Equal Highs / Equal Lows

Equal highs (EQH) are multiple highs forming at roughly the same price level. Equal lows (EQL) are the equivalent on the low side. These levels are visually easy to spot on a chart.

Each test of a level without breaking it stacks more stops just above it (for EQH) or just below it (for EQL), making the zone an especially attractive liquidity target for the market.

ICT traders watch these levels as likely targets ahead of a reversal: price will often sweep the equal highs/lows before turning the other way, once the liquidity there has been consumed.

How to spot them: look for two or more highs stopping at the same level within a few points. They do not need to be perfectly identical — the human eye and the algorithms both tolerate a small margin. The signal is stronger when the highs are spread out in time: two highs aligned hours apart concentrate far more orders than two adjacent candles.

Why it works: a level that holds two or three times becomes a chart-wide obviousness. Sellers put their stop just above it, buyers put their breakout orders there. The level turns into a reservoir of orders, and that reservoir is exactly what a large participant needs to enter without pushing price against themselves.

How to trade them? Two complementary uses. As a target: if you are already long, equal highs above are a natural take-profit objective — exit before them, not on them. As a trigger: wait for the level to be swept, then for a fast return back under it, and look for your entry at the reversal’s value zone.

The classic mistake: trading the break of equal highs as a bullish signal. That is the opposite of what the structure is saying. A level that visible exists to be swept; the "clean" breakout is the trap, not the signal.

Second trap: forgetting the sweep can fail. Sometimes price takes the equal highs and keeps going — the captured liquidity was fuelling a genuine breakout. That is why the return back under the level is an integral part of the setup: without it, there is no trade.