What is the ICT power of three (AMD)?

Price often builds a tight range first — the Asian session in forex. Then it breaks out the “wrong” way, running the stops on one side of the range. That false break is the manipulation. The real move, the distribution, then runs the other way, often for the rest of the session.

On a daily candle the same idea reads as: open, a wick against the day’s direction, then a long body the other way. A bullish day opens, dips (manipulation) and closes near its high.

EURUSDAccumulationManipulationDistribution
A quiet range, a false drop below it, then the real move up that runs well beyond the range.

The example in numbers

Accumulation range1.08460–1.08550 · 9 pips · 50% at 1.08505
Entry (long)1.08380 — after the false drop
Stop1.08280 — 2 pips below the manipulation low (10 pips)
Target1.08740 — buy-side liquidity above (36 pips)
Reward to risk3.60R · breaks even at a 22% win rate

EURUSD prices from the chart above (Power of three), entry at 1.08380. At 3.60R, this setup needs to win more than 22% of the time to make money before costs. Try your own levels in the risk/reward calculator.

Power of three: how to spot it

  1. Mark the accumulation range — often the Asian session for forex.
  2. Watch for a move out of the range at the next session’s open that quickly stalls.
  3. Wait for price to come back into the range and shift structure the other way.
  4. Enter on that return, with the stop beyond the manipulation’s extreme and the target beyond the range.

Definitions differ

The pattern is also called AMD. Some apply it to daily candles, others to each session or even each hour. The Judas swing is ICT’s name for the manipulation phase at the London or New York open.

Common mistakes

  • Calling every breakout a manipulation

    Some breakouts are real. The manipulation is the one that fails and comes back into the range.

  • Entering inside the accumulation

    Before the false move nobody knows which side it will run. The setup starts after the manipulation.

  • Targets too ambitious

    The distribution can be short on quiet days. Many traders take part at the opposite side of the range.

Your win rate on AMD

A definition does not tell you whether your AMD trades pay. Your own record does: in the journal, open a trade from MT4 or MT5 and add it once as your own entry criterion with “+”, then press the key of AMD under Entry criteria — the most used criteria get keys 1–9.

Reports then show AMD by itself: trades, win rate without breakeven trades, average R and P&L, and AMD in each ICT killzone, which is set on every trade by itself. Combinations such as AMD with another criterion appear once they have 15 trades, so a lucky streak does not look like an edge.

Start free — no card

Killzones and sessions in your time zone →

Questions

›What does AMD stand for?

Accumulation, manipulation, distribution — the three phases of ICT’s power of three.

›Is the power of three the same as the Judas swing?

The Judas swing is the manipulation phase of the power of three, usually at the London or New York open.

›Which session is the accumulation in forex?

Most often the Asian session, with London or New York providing the manipulation and the distribution.

Start free — no card