Market Maker Model vs Market Maker Cycle: MMBM, MMSM and BTMM Compared
ICT's market maker buy and sell models and the BTMM market maker cycle describe the same price behavior. How they differ, where they agree, and which one you can test.
The ICT market maker model and the BTMM market maker cycle describe the same three-phase price behavior: accumulation, a manipulation leg that runs stops, then a directional move. They differ in vocabulary, timeframe anchoring, and whether the framework gives you a pattern to recognize or a state you can count.
Two camps teach the same mechanic and rarely acknowledge each other. ICT traders talk about the market maker buy model. BTMM traders talk about the market maker cycle. Put the two diagrams side by side and they are recognizably the same shape.
This compares them honestly, including where each one breaks down.
What is the market maker model?
The market maker model is Inner Circle Trader (ICT) terminology for a repeating structure in which institutional participants accumulate a position, drive price against it to collect liquidity, then deliver price toward an opposing liquidity target. It comes in two forms: the market maker buy model (MMBM) and the market maker sell model (MMSM).
Michael Huddleston, who teaches under the Inner Circle Trader name, popularized both. As commonly taught it is an intraday framework, anchored to specific session windows, with entries taken at fair value gaps and order blocks inside the structure.
What is the market maker buy model (MMBM)?
The market maker buy model describes a bullish sequence. Price consolidates, runs lower to sweep sellside liquidity beneath an obvious low, reverses at what ICT practitioners call a smart money reversal, then delivers upward toward buyside liquidity above.
The shape is a V, not a diagonal. The leg down is the point of the whole structure. It is where size gets filled at the best available price.
What is the market maker sell model (MMSM)?
The mirror image. Price consolidates, runs higher to sweep buyside liquidity above an obvious high, reverses, then delivers downward toward sellside liquidity below.
Same mechanic, opposite direction. Practitioners treat MMBM and MMSM as one framework with two orientations rather than two separate ideas.
What is the market maker cycle?
The market maker cycle is the framework taught in Steve Mauro's Beat the Market Maker course and later built into software as Market Makers Method. It describes the same three phases under different names: accumulation (a quiet range), manipulation (the stop hunt), and distribution (the real trend).
Where it differs is scale and counting. The cycle is framed on the daily chart with a roughly three-day rhythm, anchored to Peak Formation Highs and Lows, and it treats an instrument as always being in one of two directional states rather than waiting for a pattern to complete.
Market maker model vs market maker cycle: side by side
| Dimension | ICT market maker model | Market maker cycle (BTMM / MMM) |
|---|---|---|
| Popularized by | Michael Huddleston (Inner Circle Trader) | Steve Mauro (BTMM), and floor traders before him |
| Core phases | Consolidation, liquidity run, reversal, delivery | Accumulation, manipulation, distribution |
| Primary timeframe | Intraday, session-anchored | Daily, with a three-day rhythm |
| Entry logic | Fair value gap or order block inside the model | The reclaim after the stop hunt |
| Exit logic | Opposing liquidity target | The next Peak Formation, or the cycle flip |
| What it outputs | A pattern you recognize | A directional state you can count |
Where the two frameworks agree
More than either camp usually admits.
Both say price is moved by participants who need liquidity to fill size. Both say the obvious level gets taken before the real move. Both say the breakout is the trap and the reversal is the trade. Both put the entry after the sweep, never on it.
That convergence is worth something. Two frameworks developed largely independently arrived at the same description of the same behavior. And that behavior is documented outside trading education: research on real dealer order books (Osler, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 2003 and 2005) found stop-loss orders cluster just beyond round numbers and recent extremes, and that price moves faster and further after reaching those clusters than after any other level.
Neither camp invented the mechanic. They named it differently.
Where they differ
Timeframe anchoring. The ICT model is taught intraday, tied to specific session windows. The cycle is framed daily and weekly. A trader running both will often find an intraday model firing inside a daily cycle leg, which is useful rather than contradictory.
What counts as a signal. The model is a shape. You know it when the structure completes, which is frequently after the best entry has passed. The cycle is a state: at any moment an instrument is either in an established up-cycle or down-cycle, and the only open question is how long it has held.
Falsifiability. This is the real split. A discretionary pattern can be read two ways by two competent traders after the fact. A state with a defined trigger gets evaluated the same way every time, which means it can be measured.
Which one can you actually test?
Neither, as commonly taught. Both are discretionary frameworks that depend on the trader's reading of context.
The difference is that the cycle can be made testable. Define "a new cycle has been established" as a specific mechanical condition and software can evaluate it on every instrument, every day, and produce a record. That is the step Market Makers Method took first, turning the cycle from a chart-reading skill into a scanning algorithm.
The ICT model resists that translation. Its phases are identified partly by structure and partly by the trader's judgment about which liquidity pool matters, and judgment does not compile.
Which should you use?
If you trade intraday and want a defined structure to wait for, the market maker model gives you clear entry zones inside a recognizable shape.
If you want to know which side of the market to be on before you go looking for an entry, the cycle gives you a directional state rather than a pattern.
They are not exclusive, and the most useful combination is obvious once you see the overlap: use the daily cycle to pick the side, then use the model's entry mechanics (a fair value gap or order block after the sweep) to time it. That is double confirmation in two dialects.
How TrendTrader fits
TrendTrader Pro takes the second path. Its proprietary rules-based engine defines cycle establishment as a mechanical condition, so every instrument sits in one of two states, Buy or Sell. The number beside the state is the count of trading days since that direction was established.
The flip is the primary signal. A move from Sell to Buy marks day one of a new direction. The intended use is simple: enter on the flip, hold while the day count climbs, exit when the next flip happens.
A separate AI layer, still in active development, produces a technical read and a fundamental read for each asset. When both agree with the engine's direction, that signal is flagged as the highest-conviction setup. That label describes the method, two independent reads lining up with the engine, not a promised outcome.
Nothing here predicts the future, and no signal removes risk. What the engine gives you is a defined state and a visible day count across forex, crypto, indices, commodities and equities on the Core tier, with intraday signals listed as coming soon on Pro. Tiers and what each includes are on the pricing page.
Disclaimer: This content is educational and not financial advice. Trading carries a real risk of loss. Do your own research and consult a licensed financial advisor before making any trading decisions.
Related reading
- The market maker cycle explained: how markets actually move
- Beat the Market Maker (BTMM) strategy explained
- Market Makers Method: the original MMM algorithm
- Liquidity sweep explained: what it is and how to trade it
- Stop hunting explained: what a stop hunt is and how to trade it
FAQ
Is the market maker model the same as the market maker cycle?
Not identical, but they describe the same underlying behavior. The ICT market maker model is an intraday pattern anchored to session windows. The market maker cycle is a daily directional state with a day count. Both describe accumulation, a liquidity run, and a directional delivery.
What is the difference between MMBM and MMSM?
Direction only. The market maker buy model runs price down to sweep sellside liquidity before delivering upward. The market maker sell model runs price up to sweep buyside liquidity before delivering downward. Same structure, opposite orientation.
Who created the market maker model?
Michael Huddleston, who teaches as the Inner Circle Trader (ICT), popularized the market maker buy and sell models. The market maker cycle predates it in retail trading education, taught by Steve Mauro as Beat the Market Maker and described by floor traders long before that.
Is the ICT market maker model profitable?
There is no published per-signal track record for it, and as a discretionary framework its results depend entirely on the trader applying it. The price behavior it describes is documented in academic order-book research, but that is evidence for the mechanic, not for any particular way of trading it.
Can you use the market maker model and the market maker cycle together?
Yes, and it is the most practical use of both. The daily cycle tells you which side to take. The model's entry mechanics, a fair value gap or order block forming after the sweep, tell you where to take it.
