Inducement
A small "trap" liquidity zone, created to lure traders in before the real move happens.
An inducement is a small swing or intermediate liquidity zone, created between current price and a more significant value zone (order block, FVG), whose effect is to lure premature entries.
The idea: the market "induces" less experienced traders into entering too early on an apparent signal, before sweeping their stop and then reaching the real zone of interest.
For an ICT trader, spotting an inducement helps avoid entering too early, and instead wait for that intermediate liquidity to be taken before looking for an entry at the more reliable, real value zone.
How to spot it: first identify your main value zone — the order block or FVG you intend to enter on. Then look at what sits between current price and that zone. If there is a small intermediate swing, a minor but visible low, that is your inducement. It is almost always there: a value zone reached with no intermediate liquidity to consume is the exception, not the rule.
This is the concept behind the most common frustration in ICT: "my zone was right, but I got stopped out before it". You were not wrong about the zone — you entered on the inducement instead of waiting for it to be taken. The difference between the two is often a handful of points, and the entire profitability of the setup.
How to trade it? You do not trade the inducement, you wait for it. The sequence: mark the value zone, identify the inducement ahead of it, wait for price to sweep it, and only then look for the entry at the zone. That patience turns a wide stop into a tight one, because the sweep has purged the liquidity that was threatening your position.
The classic mistake: entering on the first reaction. Price touches a zone, bounces a few points, and you decide it is away. In most cases that first reaction is precisely the inducement doing its job.
Second trap: mistaking an inducement for a real zone. If the "small" intermediate swing actually produced a wide, impulsive move, it is not an inducement but a value zone in its own right. An inducement is recognisable by its modesty: little volume, little range, but visible enough to attract.