# Market maker model (MMXM) > ICT's map of a price campaign in two halves: price moves away from an original consolidation in stages to a higher-timeframe array, turns there in a smart money reversal, and returns through the same stages. The buy model runs down then up; the sell model up then down. - Canonical: https://hadalinstruments.com/glossary/market-maker-model/ - Term set: https://hadalinstruments.com/glossary/ --- The market maker model is the largest drawing in the ICT vocabulary: not a candle or a level but a whole campaign, from the range it leaves to the range it returns to. ## The shape, stated Every model starts from an **original consolidation**, a range price has been trading in. The first half is a move away from it in stages: a leg, a pause in a smaller consolidation, another leg, another pause. Each pause leaves resting orders behind it, which teaching describes as liquidity being engineered for later. The move ends at a **higher-timeframe array**, a [fair value gap](/glossary/fair-value-gap/) or an [order block](/glossary/order-block/) on a larger timeframe, where the **smart money reversal** happens: a [liquidity sweep](/glossary/liquidity-sweep/) and a [market structure shift](/glossary/market-structure-shift/) against the first half's direction. The second half retraces through the same pauses, collecting the orders each one left, toward the original consolidation. ## Buy model and sell model The model comes in two orientations, abbreviated together as MMXM. The **market maker buy model** runs down and then up. Its first half declines from the original consolidation, the half teaching calls the sell side of the curve, and its second half rallies back, the buy side of the curve. The **market maker sell model** is the mirror: a rally away from the consolidation into a higher-timeframe premium array, a reversal there, and a decline back through the rally's pauses. The appeal is that the model turns a chart's history into a forecast. Once the first half and the reversal have printed, the earlier pauses become objectives for the second half, each a price where orders are expected to be waiting, and the original consolidation becomes the final target. ## A worked outline Constructed and not measured. EUR/USD ranges between 1.0900 and 1.0940 for a day, the original consolidation. It then declines in three legs, pausing at 1.0880 and at 1.0840, into a four-hour bullish gap between 1.0800 and 1.0815. Inside that gap price trades beneath a prior low at 1.0806, closes back above it, and breaks the last lower high at 1.0830 with a strong candle. That is the smart money reversal of a buy model. The model now names 1.0840, then 1.0880, then the consolidation between 1.0900 and 1.0940 as the second half's objectives. Whether price reaches them is the only part of the outline that is a prediction. ## The sell model, mirrored A market maker sell model reverses every direction in the outline. EUR/USD ranges between 1.0700 and 1.0740, rallies in legs with pauses at 1.0780 and 1.0820, and reaches a four-hour bearish gap between 1.0865 and 1.0880. Inside that gap price trades above a prior high at 1.0874, closes back beneath it, and breaks the last higher low at 1.0850 with a strong candle. The second half's objectives are the pauses at 1.0820 and 1.0780, then the original consolidation between 1.0700 and 1.0740. These are constructed numbers again, not a record of any real campaign. ## Where the reversal is expected The model does not say price turns anywhere in particular; it says the turn happens at a **higher-timeframe array**, and teaching draws those arrays from the rest of the vocabulary: a gap on the four-hour or daily chart, an [order block](/glossary/order-block/) on one of those timeframes, a [rejection block](/glossary/rejection-block/), or an old high or low where [buy-side and sell-side liquidity](/glossary/buy-side-and-sell-side-liquidity/) rests. The list of admissible arrays is an election, and the wider it is, the more likely some array lies near any turn at all, which makes the model easier to see and harder to test. ## How it composes the vocabulary Most of the model is built from terms this glossary defines on their own pages. The pauses in each half are consolidations whose edges become pools. The reversal is a sweep followed by a structure shift, often delivered with [displacement](/glossary/displacement/) and leaving a fair value gap. On a lower timeframe that turn frequently has the shape of the [ICT 2022 model](/glossary/ict-2022-model/). What the market maker model adds is the campaign around those parts, and the claim that the campaign's second half retraces its first. ## Where the name comes from, and what it is not The name borrows from market making in the financial sense, dealers quoting both sides and managing inventory, and the borrowing is loose. The model does not describe how any dealer quotes, hedges or sets a spread; it is a chart pattern that attributes a campaign to large participants. Its closer relative is the older Wyckoff tradition of accumulation and distribution, which shares the premise of engineered moves. The campaign registers its detector as a state machine with a completion ledger, one row of the [claims ledger](/ict/#ledger). ## A model in progress Read live, the model is a sequence of states, and each state commits to less than the drawing of a finished model does. **Consolidation**: a range exists, and nothing more is claimed. **First half**: price has left the range in legs, and each pause is logged with its price. **Reversal candidate**: price has reached a higher-timeframe array, which says only where a turn would count. **Reversal**: a sweep and a structure shift have printed at the array, and the model now names its objectives, nearest pause first. **Second half**: each objective is marked reached or not as price travels. A model then ends one of two ways: **completed**, when price returns to the original consolidation, or **failed**, when price trades back beyond the reversal's extreme first. Logged that way, every model that failed is counted beside every model that completed, which is what separates a record from a gallery of finished pictures. ## The hindsight problem Almost any swing followed by a retracement can be drawn as a completed market maker model once both halves are on the chart. That is what makes the model persuasive in review and difficult to test: its examples select themselves. An honest test marks the original consolidation, the first half and the reversal as they happen, before the second half is known, and then counts how often the second half reaches each objective, compared with how often any turn at a higher-timeframe array retraces the same distance. That count belongs to the model’s row in the claims ledger, and the [two lenses](/glossary/the-two-lenses/) keep the drawing and the forecast apart. ## Commonly confused with Neighbouring concepts that get used interchangeably, and the distinction that actually separates them. - **Market making** — A market maker in the financial sense quotes buy and sell prices continuously and earns the spread, managing inventory as orders arrive. ICT's model borrows the name for a chart pattern describing a whole campaign; it is not a description of how any dealer quotes, hedges or sets a spread. - **Wyckoff accumulation and distribution** — Wyckoff's schematics describe a trading range in which large operators accumulate or distribute before a markup or markdown. The market maker model is two-sided: a campaign away from a consolidation and a return through it, with the turn at a higher-timeframe array. They share the premise of engineered moves and differ in where the turn is expected and what is mapped after it. - **Power of three** — Power of three reads one candle's session as accumulation, manipulation and distribution. The market maker model maps a multi-leg campaign across many candles. The first is the shape of a candle; the second is the shape of a swing and its return. - **[Market structure shift](https://hadalinstruments.com/glossary/market-structure-shift/)** — A shift is one structure event. The model places a shift at its turning point, the smart money reversal, and wraps legs around it before and after. A shift can exist without the model; the model cannot exist without a shift. ## How to measure it in your own data A definition you cannot test is a definition you have to take on trust. This is the shortest honest route from the concept to a number you computed yourself. - **Records you need** — Candle data at a declared timeframe; a stated rule for what counts as a consolidation, such as a minimum number of candles inside a range of a stated width; the higher-timeframe arrays that can host a reversal; and the sweep and structure rules that together mark the smart money reversal. - **What you compute** — Model the campaign as a state machine: original consolidation, legs and pauses away from it, a reversal at a qualifying array, and legs back toward the origin. Record how often a completed first half and reversal go on to reach each earlier pause and the original consolidation within a stated horizon, and compare with how often any turn at a higher-timeframe array retraces the same distance. - **What the answer tells you** — A staircase away from a range, a sharp turn at a higher-timeframe level with a sweep and a shift, then a staircase back through the same steps. The pattern is easy to see after the fact, because any completed swing and retracement can be drawn this way; the discipline is to mark the model before its second half exists and count how often it completes. ## Questions and answers ### What is a market maker model? ICT's description of a whole price campaign. Price leaves an original consolidation in stages, reaches a higher-timeframe array, turns there in a smart money reversal, and then retraces through the same stages toward where it began. The model names the earlier pauses as objectives for the return. ### What is the market maker buy model? The version that runs down and then up. Price declines from an original consolidation in stages, each pause leaving sell-side liquidity behind, reaches a higher-timeframe discount array, turns in a smart money reversal, and rallies back through the same pauses toward the origin. It is abbreviated MMBM. ### What is the market maker sell model? The mirror, abbreviated MMSM. Price rallies away from an original consolidation in stages into a higher-timeframe premium array, reverses there, and declines back through the rally's pauses, collecting the buy-side liquidity each one left. ### What does MMXM stand for? Market maker model, with the X standing for either direction: MMBM is the buy model and MMSM the sell model. MMXM refers to the pair. ### What is the smart money reversal in the market maker model? The turning point. Price reaches a higher-timeframe array, sweeps liquidity there and shifts structure against the first half's direction. It is where the model changes sides, and it is built from terms this glossary defines separately: the liquidity sweep and the market structure shift. ### How is the market maker model traded? As taught: identify the original consolidation and the first half's direction, wait for price to reach a higher-timeframe array and print the smart money reversal, then look for entries in the second half with the earlier pauses as objectives. That describes the practice, not its results. ### Does the market maker model work? No drawing can say, and the model is prone to hindsight. Almost any swing and its retracement can be drawn as a completed model once both halves exist. The testable version marks the first half and the reversal as they happen, before the second half is known, and counts how often the second half reaches its objectives. ### What is the original consolidation? The range a market maker model starts from and, in the model's reading, returns to. It is where the campaign is said to have been positioned before the first half began, which is why the second half treats it as the final objective rather than as one more prior level. ### What timeframe is the market maker model used on? Any, provided it is stated. The shape is drawn on whatever timeframe shows the consolidations clearly, and the reversal is usually looked for at an array from a higher one. Because a consolidation on one timeframe can be a single candle on another, the timeframe is part of the model's definition, not a detail. ### How is the market maker model different from the ICT 2022 model? Scale. The 2022 model is one entry sequence: a sweep, a displaced shift, a gap and a return. The market maker model is a whole campaign, and a 2022-model sequence is often what its smart money reversal looks like on a lower timeframe. The first is a turn; the second is the journey either side of it. ## Where it sits in the ICT sequence The ICT vocabulary in the order the method is taught, with a step for each kind of object. - **Step** — 08 of 08 [Models](https://hadalinstruments.com/ict/#step-models): the steps composed into named setups - **Also at this step** — [ICT 2022 model](https://hadalinstruments.com/glossary/ict-2022-model/), [ICT unicorn model](https://hadalinstruments.com/glossary/ict-unicorn-model/) - **Before it** — [ICT unicorn model](https://hadalinstruments.com/glossary/ict-unicorn-model/) Models - **After it** — Nothing: the sequence ends here - **Every step** — [The ICT vocabulary map, with every term defined](https://hadalinstruments.com/ict/#vocabulary) ## The shape, drawn The smallest arrangement the definition admits. It is a drawing of a rule, not a reading of a market — nothing here is measured, and the table below it is the authoritative version. FIG. 01 ILLUSTRATIVE - The original consolidation, carried forward as the final objective; and the higher-timeframe array where the first half ends. - The pauses on the way down. Each leaves resting orders behind, and each is an intermediate objective for the second half. - The smart money reversal: a trade beneath the prior low inside the array that closes back above it, before the shift back up. - The reversal, shaded. - The model’s path: away from the consolidation in stages, and back through the same stages. A market maker buy model drawn whole: an original consolidation, a decline in stages into a higher-timeframe array, the smart money reversal there, and a rally back through the same pauses toward where it began. Drawing a completed model establishes that the shape can be traced after the fact. It does not establish that a first half and a reversal predict the second half. Source [Frozen definition set — detector W4.8](https://hadalinstruments.com/ict/#ledger) SHA-256 NOT APPLICABLE — ILLUSTRATIVE, NOT A MEASUREMENT Market maker model (MMXM): what the definition states, in full. Element | What the definition states | Original consolidation | The range the campaign leaves and, in the model, returns to. | First half | A move away in legs separated by pauses, each pause leaving resting orders. | Smart money reversal | At a higher-timeframe array: a sweep, then a structure shift against the first half. | Second half | A return through the same pauses toward the original consolidation. | Consolidation rule How many candles, inside how wide a range, make a pause. The rule decides which campaigns exist. | election pending | Not established | How often a first half and a reversal are followed by the second half, against any turn at a higher-timeframe array. | ## Related terms Derived from the links this entry makes and the entries that link back to it. - [Buy-side and sell-side liquidity](https://hadalinstruments.com/glossary/buy-side-and-sell-side-liquidity/) The ICT names for resting orders on either side of price: buy-side liquidity is the buy orders assumed to sit above prior highs, sell-side liquidity the sell orders assumed to sit below prior lows. - [Displacement](https://hadalinstruments.com/glossary/displacement/) A candle or short run of candles whose bodies dominate their ranges — price delivered aggressively in one direction, with little trade against it, often leaving imbalances behind. - [Fair value gap (FVG)](https://hadalinstruments.com/glossary/fair-value-gap/) A three-candle imbalance: the wicks of the first and third candles fail to overlap, leaving a price band the middle candle crossed with one-sided trade. Bullish when the third candle's low sits above the first's high; bearish in mirror. - [ICT 2022 model](https://hadalinstruments.com/glossary/ict-2022-model/) The entry sequence taught in ICT's 2022 mentorship: a sweep of a prior high or low, a displaced market structure shift that leaves a fair value gap, and an entry on the return into that gap. The silver bullet is the same model restricted to three one-hour windows. - [Liquidity sweep](https://hadalinstruments.com/glossary/liquidity-sweep/) Price trading through a prior swing high or low — or a cluster of equal highs or lows — and then closing back inside the old range, read as a run on the stop and entry orders resting beyond the level. - [Market structure shift (MSS)](https://hadalinstruments.com/glossary/market-structure-shift/) A counter-trend break at an intermediate or higher swing tier — the change-of-character event graded up by the significance of the swing it takes, often required to arrive with displacement before it counts. - [Order block](https://hadalinstruments.com/glossary/order-block/) The last candle closing against the direction of a subsequent qualifying move — taught as the footprint of positions built before the move, and drawn as a zone expected to react on revisit. - [Rejection block](https://hadalinstruments.com/glossary/rejection-block/) A zone drawn from the wick of a candle at a swing high or low, between the candle's body and the tip of its wick, where price reached and was refused, and where the ICT method expects it to be refused again. ## Cite This Definition APA BibTeX HTML Hadal Instruments. (2026). Market maker model (MMXM). Hadal Glossary. https://hadalinstruments.com/glossary/market-maker-model/ Version 1dac472, 2026-09-15. @misc{hadal_2026_market-maker-model, author = {Hadal Instruments}, title = {Market maker model (MMXM)}, year = {2026}, url = {https://hadalinstruments.com/glossary/market-maker-model/}, howpublished = {Hadal Glossary}, version = {1dac472}, note = {Pre-launch publication; version dated 2026-09-15} } Source: Hadal Instruments, Market maker model (MMXM). Original Research Copy Citation **Version 1dac472** identifies the commit that last changed this page in Hadal's content repository. That repository is not public, so the identifier does not resolve externally — it is published so a citation pins one specific state rather than a moving page. To obtain the exact version cited, use the [press and research route](https://hadalinstruments.com/press/).