While basic Market Structure Shifts (MSS) are taught widely, advanced ICT traders look for something more precise: a Change in State of Delivery (CISD). This concept is crucial for identifying exactly when institutional pricing algorithms switch from seeking buy-side liquidity to sell-side liquidity.
To understand a CISD, you first need to understand how the market delivers price. A "state of delivery" refers to the current direction the algorithmic market maker is repricing an asset. If the market is continuously creating down-close candles to reach a lower pool of liquidity, it is in a bearish state of delivery.
A Change in State of Delivery occurs when price violently reverses and breaks through the last opposing closed candle. For a bullish CISD, you want to see a strong impulsive move upwards that completely engulfs and closes above the last down-close candle (which is essentially an Order Block).
A standard Market Structure Shift requires price to break above a previous swing high. A CISD happens before the swing high is broken. It is an internal shift. Because it happens on the internal candle structure, it provides a much earlier entry signal than waiting for a full swing high break.
The highest probability CISD setups always occur immediately after a Liquidity Sweep. If the market sweeps sell-side liquidity into a higher timeframe support zone, and then instantly produces a bullish CISD on the 1-minute chart, you have a perfect, high-conviction institutional entry.
Need to brush up on what happens when a CISD forms around an Order Block? Review our guide: What is an Order Block in Trading?
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