What kill zones and the Silver Bullet are
A kill zone is a time window in which ICT practitioners expect the most meaningful price moves of a session. The idea is simple: liquidity is not spread evenly across the day. When major centers open, large orders arrive, ranges break and obvious highs and lows get taken. A pattern that forms at those times is treated as more meaningful than the same pattern at a quiet hour.
The Silver Bullet is a specific ICT entry model that uses three one-hour windows. Inside a window, the trader waits for price to move toward a draw on liquidity, looks for displacement that leaves a fair value gap, and enters on a retrace into that gap. The model is short, rule-like and time-boxed, which is why it became popular.
Two honest points before we go further:
- These windows are educator conventions, not exchange rules. Different sources quote slightly different hours.
- ICT explains the windows with a story about algorithms and institutions seeking liquidity. You cannot verify that story from a retail chart. What you can verify is whether price on gold actually behaves differently in these windows on your own data.
If you are new to the framework, read the ICT concepts guide first. This page assumes you know what a liquidity sweep and a fair value gap are.
The kill zone and Silver Bullet timetable
ICT anchors everything to New York local time. New York time stays fixed through the year. The GMT equivalents move by one hour when the US changes clocks.
| Window | New York time | GMT (NY on standard time, Nov–Mar) | GMT (NY on daylight time, Mar–Nov) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asian kill zone | 20:00–00:00 | 01:00–05:00 | 00:00–04:00 |
| London kill zone | 02:00–05:00 | 07:00–10:00 | 06:00–09:00 |
| London Silver Bullet | 03:00–04:00 | 08:00–09:00 | 07:00–08:00 |
| New York AM kill zone | 07:00–10:00 | 12:00–15:00 | 11:00–14:00 |
| NY AM Silver Bullet | 10:00–11:00 | 15:00–16:00 | 14:00–15:00 |
| London close kill zone | 10:00–12:00 | 15:00–17:00 | 14:00–16:00 |
| New York PM session | 13:30–16:00 | 18:30–21:00 | 17:30–20:00 |
| NY PM Silver Bullet | 14:00–15:00 | 19:00–20:00 | 18:00–19:00 |
A few reference times sit alongside these windows:
- 00:00 New York: the midnight open, a price reference used in the Power of 3 model.
- 08:30 New York: most major US data releases.
- 09:30 New York: US equity cash open.
- 17:00–18:00 New York: gold’s daily trading break. Gold trades from Sunday 18:00 to Friday 17:00 New York time.
Daylight saving trap. The US moves clocks on the second Sunday of March and the first Sunday of November. The UK moves on the last Sunday of March and the last Sunday of October. In the weeks between those dates, London is only four hours ahead of New York. If your charting platform runs on a fixed GMT or broker server clock, set a New York time zone on the chart or keep a conversion note. The gold market hours tool and our guide to gold trading hours worldwide help here.
For traders in other regions: in the northern winter, the London kill zone (02:00–05:00 New York) is 11:00–14:00 in Dubai and 15:00–18:00 in Singapore. The New York AM Silver Bullet (10:00–11:00) is 19:00–20:00 in Dubai and 23:00–00:00 in Singapore. Shift each by one hour earlier when New York is on daylight time.
How gold behaves in each window
Gold is a 24-hour market with a clear rhythm. The table below describes common tendencies on XAUUSD. They are tendencies only. A Fed surprise, a geopolitical headline or a holiday can override any of them.
| Window | What is happening | Typical gold behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Asian (20:00–00:00) | Sydney, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai active | Often a narrower range that builds highs and lows for later sessions. Chinese demand headlines and weekend news at the Sunday open can still move it. |
| London (02:00–05:00) | London and European desks arrive; London open is 03:00 New York for most of the year | Frequently raids the Asian high or low. The first real directional move of the day often starts here. |
| NY AM (07:00–10:00) | US desks arrive; 08:30 data; 09:30 equity open | The largest and fastest moves of the day are common, especially on data days. Spreads can widen sharply around 08:30. |
| London close (10:00–12:00) | London winds down; the LBMA afternoon auction usually falls around 10:00 New York | Retracements or reversals of the morning move are common talking points. Liquidity starts to thin toward noon. |
| NY PM (13:30–16:00) | COMEX gold futures settlement is calculated around 13:30; FOMC statements at 14:00 on Fed days | Often quieter, unless it is a Fed day or a big headline arrives. Fed days can produce the biggest move of the week here. |
Three gold-specific points matter more than any table:
- Dollar and yield sensitivity. Gold reacts to US rates, real yields and the dollar. A kill zone setup that forms just before a CPI or payrolls release is not really a kill zone setup. It is a bet on the data. See how to trade gold on NFP day and Fed day.
- Round numbers. Big handles like 4,100 or 4,200 often act as liquidity pools in their own right. A draw on liquidity is often a round number sitting just beyond a session high.
- Range size. A London kill zone on gold can travel $15–40 on an active day and $5 on a quiet one. Measure it against ATR rather than assuming a fixed size.
How to use kill zones step by step
- Set your chart clock to New York time. This one setting removes most confusion.
- Mark the reference levels before the window opens: previous day high and low, Asian range high and low, midnight open, and any obvious equal highs or lows.
- Decide the draw on liquidity from a higher timeframe. On H4 or daily, which pool is price more likely to reach next: the buy-side above or the sell-side below? Use market structure and premium and discount to decide.
- Check the calendar. Note 08:30 and 10:00 releases, speeches and Fed events. Decide in advance whether you will stand aside.
- Wait for the window. Outside it, you only observe and update levels.
- Look for a liquidity raid, then displacement the other way (a reversal model) or a clean break with displacement in the direction of the draw (a continuation model).
- Define entry, invalidation and target before you click. If you can’t write all three, there is no trade.
- Close the platform when the window ends if nothing qualified. Missing a trade is part of the model.
The Silver Bullet model in detail
The Silver Bullet is usually described with these elements:
| Element | What it means |
|---|---|
| Time | Only setups that form inside 03:00–04:00, 10:00–11:00 or 14:00–15:00 New York time count. |
| Draw on liquidity | A clear target: a session high or low, previous day high or low, equal highs or lows, or an unfilled gap. |
| Move toward the draw | Price should be trading toward the target, often after first taking liquidity on the opposite side. |
| Fair value gap | The first clean FVG formed inside the window in the direction of the draw. |
| Entry | A limit order in the FVG, or a lower-timeframe confirmation inside it. |
| Stop | Beyond the swing that created the displacement, or beyond the first candle of the FVG for an aggressive version. |
| Target | The draw on liquidity. Some traders also require a minimum reward-to-risk before taking it. |
Most traders run the model on M1 to M5 for entry, with M15 or H1 for the draw. The FVG does not have to be filled during the window, but the gap itself must form inside it.
Macro times
ICT also talks about macros: short windows, often around 20 minutes, in which price is said to reach for liquidity or rebalance a gap. Lists that circulate online usually include windows such as 02:33–03:00, 04:03–04:30, 08:50–09:10, 09:50–10:10, 10:50–11:10, 11:50–12:10, 13:10–13:40 and 15:15–15:45 New York time. Versions differ.
Treat macros as testable claims, not facts. No public data verifies them. If you use them, log every macro window for a few months, including the ones where nothing happened, and see whether gold actually moves differently there than at random 20-minute windows.
Variations and settings: from beginner to pro
Beginner version
- Trade one window only. The New York AM Silver Bullet (10:00–11:00) is popular because it comes after 08:30 data has printed, though the 10:00 releases can still hit.
- Use M5 for entry and H1 for the draw.
- Require a clear sweep of an obvious level before the FVG.
- Use a fixed risk per trade, such as 0.5% of the account.
Intermediate refinements
- Add the London Silver Bullet if your time zone allows it.
- Filter by higher-timeframe bias: only take Silver Bullets in the direction of the H4 draw.
- Require the FVG to sit in discount (for longs) or premium (for shorts) of the window’s dealing range.
Pro refinements
- Volatility filter: skip days when the window’s range is tiny compared to the last 20 days, or when the prior session already traveled more than its usual daily range.
- Event filter: skip FOMC days for the 14:00 window, because the statement lands at 14:00 and turns the setup into a news gamble.
- Correlation check: compare gold with silver or DXY for SMT divergence at the sweep.
- Partial targets: take part at the first internal liquidity, then let the rest run to the external draw.
- Statistics by window: keep separate results for each of the three windows. Many traders discover one window carries most of their edge and another bleeds.
Three setups traders use
1. London kill zone Asian range raid
| Part | Detail |
|---|---|
| Context | Narrow Asian range; H4 bias clear; no major European data at the open. |
| Trigger | During 02:00–05:00, price trades beyond one side of the Asian range, then displaces back through it with a market structure shift. |
| Entry | Retrace into the FVG created by the displacement. |
| Stop | Beyond the raid extreme plus a buffer for spread. |
| Targets | First: the Asian range midpoint. Second: the opposite side of the Asian range or the previous day’s level. |
| Management | Move to break-even only after a new swing forms, not on the first tick of profit. Exit by the end of the London kill zone if the move stalls. |
This overlaps with the Asian range breakout and London session guides. The difference is the time box and the FVG entry.
2. NY AM Silver Bullet after data
| Part | Detail |
|---|---|
| Context | 08:30 data has printed and the initial spike is over. A draw is visible: often the high or low created by the data spike. |
| Trigger | Between 10:00 and 11:00, price sweeps a short-term level, then displaces toward the draw, leaving an FVG. |
| Entry | Limit at the near edge or midpoint of the FVG. |
| Stop | Beyond the swing that started the displacement. |
| Targets | The draw on liquidity identified before 10:00. |
| Management | If price has not reached the target by about 11:30, consider closing; the London close often drains momentum. |
3. NY PM Silver Bullet continuation
| Part | Detail |
|---|---|
| Context | The morning established a clear direction; the afternoon pulls back. Not a Fed day. |
| Trigger | Between 14:00 and 15:00, price retraces into a premium or discount area, then displaces back in the morning’s direction. |
| Entry | FVG formed by that displacement. |
| Stop | Beyond the pullback extreme. |
| Targets | The morning’s high (in an up day) or low (in a down day). |
| Management | Smaller size is sensible. Afternoon liquidity is thinner, and moves can stall before 16:00. |
Worked example (hypothetical)
Account: $10,000. Risk per trade: 0.5% = $50.
Context: H1 bias is bullish, and the hypothetical draw is a buy-side pool at 4,135.8 left from earlier in the morning. Two lows near 4,122.4 sit below price.
Inside the 10:00–11:00 window: gold dips to 4,119.8, sweeping the lows, then a strong M5 candle runs from 4,123.9 to 4,129.1. The candle before it has a high of 4,124.2 and the candle after has a low of 4,126.4, so the bullish FVG is 4,124.2–4,126.4.
Plan: limit buy at 4,125.4 (inside the gap). Stop at 4,119.3, just under the sweep low. Stop distance: $6.10. Target: 4,135.6, just below the buy-side pool.
Position size: $50 ÷ $6.10 = $8.20 per $1 move. Since 0.01 lot = $1 per $1 move, that’s 0.082 lots, rounded down to 0.08 lots. Actual risk: 0.08 × 100 oz × $6.10 = $48.80.
Reward: 4,135.6 − 4,125.4 = $10.20 × $8 = $81.60, about 1.7R.
Outcome logic: if price fills the order and reaches 4,135.6, the model played out. If price trades back below 4,119.3, the sweep was not a sweep and the setup failed. Either result goes in the journal with the window, the draw and a screenshot.
Notice the reward-to-risk here is modest. Silver Bullet setups on gold often look like 3R or 5R on a chart drawn afterward. In live trading, spreads, slippage and partial fills shrink those numbers. Use the position size calculator and size from the real stop, not the hoped-for one.
Combining it with other concepts
- Liquidity sweeps: the raid that comes before the displacement. Without it, many “Silver Bullets” are just random FVGs.
- Fair value gaps: the entry location. Use one consistent rule (edge, midpoint or full gap).
- Power of 3: the London kill zone often contains the manipulation leg of the day.
- Premium and discount: a long FVG in the premium of the window’s range is a weaker location.
- Order blocks and breaker blocks: extra confluence for the entry zone.
- Gold intermarket analysis: check what DXY and yields are doing during the window.
Best timeframes and sessions
- Draw on liquidity: H1 to daily.
- Kill zone context: M15.
- Silver Bullet entry: M1 to M5. M1 shows more FVGs but far more noise.
- Sessions: London kill zone and the NY AM window carry most gold volume. The Asian window is mainly for marking the range. The NY PM window is the least reliable outside of Fed days, and on Fed days it is the most dangerous.
Common mistakes
- Wrong clock. Using broker server time and drifting one hour off for half the year. Fix: set the chart to New York time.
- Trading every FVG in the window. Fix: only the first qualifying FVG toward a pre-defined draw.
- No draw on liquidity. Fix: write the target before the window opens. If you can’t name it, skip the day.
- Ignoring news. Fix: check the calendar. An FVG formed 30 seconds before CPI is not a setup.
- Stops inside the gap. Fix: place invalidation beyond the swing that created the displacement and size down.
- Revenge trades after the window. Fix: when the window closes, the model is finished for that session.
- Calling hindsight a pattern. Fix: log every window, including the ones where you saw nothing.
Limitations and honest caveats
Time windows concentrate opportunity and risk together. The New York AM window on gold includes some of the widest spreads and fastest moves of the week. Tight Silver Bullet stops can be skipped by slippage during data. Keep risk per trade small and read XAUUSD risk management.
- The narrative is unproven. “Algorithms seek liquidity at set times” is an explanation, not evidence. Session volume patterns are real; the precise ICT story is not verified.
- Definitions vary. Different educators shift kill zone hours by an hour or more. Pick one set and stay consistent.
- No verified win rate exists for kill zones or the Silver Bullet on gold. Online claims are rarely auditable. Test it yourself with a proper backtest.
- Small samples deceive. Three windows a day sounds like many trades, but after filters you may see only a few qualifying setups per week. You need months of data to judge it.
- Gold is macro-driven. A kill zone cannot protect you from a surprise rate decision or geopolitical shock.
Pro tips
- Measure each window’s range. Track the average high-to-low range of each kill zone on gold for 60 days. It tells you which targets are realistic.
- Separate reversal and continuation Silver Bullets in your journal. They behave differently and deserve separate stats.
- Use the 10:00 window carefully on 10:00 data days. ISM and other 10:00 releases land right at the window open.
- Watch the London open vs DST. During the mismatch weeks, the London open shifts relative to New York time, so the 02:00–05:00 window may sit an hour away from where you expect it.
- Respect the first hour after the Sunday open. Thin liquidity and weekend gaps make Asian-session levels unreliable on Mondays.
- Prefer draws that are also round numbers or prior-day extremes. Layered liquidity tends to be a cleaner target than a random minor swing.
- Stop trading a window when your stats say so. If one window has a negative expectancy after a decent sample, drop it. See trading math and expectancy.
Quick checklist
- Chart clock set to New York time, with DST checked.
- Previous day high/low, Asian range and midnight open marked.
- Higher-timeframe draw on liquidity written down.
- Economic calendar checked for 08:30, 10:00 and 14:00 events.
- Setup forms inside the chosen window.
- Liquidity raid or clean break seen before displacement.
- First qualifying FVG toward the draw identified.
- Stop beyond the displacement swing; size calculated from that stop.
- Target is a real liquidity pool with acceptable reward-to-risk.
- Trade and non-trade logged with window, outcome and screenshot.
Frequently asked questions
What are the ICT kill zones in New York time?
The commonly taught windows are roughly 20:00–00:00 for the Asian session, 02:00–05:00 for the London kill zone, 07:00–10:00 for the New York AM kill zone, and 10:00–12:00 for the London close. Some educators also use a New York PM window of about 13:30–16:00. Exact hours vary between sources, so write down the version you use and keep it fixed.
What time is the ICT Silver Bullet?
The Silver Bullet uses three one-hour windows in New York time: 03:00–04:00, 10:00–11:00 and 14:00–15:00. In GMT that is 08:00–09:00, 15:00–16:00 and 19:00–20:00 when New York is on standard time, and one hour earlier for each when New York is on daylight time.
Do ICT kill zones change with daylight saving time?
ICT anchors the windows to New York local time, so the New York times stay the same all year and the GMT equivalents shift by one hour. The UK and US change clocks on different dates, so for a few weeks in March and around late October or early November the gap between London and New York is four hours instead of five.
Does the Silver Bullet work on gold?
Traders apply it to XAUUSD, and gold’s session-driven volatility makes the windows active. There is no verified win rate for the model on gold or any other market. Treat it as a testable hypothesis and judge it on your own rule-based backtest and journal.
What are ICT macro times?
Macros are short windows, often about 20 minutes, that ICT describes as times when algorithmic price delivery seeks liquidity or rebalances a gap. Lists circulating online include 08:50–09:10 and 09:50–10:10 New York time, among others. They are unverified claims, so treat them as something to test, not a fact.
Which kill zone is best for trading gold?
For many gold traders the London kill zone and the New York AM kill zone carry the most volume and the cleanest liquidity raids. The New York AM window also contains 08:30 US data, which can produce violent spreads and slippage. The best window is the one that fits your schedule and survives your own testing.
Sources and further reading
- CME Group — Gold futures overview — Contract specifications and trading hours for COMEX gold
- CFTC — Commitments of Traders — Weekly futures positioning, including gold
- Investor.gov — Stop order — How stop orders work, and their limits in fast markets
External sites are independent of XAUUSD Global. Check dates and data yourself.