SMC Price Action v1.0: Complete Feature Guide

SMC Price Action

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SMC Price Action v1.0: Complete Feature Guide

A comprehensive walkthrough of every mode and feature in SMC Price Action — the all-in-one Smart Money Concepts toolkit for MetaTrader 5.

Introduction

Trading with Smart Money Concepts requires tracking multiple elements simultaneously — market structure shifts, order blocks, fair value gaps, liquidity pools, session timing, and more. Manually drawing and monitoring all of these on a chart is time-consuming and error-prone, often leading to missed setups or late entries.

SMC Price Action is a professional-grade indicator that consolidates the entire SMC/ICT methodology into a single, configurable toolkit for MetaTrader 5. It automatically detects and renders market structure (BOS, CHoCH, sweeps), order blocks with mitigation tracking, fair value gaps, liquidity levels (equal highs/lows, buy-side/sell-side liquidity, voids), premium/discount zones with OTE, trading sessions with killzones, key levels, multi-timeframe overlays, confluence scoring, and a real-time dashboard — all from one chart window.

Whether you are a scalper working the London killzone or a swing trader waiting for HTF confluence, this guide covers every feature and parameter so you can configure the tool to match your specific trading approach.

Part 1: Getting Started

Installation:

• Purchase or download SMC Price Action from the MQL5 Market
• The indicator will appear in your Navigator panel under Indicators > Market
• Drag SMC Price Action onto any chart
• A settings window will appear — configure your preferences and click OK

Interface Overview

Once loaded, SMC Price Action displays its analysis directly on your chart. By default, Market Structure and Order Blocks are enabled with the on-chart dashboard. All other modules (FVG, Liquidity, Sessions, Premium/Discount, MTF) can be activated as needed.

Module	Default State	Description
Market Structure	Enabled	BOS, CHoCH, and sweep detection with labeled lines on chart
Order Blocks	Enabled	Automatic OB zones with mitigation tracking and mid-lines
Fair Value Gaps	Disabled	FVG detection with mitigation, overlap filtering, and threshold control
Liquidity	Disabled	Equal Highs/Lows, BSL/SSL levels, and liquidity voids
Premium/Discount	Disabled	Premium and discount zones with OTE (0.618-0.786) and equilibrium
Sessions	Disabled	London, New York, and Asian session boxes with killzones and key levels
Multi-Timeframe	Disabled	Higher timeframe structure, OB, and FVG overlay on current chart
Dashboard	Enabled	On-chart panel showing trend, nearest OB/FVG, confluence, and active session

Part 2: Market Structure

The Market Structure module is the core engine of SMC Price Action. It identifies swing highs and swing lows using pivot detection, then tracks Break of Structure (BOS), Change of Character (CHoCH), and liquidity sweeps in real time.

How It Works

The indicator identifies pivot points based on your configured length, then monitors price action for structural breaks. A BOS confirms trend continuation, while a CHoCH signals a potential reversal. Sweeps are detected when price wicks through a level but closes back inside — often a sign of institutional stop hunts.

Parameters

Pivot Length

This controls how many bars to the left and right are checked to confirm a swing point. A lower value (e.g. 3) produces more swing points and more frequent structure labels, making it suitable for scalping on lower timeframes. A higher value (e.g. 8-10) filters out minor swings and focuses on significant structure, better for swing trading on H1 and above.

Example: On a 15-minute EURUSD chart, Pivot Length 3 will detect minor intraday swings, while Pivot Length 8 will only capture the major swings of the session.

Algorithm Mode

Two modes are available. Adjusted Points uses confirmed pivot highs and lows for structure tracking — this provides cleaner, more reliable BOS and CHoCH signals with fewer false breaks. Extreme Points uses the absolute highest high and lowest low, which is more reactive but may produce more noise.

Detect Sweeps (x)

When enabled, the indicator marks liquidity sweeps with an "x" label. A sweep occurs when price breaks through a structure level (e.g. a swing high) but the candle closes back below it — indicating a false breakout or stop hunt. This is a core SMC concept for identifying institutional activity.

Color Candles by Trend

When enabled, chart candles are colored based on the current structural trend direction. Bullish trend candles take the bullish color, bearish trend candles take the bearish color. This gives you an immediate visual cue of the prevailing market direction.

Max Structure Lines

Controls how many historical structure lines (BOS, CHoCH, sweep) are displayed on the chart. Increase this for deep historical analysis or reduce it for a cleaner chart focused on recent structure.

Part 3: Order Blocks

Order Blocks represent institutional supply and demand zones — the last opposing candle before a significant move. SMC Price Action automatically detects, renders, and tracks the mitigation status of every order block.

Parameters

Construction Mode

Length mode searches for the extreme candle within a defined lookback window when a structural break occurs. Full mode uses the entire range of the displacement move to construct the order block zone. Length mode typically produces tighter, more precise zones.

Mitigation Method

Determines how an order block is considered "mitigated" (filled). Close requires the candle close to enter the OB zone. Wick triggers mitigation when any part of the candle (including wick) touches the zone. Average uses the midpoint between open and close. Close is the most conservative; Wick is the most aggressive.

Breaker Blocks

When enabled, order blocks that get fully mitigated (price breaks through them) are converted into breaker blocks and remain visible with a modified appearance. Breaker blocks can act as support/resistance in the opposite direction — a key concept in ICT methodology.

Buy/Sell Activity

Displays a counter of bullish and bearish candles that have occurred within each active order block zone. This gives you a quick read on buying vs. selling pressure inside the OB.

Volume Metrics

When enabled, displays tick volume information associated with each order block, helping you gauge the institutional interest behind each zone.

Overlap Handling

When multiple order blocks overlap on the chart, this feature removes the less relevant one. Recent priority keeps the newest OB and removes older overlapping ones. Old priority keeps the original OB. This keeps your chart clean and focused on the most actionable zones.

Part 4: Fair Value Gaps (FVG)

Fair Value Gaps are three-candle patterns where a gap exists between the first and third candle — representing an imbalance in price that the market may return to fill. SMC Price Action detects both standard FVGs and breaker FVGs.

Parameters

FVG Type

Normal displays standard fair value gaps. Breakers mode shows FVGs that have been fully mitigated and then act as zones in the opposite direction, similar to breaker blocks.

Min Threshold (ATR Multiplier)

Filters out small, insignificant FVGs by requiring a minimum gap size relative to ATR. For example, setting this to 0.5 means only FVGs larger than 50% of the current ATR value will be displayed. This is useful for higher timeframes or volatile instruments where you only want to see significant imbalances.

Example: If ATR(200) on XAUUSD M15 is 3.5 points and you set the threshold to 0.3, only FVGs larger than 1.05 points (3.5 x 0.3) will appear.

Part 5: Liquidity Detection

The Liquidity module identifies areas where stop-loss orders are likely clustered, making them targets for institutional sweeps.

Parameters

Equal Highs/Lows (EQH/EQL)

Detects price levels where multiple swing highs or swing lows form at nearly the same price. These "equal" levels are significant because they represent clustered liquidity — stops from multiple traders sitting at the same area. The threshold determines how close prices must be (as a percentage of ATR) to qualify as "equal." Minimum touches sets how many times the level must be tested.

Example: If ATR is 50 pips and threshold is 0.1, two swing highs within 5 pips of each other (50 x 0.1) will be marked as Equal Highs.

Buy-Side/Sell-Side Liquidity (BSL/SSL)

Marks the most prominent swing highs and lows as buy-side liquidity (above highs, where buy stops rest) and sell-side liquidity (below lows, where sell stops rest). These are key targets for institutional price action.

Liquidity Voids

Identifies areas where price moved rapidly through a range with minimal trading activity, leaving a "void" that price may revisit. These often overlap with FVGs but are detected independently based on liquidity characteristics.

Part 6: Premium/Discount Zones

The Premium/Discount module divides the current trading range into zones based on the most recent structural swing, helping you identify optimal trade entry areas.

Parameters

How Premium/Discount Works

The range between the current structural swing high and swing low is divided at the 50% (equilibrium) level. The upper half is the Premium zone — where price is considered expensive and ideal for sells. The lower half is the Discount zone — where price is cheap and ideal for buys.

OTE Zone (Optimal Trade Entry)

The OTE zone highlights the Fibonacci 0.618-0.786 retracement area within the current swing. In a bullish trend, this zone appears in the discount area — the ideal place to look for long entries. In a bearish trend, it appears in the premium area for short entries. This is one of the most important concepts in ICT/SMC methodology for timing entries.

Equilibrium Line

Displays the 50% level (EQ 0.5) of the current swing range. This line acts as a reference point — above it is premium territory, below it is discount territory.

Part 7: Sessions and Key Levels

This module tracks the three major trading sessions and displays key institutional reference levels on your chart.

Session Parameters

Each session is rendered as a colored box on your chart showing the session's high and low range. The session times use your broker's server time — adjust them to match your broker's timezone offset. Killzones highlight the opening overlap periods where institutional activity is typically highest.

Key Level Parameters

These toggle horizontal reference lines for significant time-based levels:

• PDH/PDL — Previous Day High and Low (displayed in blue)
• PWH/PWL — Previous Week High and Low (displayed in orange)
• PMH/PML — Previous Month High and Low (displayed in magenta)
• MO — Midnight Open price (displayed in yellow)

These levels are widely used in ICT methodology as targets and reference points for daily bias.

Part 8: Multi-Timeframe (MTF) Overlay

The MTF module projects higher-timeframe analysis onto your current chart, so you can see HTF context without switching timeframes.

Parameters

When enabled, the indicator reads data from the selected higher timeframe and overlays structure, order blocks, and FVGs directly onto your current chart using distinct colors. This allows you to, for example, trade M15 entries while seeing H4 order blocks and structure levels without leaving your execution timeframe.

Example: Set your chart to M15, enable MTF with H4 timeframe, and you will see H4 order blocks rendered in DodgerBlue (bullish) and Orange (bearish) alongside your M15 analysis.

Part 9: Confluence Scoring

The Confluence module is a powerful feature that automatically identifies zones where multiple SMC factors overlap. When several factors align at the same price area, the probability of a reaction increases significantly.

How Confluence Scoring Works

The indicator scans all active zones and checks for overlap between five key factors:

Factor	Description
OB (Order Block)	An active, unmitigated order block zone
FVG (Fair Value Gap)	An unfilled fair value gap
LIQ (Liquidity)	Nearby liquidity level (EQH/EQL or BSL/SSL)
OTE (Optimal Trade Entry)	Price is within the 0.618-0.786 Fibonacci zone
SESSION	Active trading session overlap

Zones are scored and color-coded by confluence level:

Confluence Level	Factors	Color
Medium	2 overlapping factors	Yellow
High	3 overlapping factors	Orange
Extreme	4+ overlapping factors	OrangeRed / Red

Each confluence zone is displayed on the chart with a label showing its score and contributing factors (e.g. "High [OB+FVG+OTE]").

Part 10: Dashboard

The on-chart dashboard provides a real-time summary of all active SMC conditions at a glance, positioned in the upper-left corner of your chart.

Parameters

Dashboard Displays:

• Trend — Current market structure bias (BULLISH / BEARISH / NEUTRAL) with color coding
• Bull OB — Price of the nearest bullish order block
• Bear OB — Price of the nearest bearish order block
• Bull FVG — Price of the nearest bullish FVG
• Bear FVG — Price of the nearest bearish FVG
• Confluence — Current maximum confluence score (e.g. "High (3/5)")
• Session — Currently active trading sessions (LND, NY, ASIA, or None)

The dashboard updates in real time and uses a dark background with the Consolas font for clean readability. You can reposition it using the X and Y parameters.

Part 11: Alerts

SMC Price Action supports comprehensive alerting for all major events. Each alert type can be individually enabled or disabled.

Available Alert Types

Notification Methods

In addition to standard MT5 popup alerts, you can enable push notifications to your mobile device and email notifications. This allows you to monitor setups even when away from your trading desk. Make sure your MT5 push notification and email settings are configured in Tools > Options before enabling these.

Part 12: Configuration Recommendations

Scalping Setup (M1-M5)

For scalping, use shorter pivot lengths for more responsive structure. Wick-based mitigation catches entries faster. Enable sessions to trade during killzones and use the confluence scoring to filter only the highest-probability setups.

Intraday Setup (M15-H1)

The default configuration works well for intraday trading. Enable the MTF overlay on H4 to see higher-timeframe context. Use PDH/PDL and Midnight Open as daily reference levels. The confluence scoring becomes very powerful here, combining OB + FVG + OTE for high-probability entries.

Swing Trading Setup (H4-D1)

For swing trading, increase the pivot length to focus on significant structure. Use Full construction mode for wider OB zones. Enable all key levels (daily, weekly, monthly) as targets and reference points. The higher FVG threshold filters out minor gaps, keeping only significant imbalances.

Gold (XAUUSD) Setup

Gold is volatile, so a slightly higher FVG threshold and EQH/EQL threshold help filter noise. Focus on London and New York sessions where gold has the most liquidity.

Part 13: SMC Abbreviations Reference

Abbreviation	Full Term
BOS	Break of Structure
CHoCH	Change of Character
OB	Order Block
FVG	Fair Value Gap
BSL	Buy-Side Liquidity
SSL	Sell-Side Liquidity
EQH	Equal Highs
EQL	Equal Lows
OTE	Optimal Trade Entry
PDH/PDL	Previous Day High / Previous Day Low
PWH/PWL	Previous Week High / Previous Week Low
PMH/PML	Previous Month High / Previous Month Low
MO	Midnight Open
EQ	Equilibrium (50% level)
HTF	Higher Timeframe
MTF	Multi-Timeframe

Conclusion

SMC Price Action provides a complete Smart Money Concepts toolkit for MetaTrader 5 traders:

• Market Structure Engine — Automatic BOS, CHoCH, and sweep detection with configurable pivot sensitivity
• Order Blocks — Institutional supply/demand zones with mitigation tracking, breaker conversion, and activity metrics
• Fair Value Gaps — Imbalance detection with threshold filtering and overlap management
• Liquidity Detection — Equal Highs/Lows, BSL/SSL, and liquidity voids for identifying stop-hunt targets
• Premium/Discount with OTE — Fibonacci-based optimal entry zones aligned with structural trend
• Sessions and Key Levels — London, New York, and Asian session tracking with PDH/PDL, PWH/PWL, PMH/PML, and Midnight Open
• Multi-Timeframe Overlay — See HTF structure, OBs, and FVGs on your execution timeframe
• Confluence Scoring — Automatic detection of high-probability zones where multiple factors align
• Real-Time Dashboard — At-a-glance summary of trend, nearest levels, confluence, and active sessions
• Comprehensive Alerts — BOS, CHoCH, OB entry, FVG fill, sweep, and confluence alerts with push and email support

The key to success is matching the configuration to your trading style. Start with the default settings on a demo account, experiment with different pivot lengths and mitigation methods, and gradually enable additional modules as you develop your edge. Use the confluence scoring to focus only on the highest-probability setups.

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