The Smart Money Concept Indicator TradingView is one of the most advanced market analysis tools for traders who want to follow institutional behavior rather than crowd sentiment.
Unlike traditional indicators that focus on oscillators or moving averages, the Smart Money Concept Indicator captures the footprints of large financial institutions, often called “smart money”.
In today’s volatile trading landscape, over 80% of Forex volume is dominated by institutional traders, hedge funds, and liquidity providers.
The Smart Money Concept (SMC) framework has become essential for retail traders seeking to understand how these entities move the market.
This indicator visually identifies smart money entry points through colored bars, displaying patterns such as Break of Structure (BoS), Order Blocks (OB), and Liquidity Zones.
On TradingView, the Smart Money Concept Indicator combines institutional logic with visual simplicity, helping traders pinpoint premium and discount zones, structural breaks, and the exact moments when liquidity is taken or created.
What Is the Smart Money Concept Indicator?
The Smart Money Concept Indicator is an advanced analytical tool based on the trading behavior of institutional market participants.
It visualizes key structural patterns such as Break of Structure (BoS), Change of Character (CHOCH), Order Blocks (OB), and Liquidity Zones, helping traders align their entries with institutional order flow.
Key Principles Behind the Indicator:
- Market Structure: Detects whether the market is trending or ranging and identifies shifts between bullish and bearish structures;
- Liquidity Flow: Highlights zones where liquidity accumulates — potential reversal or continuation areas;
- Order Blocks: Marks institutional buying and selling regions where large orders were previously executed;
- Fair Value Gaps (FVG): Reveals imbalances in price that are often filled before new trends begin.
By combining these components, the Smart Money Concept Indicator provides traders with a clear visual representation of the “Smart Money Concepts” framework, making it easier to recognize institutional footprints across multiple timeframes.
Smart Money Concept Indicator Settings
One of the major strengths of the Smart Money Concept Indicator TradingView lies in its customizable logic parameters. Below are the primary configurations:
Logic Parameters:
- Pivot Period of Order Blocks Detector: Defines how order blocks are detected based on swing points;
- Order Block Validity Period: Sets how long an identified order block remains valid on the chart.
Order Block Display:
- Demand/Supply Zones: Users can toggle between displaying main, sub, and all demand/supply zones originating from CHOCH or BoS;
- These layers allow traders to distinguish between strong institutional levels and weaker ones.
Order Block Refinement:
- Refine each zone (Main/Sub/BoS) to filter false signals and highlight high-probability zones only.
Fair Value Gap (FVG) Controls:
- Show Demand/Supply FVG: Toggle imbalances for both bullish and bearish sides;
- FVG Filter: Display only significant imbalances that meet volume or structural criteria.
Liquidity Parameters:
- Static Liquidity Lines: Show liquidity highs/lows based on past pivot points;
- Dynamic Liquidity Lines: Adjust in real-time with evolving market structure;
- Sensitivity & Period Controls: Fine-tune line placement based on volatility or timeframe.
This deep level of control allows advanced traders to adapt the Smart Money Concept Indicator to their personal strategy, whether they prefer scalping, intraday setups, or swing trading.
Understanding Smart Money Concepts
At the core of this approach is institutional logic, large players move markets strategically, creating liquidity to fill massive orders. Retail traders who learn to recognize these footprints can align with the dominant side of the market.
Core Smart Money Concepts include:
- Liquidity Sweeps: Price often hunts stop-loss clusters before reversing;
- Order Blocks: Areas of high institutional order concentration, usually preceding strong moves;
- Break of Structure (BoS): Confirms that smart money has shifted direction;
- Fair Value Gaps (FVG): Represent inefficiencies that tend to be repaired;
- Change of Character (CHOCH): The earliest signal of a potential reversal.
By using these elements in combination, traders can map out liquidity-based trade setups with defined risk and high reward potential.
Similar Indicators to the Smart Money Concept Indicator
While the Smart Money Concept Indicator from TradingFinder is one of the most comprehensive tools available, several other providers, such as LuxAlgo and PhenLabs, offer comparable indicators built around similar institutional trading concepts.
Below are three notable alternatives:
LuxAlgo Smart Money Concepts Indicator
LuxAlgo’s version integrates smart money concepts with automatic labeling for CHOCH, BoS, and liquidity zones. It features dynamic structure detection, fair value gap visualization, and optional market structure projection.
LuxAlgo also includes a “Premium & Discount Zone” overlay to help identify optimal trade entries and exits.
Best For: Traders who want a clean and professional interface with beginner-friendly settings.
Unique Feature: Auto-structure labeling and FVG strength ranking.
SMC Liquidity Zones
This indicator, by developer afzaalkiani, focuses explicitly on liquidity zones and order blocks, two core elements of smart money methodology.
It identifies high/low liquidity zones (pivot highs and lows), then detects order blocks when those zones are broken, and plots market-structure breaks accordingly.
Best For: Traders who emphasize liquidity hunts and order-block opportunities rather than full structural overlays.
Unique Feature: Clear distinction of high liquidity and low liquidity zones, with visual cues for subsequent order block formation.
Smarter Money Concepts – OBs [PhenLabs]
Created by PhenLabs, this indicator emphasizes volume-filtered order blocks and advanced structure logic, aligning strongly with institutional-level trade setups.
It tracks both bullish and bearish order blocks, uses volume filters to suppress less meaningful blocks, and applies advanced Break of Structure logic.
Best For: Traders who want a deeper filter on order-block quality (via volume) and advanced structure tracking.
Unique Feature: Volume-filtered block detection plus dynamic management of blocks (creation, extension, expiration) based on price interactions.
Final Thoughts
The Smart Money Concept Indicator TradingView provides a powerful, visually intuitive method to understand how institutions move markets. By combining order block recognition, liquidity analysis, and market structure mapping it helps traders identify where the smart money is entering or exiting positions.
Unlike traditional indicators that rely on lagging averages or oscillators, this approach dives into real market logic, where price, liquidity, and institutional intent intersect. Whether applied to Forex, crypto, or equities, mastering Smart Money Concepts empowers traders to think and trade like professionals rather than followers.
In essence, this indicator transforms raw price action into actionable institutional insights, helping you stop chasing trends and start following the money that actually moves them.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the Smart Money Concept Indicator on TradingView?
The Smart Money Concept Indicator is an advanced analysis tool that identifies institutional trading behavior through market structure, order blocks, and liquidity zones.
- How does the Smart Money Concept Indicator work?
It detects key price patterns like Break of Structure (BoS), Change of Character (CHOCH), and Fair Value Gaps (FVG) to reveal where smart money enters or exits the market.
- Can the Smart Money Concept Indicator be used for all assets?
Yes. It works on Forex, cryptocurrencies, stocks, commodities, and indices, adapting to multiple timeframes on the TradingView platform.
- What makes Smart Money Concepts different from traditional trading indicators?
Unlike moving averages or oscillators, SMC focuses on institutional liquidity, price imbalances, and market structure instead of lagging technical signals.
- Is the Smart Money Concept Indicator suitable for beginners?
It’s mainly designed for advanced users, but with practice, intermediate traders can learn to interpret its signals and apply SMC principles effectively.
- What are some alternative Smart Money Concepts indicators?
Popular options include LuxAlgo Smart Money Concepts, SMC Liquidity Zones, and Smarter Money Concepts – OBs [PhenLabs], all available on TradingView.
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