SMC Pocket Cheat Sheet
Use this next to the Intro To Smart Money Concepts videos. Education only. It does not replace Mark's live teaching or a written trading plan.
Market structure
- Bullish: higher highs and higher lows
- Bearish: lower highs and lower lows
- Break of Structure (BOS): price continues the current trend by taking the next key high or low
- Change of Character (CHoCH) / market structure shift: the first break against the current trend, often after a liquidity sweep
- Displacement: a strong impulsive candle or series of candles that leaves imbalance. Treat it as intent, not an entry by itself
Liquidity
- Buy-side liquidity (BSL): stops above equal highs, session highs, and obvious resistance
- Sell-side liquidity (SSL): stops below equal lows, session lows, and obvious support
- Sweep: price trades through the pool, then rejects. The trade idea starts after the sweep, not inside it
- Target previous liquidity, equal highs/lows, and session extremes. Do not target "hope"
Order blocks
- Last opposing candle before a displacement that leaves pending orders in the market
- Valid when price later trades into it, rejects, and displaces the other way
- Invalid when price sits in it, or trades through it with no reaction
- Enter only when Mark's confirmations are present. A tap is not an entry
Fair value gaps
- FVG: a 3-candle imbalance (gap between candle 1 wick and candle 3 wick)
- Price often revisits the gap to rebalance
- Inversion FVG (IFVG): a gap that fails, then flips and is used in the new direction
- Confluence is stronger when an FVG sits inside or against a valid order block
Premium vs discount
- In a bullish move, look for longs in discount (below equilibrium)
- In a bearish move, look for shorts in premium (above equilibrium)
- Equilibrium is the 50% of the dealing range. Mark covers this with OTE and Fibonacci in the 12-week material
AMD (accumulation, manipulation, distribution)
- Accumulation: range, building orders
- Manipulation: sweep of the obvious side (the stop hunt)
- Distribution: the real move the other way
- Wait for the manipulation. Do not trade the first grab of liquidity as if it is the trend
Candlestick psychology (15m and higher)
- Long wick + small body = rejection
- Strong body, tiny wicks = intent (bullish if green, bearish if red)
- Read wicks as where price was not accepted
Risk rules from the academy
- Trail to breakeven after 10–20 pips in profit, not after TP3
- Size the position from the stop, never from how confident you feel
- If the setup is not A+, skip it. Missing a trade is part of the plan