Trading and Crypto

How to Find Trading Entries in 2026 Using the ICC Method Explained by SCI

How I Find My Trading Entries | Trading Course 003

Video: How I Find My Trading Entries | Trading Course 003

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· based on the channel SCI

Key takeaways

  • Entry timing is a skill, not a signal — it is built from a repeatable markup routine, not from indicators.
  • SCI's Trading Course 003 (published 30 September 2026) breaks the entry process into markup, confirmation and execution.
  • The ICC framework stands for three stages: Indication, Correction, Continuation.
  • Entries are taken on the continuation leg after the correction, not on the first impulse candle.
  • Risk management, not entry accuracy, is what most viewers of the series say cost them money.
  • SCI publishes trade recaps live on X at https://x.com/tradesbysci and course material via Instagram.

Trading entries in 2026 are found by marking up a chart in three stages — indication, correction, continuation — and only executing when price returns to the level that started the move. That is the core of the ICC framework taught by the channel SCI in its Trading Course 003, and it is the same routine used across the XAUUSD setups shown in the series. The full markup walkthrough and the creator's own trade breakdowns are posted at Trades By Sci on Instagram, where the course material is released first.

What "finding an entry" actually means in trading

An entry is the specific price and moment you commit risk, and it only exists after you have already decided where you would be wrong. Most traders search for entries on a live chart with no prior plan, which turns every candle into a decision and every decision into emotion. The ICC approach flips the order: you mark the structure first, define the invalidation level second, and only then wait for price to come to you.

Three things have to be true before an entry is valid:

  1. There is a clear directional indication — an impulse that breaks a prior structure high or low.
  2. There is a correction — a pullback that retraces part of that impulse without breaking its origin.
  3. The origin level of the impulse is still intact, so it can act as the decision point.

If any of the three is missing, there is no entry. There is only a chart you are watching.

The ICC framework step by step

ICC stands for Indication, Correction, Continuation, and each stage answers a different question about the market. Indication tells you which side is in control. Correction tells you where the crowd got trapped. Continuation tells you when the trapped side is forced to cover.

  • Indication. Price makes a decisive move away from a level, breaking structure with momentum rather than drifting sideways. This is where you stop looking for trades in the opposite direction.
  • Correction. Price retraces into the origin of that move. The retracement is not a reversal — it is the market rebalancing before the next leg.
  • Continuation. Price reacts at the origin level and expands in the original direction. This reaction, not the pullback itself, is the entry trigger.

The practical value of separating these stages is that it removes the two most common mistakes: entering during the indication candle, when risk is largest, and entering mid-correction, before the level has actually been tested.

Why the origin of the move is the level that matters

The origin of an impulse is the price where the move began, and it is the only level that carries information about who is positioned and at what cost. Traders who entered late are holding losing positions from that area; when price returns, their exits become the fuel for the continuation leg. That is why the ICC entry sits at the origin rather than at a round number, a moving average or a Fibonacci level chosen after the fact.

A workable checklist for marking it:

  1. Identify the impulse leg and mark its first candle body open.
  2. Mark the extreme of the correction, not the extreme of the impulse.
  3. Confirm the level has not been closed through on the higher timeframe.
  4. Set the stop beyond the level, not at it, so normal wick noise does not remove you.

If the level has already been closed through decisively, the setup is invalid and the markup is deleted. No level, no trade.

Entry timing, confirmation and execution

Confirmation is the part traders skip, and it is the part that separates a plan from a guess. Confirmation does not mean a second indicator agreeing with you; it means price behaving at the level in the way the framework requires — a rejection wick, an engulfing close, or a lower-timeframe shift back in the direction of the original impulse.

Execution then follows three rules that stay constant regardless of instrument:

  • Enter only after the reaction at the level, never in anticipation of it.
  • Size the position from the stop distance, so a wider markup means a smaller position, not more risk.
  • Accept that some valid entries fail — the framework defines probability, not certainty.

This is the part viewers of the series keep returning to. The recurring theme in the comments under the course videos is that the concepts were understood long before the entries became profitable, and that the gap was closed by repetition on a demo or small-size account rather than by adding more tools.

Common questions traders raise about entries

Two objections come up repeatedly, and both are legitimate. The first is that entries look obvious in hindsight and impossible in real time. The answer is that hindsight removes the correction phase from view — on a live chart the correction is the long, boring, uncertain part, and the entry only becomes obvious once the continuation candle has already closed. The second is that a trader understands ICC but still loses. That is almost never an entry problem. It is a risk problem: position size too large, stop moved after entry, or a second trade taken to recover the first.

A third, quieter objection is about time. Entries are rare relative to screen time. A framework that produces two or three valid setups per instrument per week is working correctly; a framework that produces a setup every fifteen minutes is a slot machine.

Risk and psychology around the entry moment

The entry moment is where all of a trader's preparation meets a single decision, and it is the worst possible time to make a new one. Everything that matters — direction, level, stop, size — must be decided before price arrives, because once it arrives the brain switches from analysis to defence.

The practical consequences are simple. Write the level down before the session. Write the invalidation price next to it. Write the position size that the invalidation implies. When price reaches the level, you are not deciding anything; you are executing a decision that already exists. Traders who do this consistently report that the emotional intensity of the entry drops sharply, and that their results become less dependent on any single trade.

Final thoughts on building a repeatable entry process

Finding entries is a markup skill before it is an execution skill, and the ICC sequence — indication, correction, continuation — gives that markup a fixed order so it can be repeated under pressure. The traders who improve fastest are not the ones who find more setups; they are the ones who delete invalid markups quickly and size correctly on the valid ones. SCI built Trading Course 003 around exactly that discipline, and the series is worth working through slowly rather than skimming. Follow along and grab the course material through Trades By Sci on Instagram before the next lesson drops.

Source: How I Find My Trading Entries | Trading Course 003 · Markdown version

Questions & answers

What does ICC stand for in trading?

ICC stands for Indication, Correction and Continuation. Indication is the impulse that breaks structure, correction is the retracement into the origin of that impulse, and continuation is the expansion that follows. The entry is taken on the continuation reaction, not on the first impulse candle.

Why do my entries look obvious in hindsight but unclear in real time?

Because hindsight hides the correction phase, which is the longest and least certain part of the setup. On a live chart you sit through a slow pullback without knowing whether the level will hold. The entry only becomes visually obvious after the continuation candle has closed, which is why the level and the invalidation price must be written down in advance.

I understand the concepts but I still lose money — is my entry the problem?

Usually not. Traders who understand the framework but still lose are typically breaking risk rules: position size too large for the stop distance, stop moved after entry, or a revenge trade taken after a loss. Fixing size and stop discipline tends to change results far more than finding better entries.

How many valid entries should a trader expect per week?

For most instruments, a disciplined framework produces only a handful of valid setups per week, often two or three per market. If you are finding a setup every fifteen minutes, you are likely forcing trades rather than following the markup. Fewer, cleaner entries with correct sizing is the normal shape of a working process.