Step 1: Fundamental Filter & Sentiment Assessment

The absolute first phase of your pre-trade checklist must occur outside the price charts. Technical analysis (including SMC and pure price action) frequently fails or exhibits extreme, unpredictable slippage during major macroeconomic data releases. You must identify whether the market is currently running on technical patterns or structural fundamentals.

Step 2: Liquidity Pool Mapping

Smart Money operates on one core requirement: liquidity. Large institutional players cannot execute massive order sizes without causing immense slippage unless they find clusters of opposing orders (liquidations and stop-losses). To trace where these traps lie, we use quantitative liquidity data.

Using CoinClass for Crypto Markets

Navigate to the Liquidation Max Pain tool on CoinClass to pinpoint precisely where leverage-heavy traders have placed their invalidation points. This acts as a map of potential magnetic zones for the market makers.

Once identified, manually plot these levels on your trading platform (such as Delta Exchange or TradingView) using precise coordinates and labels. Treat these coordinates as regions where price is highly likely to sweep stops and trigger sharp reversals or acceleration.

Step 3: Multi-Timeframe Analysis (MTA) & Bias Selection

Executing a trade based on a single timeframe is one of the most common beginner errors. Multi-timeframe analysis forces you to align structural trends, intermediate swings, and local entries.

Step 4: Mapping Market Structure (SMC Framework)

When observing your high-timeframe anchor (the 4-Hour chart), you must identify the structural state of the market by asking consecutive, objective questions:

• Where is the structural break? Look for consecutive, body-closed candles clearing swing highs or swing lows. This confirms a Break of Structure (BOS), highlighting a strong trending system.
• Has the character changed? Watch the counter-trend swings. A break of the last structural swing point that created the high/low marks a Change of Character (CHoCH), hinting at a potential reversal.
• Are there premium or discount imbalances? Locate wide-spread, impulsive candles that have left unmitigated Fair Value Gaps (FVGs). These inefficiency zones serve as high-probability re-entry points when the market corrects.