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ICT Asian range and CBDR: marking them before London

Learn how to mark the Asian range and the CBDR, add standard deviation levels, and watch for the London sweep that often follows. A plain-English guide.

2026-11-09 · 4 min read · by the ICC Charts team (how we write)

Before London opens, the market has already drawn two quiet boxes on your chart: the Asian range and the CBDR. ICT traders use them as a map. The highs and lows of these boxes hold stops, and the box itself can be projected to give possible targets. This guide shows how to mark both in a simple way.

What is the Asian range?

The Asian range is the high and the low of the Asian session. In New York time the window used on ICC Charts runs from 20:00 to 00:00. Price is often slow in this period, so it builds a tight box.

A tight box matters because it leaves clear highs and lows behind. Stops pile up just above the high and just below the low. That is buy-side and sell-side liquidity in a very simple form.

What is the CBDR?

CBDR stands for Central Bank Dealers Range. On ICC Charts it is the range from 14:00 to 20:00 New York time, taken on the evening before the trading day. It ends where the Asian range begins, so the two boxes sit one after the other.

The idea is that a calm CBDR can show how far a later move may stretch. Nobody can promise that it will. It is a reference, not a signal.

How to mark them

  1. Set your chart to New York time, or use the sessions layer so the windows are drawn for you.
  2. Mark the high and low of 14:00 to 20:00. This is the CBDR.
  3. Mark the high and low of 20:00 to 00:00. This is the Asian range.
  4. Draw a line at the middle of each box. The midpoint helps you see which half price spends time in.
  5. Note whether the boxes are small or large compared with a normal day. A very wide box is already a move, not a base.

Standard deviation levels

Once a box is marked, you can project its size above and below it. If the box is 20 points tall, one standard deviation up is the high plus 20 points, two is the high plus 40 points, and so on. The same works downward from the low.

These projected levels are the "SD" lines. Traders use them as places where a move may slow down or reverse. They are zones to watch, never guaranteed stops or targets. On the ICC Charts terminal the Range Projections layer draws the Asian range and CBDR SD levels for you.

The London sweep idea

A common pattern goes like this. The Asian box forms. When London opens, price pushes out of the box on one side and takes the stops there. Then it turns and moves the other way. This is close to the Judas swing and the three-part day in Power of 3.

Not every day follows this. Sometimes price breaks out and keeps going. That is why you need a second sign, not only the sweep.

What to wait for

A worked example

These numbers are made up to show the steps. The CBDR runs from 1.0800 to 1.0830 and the Asian range from 1.0805 to 1.0835. The daily bias is bullish.

  1. At London open, price drops to 1.0798 and takes the sell-side liquidity under the Asian low.
  2. It then returns inside the box and breaks a recent lower high with a strong candle.
  3. That candle leaves a fair value gap. You wait for price to come back into it.
  4. The stop goes below the sweep low. The first area to watch is the Asian high, then the one standard deviation level above it.

If price had closed well below 1.0798 and kept falling, the plan would be cancelled. Having a clear "I was wrong" point is the real purpose of the box.

Common mistakes

Practise it

Open the ICC Charts terminal, switch on Range Projections and Sessions & Killzones, and scroll back through several London sessions. Count how often price swept the Asian side first and what it did next. The models page lists the scanner models built around these ranges, such as the Asian Range Scalp and London Protraction.

Education only. ICC Charts is not affiliated with Inner Circle Trader (Michael J. Huddleston); these ideas are explained in our own words. No range or level works every time. Trading involves risk; practise on a demo account first.

Try it on a live chart

Open ICC Charts in your browser, free, with the ICT and VSA layers and the model scanner. Or practise on past charts in the free Chart Challenge game.

Open it on the chart → Play the chart game

New articles and the daily chart challenge on Telegram → t.me/icccharts

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