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ICT PD arrays: how to rank zones in premium and discount

PD arrays are the zones price may react to inside a range. Learn how to sort fair value gaps, order blocks and breakers by premium or discount.

2026-11-05 · 4 min read · by the ICC Charts team (how we write)

When you scan a chart you often see several zones at once: a fair value gap, an order block, maybe a failed block that now acts from the other side. Which one do you trust first? Many ICT traders use the idea of PD arrays to answer that. PD stands for premium and discount, and a PD array is simply a zone that price may react to inside a range.

What a PD array is

A PD array is any price area where you expect a reaction because of how it formed. The usual list is:

The "matrix" is only a way to sort these zones, so that you know which ones fit your plan and which ones to ignore on the day.

Step 1: split the range

Everything starts with the dealing range. Take the swing low and swing high that matter, and mark the 50% level. Above it is premium, below it is discount.

A zone on the wrong side of equilibrium is a weaker candidate before you even look at its type. This one filter removes a lot of noise.

Step 2: sort the zones by their story

There is no official, fixed ranking that every trader agrees on. A practical way is to ask how much evidence stands behind each zone. Here is one simple scale in our own words, from more evidence to less:

  1. Breaker block after a liquidity sweep. The move took liquidity first, then failed the block, then turned. That is a full story.
  2. Order block that caused a structure break. It is tied to a market structure shift, so it has a reason to exist.
  3. Fair value gap made by displacement. A strong candle, as in displacement, makes the gap more meaningful.
  4. Mitigation block. The block failed, but without a liquidity sweep behind it. See mitigation block vs order block.
  5. Small imbalances and plain gaps. Thin zones without any sweep or break are the weakest. A volume imbalance alone is a good example.

Treat this list as a starting point for your own notes. Change the order if your journal shows something different for the market you trade.

Step 3: look for overlap

The best areas are often where two zones meet. A few well-known combinations:

Overlap does not guarantee a reaction. It only means that more than one reason points to the same area.

A worked example

This is an illustration with made-up numbers on a 15-minute chart. The range runs from 100 to 120, so equilibrium is 110. The daily bias is bullish.

  1. Price trades down to 104 and sweeps a prior low, then breaks structure up.
  2. Three zones appear: a fair value gap at 105 to 106, an order block at 103 to 104, and another gap at 114 to 115.
  3. The gap at 114 to 115 is in premium. With a bullish bias you skip it.
  4. The order block and the lower gap are both in discount and close to each other. You mark the overlap as your area of interest.
  5. You wait for a reaction on a lower time frame, and place the stop beyond the area.

Common mistakes

Practise it

Open the terminal and switch on Premium / Discount + OTE, Order Blocks and FVG / IFVG. Scroll back a few days. For each zone, note which half of the range it is in and what price did next. A short written log will teach you more than any ranking. The models page shows how the scanner models combine these zones with rules.

Education only. ICC Charts is not affiliated with Inner Circle Trader (Michael J. Huddleston); these ideas are explained in our own words. No zone 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

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