Candle Range Theory

Candle Range Theory, drawn from ICT concepts, treats an individual candle's range not as a single event but as a compressed cycle of market behaviour. The underlying framework is the market-maker model expressed as Accumulation, Manipulation, Distribution (AMD), sometimes called the power-of-three. Rather than reading a candle as simply bullish or bearish, you interpret the way its range was built to anticipate what the larger players are doing.

In the accumulation phase, price consolidates while positions are quietly built, often near the candle's open. Manipulation is the deliberate false move, a sweep in the wrong direction that raids liquidity and traps traders on the incorrect side. Distribution is the real, sustained move that unfolds afterward in the intended direction. Mapping a candle or a session onto this cycle helps you expect the fake-out before the genuine expansion rather than reacting to it after the fact.

The practical use is timing and bias. If you can recognise that a range is likely still in its manipulation phase, you avoid chasing the trap and instead position for the distribution leg. It reframes a candle from a static bar into a small story of intent, though like all discretionary models it requires confirmation and can misread.