Entry models: seven setups that turn concepts into trades
By now you have the ingredients. Entry models are the recipes: fixed sequences that combine a sweep, a structure shift and a point of interest into a trade you can wait for and recognise. You do not need all seven; most traders settle on two or three that fit their temperament. Learn them all once, drawn clearly, then choose the ones you will actually trade and ignore the rest.
The anatomy every model shares
Every model below is a variation on one idea: price takes liquidity, then shifts structure, then offers an entry at a point of interest, an order block, gap or breaker, with the stop beyond the swept level and the target at the next liquidity. If you understand that skeleton, the seven models are just different ways the same three events line up. Keep the skeleton in mind as you read each one.
Model 1: sweep, CHoCH, order block
The core SMC setup. Price sweeps a liquidity pool, prints a change of character against it, then pulls back into the order block that caused the shift. You enter on the tap of that block. It is the model most of the others are built from, and the one to master first. Stop beyond the sweep, target the opposite liquidity.
Model 2: MSS to fair value gap
When the structure break is violent, it leaves a gap. In this model you wait for a market structure shift with displacement, then enter on the retrace into the fair value gap that the shift created, often at the consequent encroachment. It suits fast markets where price does not pull all the way back to an order block but does rebalance its gap.
Model 3: breaker retest
This model trades a failure. When an order block fails and price reclaims it, that zone becomes a breaker; you enter on the retest of the breaker in the new direction. It is powerful because it traps the traders who took the original block, and their stops add fuel to your trade. Stop beyond the breaker, target the next pool.
Model 4: optimal trade entry
A retracement model. After a displacement leg, you enter on the deep 62% to 79% retrace, the OTE pocket, ideally where an order block or gap also sits. It gives the tightest stop and the biggest reward of any model, at the cost of sometimes missing trades that never retrace that deep. Patience is the price of its precision.
Model 5: turtle soup
A pure reversal model. Price makes an obvious false breakout of a prior high or low, taking the breakout traders' stops, then immediately reverses back inside the range. You enter on the reclaim of the level, stop beyond the false-break extreme, target the opposite side of the range. It is the sweep idea in its simplest, most direct form.
Model 6: previous day liquidity
A level-based model. The previous day's high and low are obvious liquidity pools, so price often sweeps one near a session open and then runs the other way. You wait for the sweep of the previous day low or high, then enter on the shift. It works well on gold around the London and New York opens, which the sessions module covers in depth.
Model 7: mitigation continuation
A trend-continuation model. Inside a clean trend, price pulls back to a mitigation or continuation zone, taps it, and resumes. You enter on the tap with the trend, not against it, which makes it one of the lower-stress models. It will not catch reversals, but trading with an established trend is where consistency usually comes from.
Choosing your models
Seven is a menu, not a checklist. Reversal traders gravitate to models one, two and five; trend traders to four, six and seven. Pick two or three that match how you like to trade and backtest only those until they are automatic. On the live XAUUSD chart, scroll back and find three past examples of your chosen model before you ever trade it live. Depth in a few models beats dabbling in all of them.
FAQ
Do I need to learn all seven entry models?
No. They are a menu. Most traders settle on two or three that match their temperament, reversal traders favouring the sweep and false-break models and trend traders favouring the retrace and continuation ones. Master a few rather than dabbling in all.
What do all the entry models have in common?
The same skeleton: price takes liquidity, shifts structure against the sweep, then offers an entry at a point of interest such as an order block, gap or breaker, with the stop beyond the swept level and the target at the next liquidity.
Which model should a beginner start with?
Model 1, sweep to change of character to order block. It is the core setup that most of the others are variations of, so mastering it first makes the rest far easier to understand and trade.
What is turtle soup?
A reversal model that trades a false breakout: price breaks an obvious prior high or low, takes the breakout traders' stops, then reverses back inside the range. You enter on the reclaim, with the stop beyond the false-break extreme.
How do I practise an entry model?
Scroll back on a chart and find several past examples of the one model before trading it live, marking the sweep, the structure shift and the point of interest each time. Backtesting a single model until it is automatic beats trading several half-learned ones.