Aniket Lohani

Investor. Trader. Business Strategist. Author. Delivering multi-asset trade setups & market insights via macro, fundamentals & technicals. Alumnus: IIM Calcutta

[Aniket Lohani @AniketFiles]

According to SEBI, 90% of traders lose money in F&O, and the most devious culprit is LIQUIDITY SWEEP. Most traders don’t lose money because they lack intelligence, discipline, or access to information. They lose because they are taught to focus on indicators, patterns and news headlines, while ignoring one thing that drives almost every market move — liquidity.

People often say, “The market is manipulated.” Price breaks resistance, everyone enters expecting a rally, and suddenly the market reverses sharply. Support holds for weeks, traders buy confidently, and then one candle wipes out their stop losses before the price moves in the original direction. After enough experiences like this, many conclude that markets are random or rigged.

The uncomfortable truth is this: markets are designed to seek liquidity. Large institutions and participants handling huge positions cannot simply buy or sell wherever they want. They need counterparties. They need orders on the other side. That requirement creates price behaviour that many traders interpret as manipulation, but may just be the process of collecting liquidity.

This is where Smart Money Concepts (SMC) comes in. Despite all the debates around it, the framework has become popular because it tries to explain why prices behave in certain ways rather than merely reacting to candles after they form. Concepts like Liquidity Sweeps, Fair Value Gaps (FVG), Order Blocks (OB), Break of Structure (BOS) and Change of Character (CHoCH) have entered trading discussions everywhere — from retail communities to institutional-style price action analysis.

Understanding these concepts does not guarantee profits. Nothing does. But understanding them can change the way you see charts forever.

Take liquidity first. Imagine a stock trading near a major resistance level. Thousands of traders have placed buy orders above resistance, expecting a breakout. At the same time, traders holding short positions have placed stop losses slightly above that resistance. Both groups unintentionally create a pool of pending orders. In other words, they create liquidity.

Now, suppose the price moves slightly above resistance, triggering breakout buyers and stop-loss orders. Retail traders celebrate, believing confirmation has arrived. Then, suddenly, the price reverses and falls sharply. Many traders describe this as a fake breakout. Smart Money Concepts would often describe this as a Liquidity Sweep — a movement beyond obvious highs or lows to collect liquidity before the actual move begins.

This is why the price sometimes seems cruel. The market is not necessarily targeting individuals. It is moving toward areas with existing orders. Your stop loss happens to be in the same place as thousands of others.

The implication is powerful: rather than asking “Where should I enter?”, experienced traders increasingly ask “Where is liquidity likely sitting?”

The next concept people discuss frequently is the Fair Value Gap (FVG). Markets do not always move in a smooth, balanced manner. Sometimes a strong impulse creates an imbalance in which the price moves so quickly that a gap is left between candles. The theory behind FVG is that these imbalances may attract future price action as markets seek efficiency before continuing in the original direction.

Think about how often you’ve seen a price explode upward, leave everyone behind, retrace unexpectedly and then continue upward again. Many traders interpret those retracements as weakness when, in some cases, the price may simply be revisiting an imbalance.

This changes behaviour. Instead of chasing every move out of fear of missing out, traders begin waiting for retracements into areas of imbalance. Patience starts replacing urgency.

Then there are Order Blocks, another widely discussed concept and also one of the most misunderstood. Simplified explanations often define a bullish order block as the last bearish candle before a strong bullish expansion and a bearish order block as the last bullish candle before a sharp decline. These zones are believed to represent areas where significant institutional positioning occurred.

The mistake beginners make is drawing order blocks everywhere. Every consolidation becomes an order block. Every candle becomes important. Eventually, charts turn into coloured rectangles with no clarity. The usefulness of order blocks depends heavily on context — market structure, displacement, liquidity and timeframe all matter.

This brings us to market structure, perhaps the most underrated skill in trading.

A bullish trend creates higher highs and higher lows. Lower highs and lower lows characterise a bearish trend. When price breaks the previous structure and continues, many call it a Break of Structure (BOS). It suggests continuation. When price starts to violate the structure in a way that hints at a potential trend reversal, traders may refer to it as a Change of Character (CHoCH).

The distinction matters because many traders confuse early signs of reversal with confirmation. One can signal possibility; the other may indicate continuation. Acting too early often means getting trapped.

What makes Smart Money Concepts appealing is not any single tool but the attempt to combine these observations into a narrative. A trader might identify a higher-timeframe trend, locate liquidity pools, wait for a liquidity sweep, observe structural shifts, identify an order block or fair-value gap, and then seek entries with defined risk.

Notice the repeated word there: risk.
Because this is the part social media often skips.

No concept, however sophisticated, removes uncertainty. Markets do not become predictable because someone learned new terminology. Losses remain part of trading. Smart Money Concepts can easily become dangerous when traders start believing every sweep guarantees a reversal or every fair value gap guarantees a revisit.

The market rewards probabilities, not certainty.

The irony is that after years of searching for indicators, secret strategies and complex systems, many experienced traders arrive at surprisingly simple conclusions: trends matter, liquidity matters, patience matters, emotional regulation matters and risk management matters.

"Greed destroys good trades. Fear exits the winning trades early. Hope keeps losing positions alive. Panic converts temporary losses into permanent damage."

The chart is only half the battle. The person reading the chart is the other half.

Perhaps the biggest lesson hidden beneath all Smart Money Concepts is this: stop viewing price as random candles and start viewing it as a map of behaviour — fear, greed, trapped traders, institutional activity, imbalance and reaction.

The next time price breaks a major level and reverses sharply, instead of immediately calling the market manipulated, ask a different question:

Where was the liquidity, and who needed it?

That one question changes how you see markets.

And sometimes, changing how you see markets is more valuable than changing indicators.

#SmartMoneyConcepts #SMC #PriceAction

[Aniket Lohani @AniketFiles]

@BCCI How will they make the playing XI?
Some tough calls will have to be taken.
Cut throat fight for the top 3 spots.

[Aniket Lohani @AniketFiles]

@mrmanikrishna @Cryptified_Soul The only proportional aspect currently working out for India is-
When the US bond yields rise, Indian equity markets fall.

Rest all correlations have gone in the dustbin because this time the inflation is not due to demand. It's imported inflation - due to supply chain crash.

[Aniket Lohani @AniketFiles]

@Cryptified_Soul The only proportional aspect currently working out for India is-
When the US bond yields rise, Indian equity markets fall.

Rest all correlations have gone in the dustbin because this time the inflation is not due to demand. It's imported inflation - due to supply chain crash.

[Aniket Lohani @AniketFiles]

@YuvrajShah02 your thoughts?

[Aniket Lohani @AniketFiles]

The 'long' trade setup in SilverM Jun Futures is ready.

Buy @ LTP ~ 255,000
Stop loss @ 253,500
Target @ 263,000
Position Size: 1 to 2 lots (depending on your risk)

Strictly follow the stop loss & position sizing, if taking the trade.

Note: 1 point drop or gain in SilverM premium means 5 Rs. loss or profit. If stop loss hits, Total loss on 1 lot will be Rs. 7500/-

Disclaimer: I am not a SEBI registered analyst. Invest/Trade at your own discretion. The post is only for educational purposes.

[Aniket Lohani @AniketFiles]

A really good low-risk, high-reward buy setup forming on SilverM futures.

[Aniket Lohani @AniketFiles]

@BaluGorade I think Zerodha should never run ads. That's their USP. Their UI is really good and clean. They can work on the features a little keeping the clean UI intact.
What they can do is PR - where they should highlight that they don't disturb their users through useless marketing.

[Sneha S @SnehaSSR]

Same thing happens with me whenever I look at any shop or brand.

Most people look at the products inside the shop.

But my brain first remembers the stock symbol, the company details, the industry it belongs to, and whether that sector is doing well or not.

Just by seeing a brand name, I immediately start thinking:

Is this company listed?
What is the stock symbol?
How is the chart structure?
How is the industry performing?
Is there momentum in this sector?
How are the fundamentals?
Is revenue growing?
Are margins improving?
Is the company gaining market share?
Is debt under control?
Can this learning be automated into my dashboard?

This is how market learning slowly becomes part of daily life.

The more you observe businesses around you, the better you understand brands, sectors, consumer behavior, fundamentals, and stock opportunities.

[Aniket Lohani @AniketFiles]

@SnehaSSR @AmannaPrerana Same here 😅

[Aniket Lohani @AniketFiles]

Fundamentally quality stocks from the sectors - Power, Defence & Renewables.

[CA Vivek Khatri @CaVivekkhatri]

𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮'𝘀 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿, 𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 & 𝗥𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗰𝘆𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆👇

• Shilchar
• K.P. Energy
• Advait Energy
• Apollo Micro Systems
• Syrma SGS
• TD Power
• Quality Power
• Krishna Defence
• Pondy Oxides
• Yash Highvoltage
• Aimtron Electronics
• Jain Resource Recycling
• Oriana Power
• Alpex Solar
• Yatharth Hospital
• Prizor Viztech
• Atlanta Electricals

Bookmark this list📌

Educational purpose only. Not a buy/sell recommendation.

Any more stocks to add❓
#trading #investing

[Aniket Lohani @AniketFiles]

The biggest hurdle to self-awareness and learning is, "lack of willingness to accept the existence of something if our limited knowledge/logic invalidates it."

Many things in life exist, perhaps are real and useful, even if our current understanding says they don't exist/are hokum.

Examples:
- astrology
- ayurveda
- homeopathy
- aliens
- spirits
- numerology
- acupuncture
- telepathy
- energy healing
- manifestation
- reincarnation
- vastu shastra

[Aniket Lohani @AniketFiles]

The setup has not yet formed. Let it form and stabilize to give a clear support zone. A breakout above the support candle can be a good entry with stop loss at the support and target at 80% of the swing high (on 15 min chart).

[Aniket Lohani @AniketFiles]

A really good low-risk, high-reward buy setup forming on SilverM futures.

[Aniket Lohani @AniketFiles]

@amitagarwal78 No. We are not living in an utopian world. And that's why I mentioned the word "fantasy" in the post. People have the liberty to fantasize about anything - even utopian things. I very well know that this won't ever happen. Also, that it won't work - it's impractical.

[Aniket Lohani @AniketFiles]

Wouldn't this be a dream cabinet? Building a fantasy (wish it was real), cross-party Indian Cabinet based on qualifications and domain experience. 🇮🇳👇

Nitin Gadkari (BJP) - Prime Minister [https://t.co/QDacxHWNoc and LLB; proven administrative execution and cross-party consensus building]

​P. Chidambaram (INC) - Minister of Finance [MBA from Harvard Business School, LLB from Madras Law College; elite formal training in corporate management, finance, and law]

​Abhishek Manu Singhvi (INC) - Minister of Home Affairs [PhD in Law from Trinity College, Cambridge; legal background perfectly suited for internal security frameworks, constitutional matters, and center-state relations]

​S. Jaishankar (BJP) - Minister of External Affairs [PhD in International Relations from JNU; direct academic and 38-year professional specialization in geopolitics]

​Atishi (AAP) - Minister of Education [Master's in Educational Research from Oxford University (Rhodes Scholar); formal academic training in curriculum design and educational systems]

​Dr. Harsh Vardhan (BJP) - Minister of Health and Family Welfare [MBBS and MS in Otorhinolaryngology; practicing surgeon with direct medical domain expertise]

​Raghav Chadha (BJP, former AAP) - Minister of Corporate Affairs [Chartered Accountant from the ICAI; formal qualification in corporate auditing, tax compliance, and financial regulation]

​Jairam Ramesh (INC) - Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change [https://t.co/n0vyDvSvNT from IIT Bombay, Public Management from Carnegie Mellon; internationally recognized authority on environmental policy and climate negotiation]

​Ashwini Vaishnaw (BJP) - Minister of Railways and Electronics & IT [https://t.co/mjkvuNrzAX from IIT Kanpur, MBA from Wharton School; engineering and global business administration degrees directly matching infrastructure and technology]

​Salman Khurshid (INC) - Minister of Law and Justice [Master of Arts and Bachelor of Civil Law from Oxford University; deeply credentialed jurist for judicial and statutory alignment]

​Saurabh Bharadwaj (AAP) - Minister of Science and Technology [https://t.co/n0vyDvSvNT in Computer Science, former Software Engineer; direct technical and coding background]

​Sachin Pilot (INC) - Minister of Commerce and Industry [MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; trained in global trade, market economics, and industrial scaling]

​Dr. Shashi Tharoor (INC) - Minister of Information and Broadcasting [PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, former UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information; global expert in mass communication and narrative strategy]

​Piyush Goyal (BJP) - Minister of Strategic Planning & Divestment [Chartered Accountant (All-India 2nd Rank) and LLB; background ideal for restructuring state assets and complex fiscal valuations]

Don't troll me guys. I have no affiliation to any party. Just wish for a developed Bharat.

[Aniket Lohani @AniketFiles]

@venkatak619088 @Asset_Architect @kiranshaw Two things:-
1. Position size
2. Stop Loss
Every investment is a business with a risk-reward ratio.
We don't live in a world of "buy and forget."

[Aniket Lohani @AniketFiles]

Perfectly applies to the stock markets worldwide.

[Aniket Lohani @AniketFiles]

I am just deeply appalled by each and every political party drafting policies for electoral politics. Why can't everyone have a shared vision for the nation's development? Criticize what you must, support what is good, and share and implement the good ideas necessary for nation building. Why tow any party line, especially if it's detrimental to the country?

This post was just a juvenile attempt to see if India has a lack of talent or lack of vision. I guess it's the latter. There is no dearth of educated and qualified leaders. There is a massive lack of spine, will power and vision.

[Aniket Lohani @AniketFiles]

@amitagarwal78 Maybe I should refrain from political posts, and focus on my expertise.

[Aniket Lohani @AniketFiles]

Don’t engage with trolls sir. They just suck up the mental bandwidth if our opinion doesn’t align with theirs.

And most people on social media have completely forgotten logic, data & rationale. Most have an agenda. Most expect us to align with a particular ideology blindly.

Social Media is a cobweb of polarisation.

[Aniket Lohani @AniketFiles]

@MashraniVivek This post has more twists and turns than many 3 hour bollywood movies.