools increases risk.
Personal Takeaways
Learning about liquidity voids taught me several lessons:
Patience beats impulsiveness: Waiting for a void to fill often leads to cleaner entries.
Voids reveal institutional behavior: They show where smart money moved quickly and left unfilled orders.
Confluence is key: Voids are a tool, not a standalone signal. Combining them with other ICT concepts increases accuracy.
One trade that stands out: I spotted a bearish void above a swing high, waited for price to revisit the void while aligning with a liquidity pool and order block, and the resulting short trade hit my target perfectly. That was the moment I truly appreciated the power of understanding voids.
Final Thoughts
For beginners, understanding liquidity voids for beginners is a crucial step in mastering ICT trading. These voids show areas of imbalance, help improve timing, and give insight into institutional behavior.
Start by identifying rapid price moves and gaps on your charts, combine them with order blocks and market structure, and use them to plan entries, targets, and risk management.
Remember: liquidity voids aren’t magic—they’re clues. But once you know how to read them, they transform from mysterious gaps into powerful tools for trading smarter, not harder.
If you want, I can also create a visual guide showing exactly how to spot and trade liquidity voids for beginners, with clear chart examples.
Do you want me to create that next?
Recognise the Trigger
- Trigger: Price approaches an area that resembles the concept described in this guide.
- Automatic response: Assume the label is correct and enter because the chart looks familiar.
- Coached response: Mark the level, state the expected confirmation and invalidation, wait for the sequence, and record a screenshot whether the trade is taken or skipped.
- Stop condition: Do not trade when the higher-timeframe context, confirmation or invalidation point is missing.
How to Practise the Behaviour
- Mark the relevant level or time window before price reaches it.
- Write the exact confirmation required for this setup.
- Define the invalidation point and maximum risk.
- Wait for the complete sequence; do not anticipate the final signal.
- Capture before-and-after screenshots and review whether the original conditions were genuinely present.
Worked Example
A trader reviewing what i wish i knew about liquidity voids before learning ict notices the trigger before acting. Instead of making an immediate decision, the trader follows the written steps, records the evidence and accepts a no-trade or no-purchase outcome when a required condition is missing. The coaching win is following the process; one profitable or unprofitable result does not prove the rule works.
Common Mistakes and Reset
- Changing the rule after seeing the outcome. Reset by returning to the version written before the decision.
- Treating confidence as evidence. Reset by naming the observable condition that is present or absent.
- Increasing risk to recover time or money. Reset by applying the pre-agreed limit or ending the session.
After a mistake, do not try to repair the outcome with another impulsive action. Record the trigger, step away, and resume only when the checklist and risk conditions are valid again.
Self-Coaching Questions
- What exactly triggered the decision?
- Which observable evidence supported the action?
- Did I respect the risk limit and stop condition?
- What is the one behaviour I will repeat or reset next time?
Sources & Further Reading
- Investor.gov’s explanation of market order types — Clarifies how market, limit and stop orders behave and why execution differs from an expected chart level.
- CME Group’s guide to futures order types — Connects order instructions with execution, liquidity and risk control in exchange-traded markets.
- CME Group’s guide to submitting futures orders — Shows how contract choice, order entry, position size, execution price and margin interact.
- BIS research on FX execution algorithms and market functioning — Provides institutional evidence on fragmented liquidity, execution methods and market impact.
- CFTC’s futures-market fundamentals — Provides regulated-market context for price discovery, clearing, leverage and participant roles.
Now Practise This Behaviour
Immediate exercise: use the next 10 minutes to complete this practice loop.
- Write the trigger for this behaviour in one sentence.
- Write the coached response and the condition that means stop.
- Apply the rule to one recent chart, decision or firm comparison.
- Record whether you followed the process, without scoring the financial outcome.
Open the 21-Day Discipline Builder
Now practise this behaviour.
