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The CRTLAB Blog

CRT, ICT & trading strategy guides

Practical, no-fluff guides on Candle Range Theory, ICT concepts, journaling and building a rules-based edge — from the team behind the CRTLAB course.

LatestAffiliate

Affiliate Disclosure Rules for Promoting Trading Products

"Affiliate link" is not an adequate disclosure. "Results not typical" does not fix an earnings claim. And Google's ad policy names affiliate sites explicitly. Here's what the rules actually say.

12 min readAffiliate
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More guides

Risk Management

Where to Place Your Stop Loss on ICT and CRT Setups

Your stop doesn't go 'a bit below the low'. It goes at the price that proves the idea wrong — and on smart money setups that level is usually further away than you want it to be.

13 min readRisk Management
Affiliate

Best Trading Affiliate Programs (2026): What They Actually Pay

Commission rate is the number everyone compares and the one that decides least. Here's what actually determines whether a trading affiliate program pays you.

9 min readAffiliate
Affiliate

How to Promote a Trading Course Without an Audience

Signing up is the easy part. This is the part that decides whether an affiliate link ever pays anything.

8 min readAffiliate
Affiliate

Whop Affiliate Program Explained: How It Actually Works

Whop hosts a large share of the digital-product affiliate market. Here's the mechanics, in plain terms, before you join anything.

7 min readAffiliate
ICT

Breaker Blocks Explained: What They Are and How They Differ From Order Blocks

A breaker is not a stronger order block. It's an order block that failed — and the failure is the entire point.

6 min readICT
ICT

Order Blocks vs Fair Value Gaps: What's the Difference?

Both are areas price returns to. They are not the same thing, and using them interchangeably is why so many entries miss.

7 min readICT
ICT

The Power of Three (AMD) Explained: Accumulation, Manipulation, Distribution

Every candle tells the same three-part story. Once you can see it, the move that used to stop you out becomes the one that tells you where price is going.

7 min readICT
Strategy

How to Actually Learn a Trading Strategy That Sticks

Collecting strategies is easy. Actually learning one is a process — here's the loop that makes a method stick.

6 min readStrategy
CRT

CRT vs ICT: What's the Difference?

CRT and ICT get lumped together and pitted against each other. Here's how they actually relate — and which to learn first.

14 min readCRT
Trade Journaling

How to Journal Your Trades (And Actually Improve)

Most trading journals are diaries nobody reads. Here's how to build one that actually makes you a better trader.

7 min readTrade Journaling
ICT

ICT Concepts Explained: A Beginner's Guide

The whole ICT vocabulary is really five ideas. Learn those properly — including what invalidates each one — and the rest of smart money trading falls into place.

17 min readICT
CRT

The CRT Trading Strategy Explained (With Examples)

Range, sweep, expansion — walked through as a repeatable playbook with two worked examples, the setups to skip, and a real risk plan.

13 min readCRT
CRT

What Is CRT (Candle Range Theory)? A Complete Guide

Candle Range Theory turns a single candle into a map of what price does next. Here's the whole idea, in plain English.

7 min readCRT