TL;DR: A liquidity sweep is when price runs an obvious high or low, pokes the stops sitting there, then rejects and comes back. On our Alpha Capital evaluations you wait for the grab and the rejection. A wick that keeps going is often a break of structure, not a sweep. If the stop after a real sweep is still too wide for remaining daily-loss room, you pass. We would rather you miss London than donate the day to "it was a stop hunt."
Short definition: What is a Liquidity Sweep?. This page is the longer plan.
General education, not a signal, not personal financial advice. Our evaluations and Qualified Accounts use simulated funds. Simulated results do not reflect real trading outcomes. Performance fees are performance-based. Nothing is guaranteed.
We do not require sweeps, ICT, or any branded playbook. You can pass with a session range and a hard 1% rule. This is for traders who already hunt equal highs and keep buying every dip below Asia.
Also: What is a trading evaluation? · What are simulated funds?
What you are actually marking
Stops bunch up in boring places:
- under equal lows / obvious support
- above equal highs / obvious resistance
- beyond the Asia range
- beyond prior day high or low
- beyond a clean double top or double bottom everyone can see from across the room
Price can trade through that level, fill those orders, then reverse. People call it a sweep or a stop hunt.
Here is the unromantic bit. The chart cannot prove intent. It cannot prove a bank did it. It can show: level taken, then rejected. Your job is to define taken and rejected so two people mark the same chart the same way.
Sweep vs break of structure (this is the whole game)
If you only remember one table from this page, remember this one.
What printed | What it looks like | How we would read it |
|---|---|---|
Sweep | Wick or a brief trade beyond the level, then a close back on the inside | Possible trap, then reversal |
BOS | Body close beyond the level that holds | Continuation, not a trap |
If you buy every dip below equal lows with no close back inside, you are fading breakouts and calling it smart money. That can be a strategy. It is not this strategy. Write which one you are testing.
Full BOS explainer: What is a Break of Structure (BOS)?
Mark liquidity before the session, not after the spike
If you only draw the level once price has already spiked through it, you will find a sweep in every candle. That is hindsight.
Before London (or before whatever session you trade):
- yesterday's high and low
- Asia high and low if you use that range
- equal highs / equal lows that are obvious on H1 or M15
- round numbers only if you already used them last week, not because this one is 1.1000 and it feels special
Then leave them alone. Let price come to a level you already cared about.
A sweep plan you can put in a journal
1. Session filter
A common FX version: wait for London (or the London/NY overlap) to take the Asia extreme.
That is not magic. It is a filter so you are not trading every wick in Tokyo. If your tested plan is Asia, fine. Write it. Do not invent a new "kill zone" after a loss.
2. What counts as the grab
Pick one and keep it:
- a wick beyond the level, or
- a trade through the level on your execution timeframe
"Kind of went through" is not a rule.
3. What counts as rejection (pick one)
- close back inside the range on M15
- strong displacement away from the swept level
- optional extra: a fair value gap left by that displacement, used as the retrace entry
Displacement without a close back inside can still be a BOS. Do not mix the two because you want to be in.
4. Invalidation
Often:
- a close back beyond the swept extreme, or
- a close through the far side of your entry zone (the FVG or the reclaimed level)
Not: "it might sweep again, I'll give it room."
5. Size on our evaluations
Pip distance to invalidation × pip value × lots must fit a personal cap inside the daily loss on your programme.
Sweep entries look surgical until you put the stop where the thesis actually dies. That is often the other side of the wick, not the round number everyone else used.
If that stop is 28 pips and your 1R only allows 14 at the size you wanted, pass. Do not hide the stop inside the sweep wick "so it fits." That is a different trade with a fake invalidation.
We publish programme rules separately. They can change. This guide is not your live rule sheet. Check the figures for your evaluation.
6. Target before you are in
Opposite side of the range, opposing equal highs/lows, or a session level you marked this morning. If the target is 8 pips and the stop is 28, maybe today is a pass even if the sweep is "textbook."
London example, then a pass
Illustrative only.
EURUSD parks equal lows at 1.0820 through Asia. London opens, spikes to 1.0812, then M15 closes back above 1.0820 with a strong up candle. In this plan, that close-back is the sweep confirmation.
Conservative entry: wait for a pullback into the displacement FVG. Stop below 1.0808. Target: Asia high.
If that stop is 28 pips and the trader's cap only funds 14 pips at allowed size, pass.
The reversal can still run to Asia high without you. Our evaluation will not send a gold star. It will send a breach if you keep forcing 28-pip stops until daily loss is gone.
Filters so you stop trading every wick
Use these as a checklist, not as a speech:
- The level was on the chart before it was taken
- It was equal highs/lows or a real session extreme, not a random intra-bar spike
- There was displacement after the grab, not a slow bleed through the level
- Higher-timeframe direction agrees, or you have a written countertrend rule with smaller size (most people on an evaluation should not)
- Spread is normal for that pair and session
- No red-folder print in the next few minutes unless news is an explicit, tested part of the plan
If you cannot tick those, you do not have a sweep trade. You have a wick.
Pair and session notes
- EURUSD / GBPUSD: London still does a lot of the obvious range breaks. That does not mean every London open is tradable.
- XAUUSD: sweeps are huge and so are the wicks. If gold's "tight" stop is 40 dollars, size like gold or pass. Do not import a 10-pip EUR plan onto gold.
- NY session: US data can turn a sweep into a BOS in one print. Your news rule is the strategy.
Write times in one timezone. We do not care if it is London or NY. We care that you are not converting under pressure.
Backtest the failures, not the montage
Lock:
- one pair
- which liquidity you mark (Asia, PDH/PDL, equal H/L)
- wick vs close for "taken"
- what counts as rejection
- entry model
- stop and target
- news rule
- max attempts
Count the times price took the level and kept going. Those are the expensive ones. If they are not in the spreadsheet, your win rate is a trailer, not a movie.
Look at:
- win vs loss size
- streaks (evaluations die on streaks, not on win rate)
- skipped trades
- London vs NY results separately
Then forward-test in simulation before you put it on a paid evaluation with us.
Mistakes we keep seeing
Every wick is a liquidity sweep
No. Some wicks are just wicks.
Entering while price is still running the stops
You are the liquidity. Wait for rejection.
Calling a body close through the level a sweep
That is often BOS. Different trade.
Using the sweep to justify a stop that violates daily loss
The pattern does not outrank our rules. Nothing does.
Five ICT labels on one candle
If every outcome can be described as a win, you cannot lose in the journal. You can still lose the evaluation.
Revenge on the same equal lows
One failed sweep does not mean the next poke is "even more liquid." Define re-entry or walk away.
Changing timeframe after entry
M1 will always show you a tiny reason to stay. Manage on the timeframe in the plan.
FAQs
Is a liquidity sweep the same as a breakout?
No. A breakout that holds is structure continuing. A sweep is a run on obvious stops that then fails.
Do I need ICT language?
No. You need a level, a grab, a rejection, a stop, and a size. The vocabulary is optional.
Best timeframe?
The one you tested. H1 to mark levels, M15 to confirm, is a common split. It is not a law.
Can I use this on an Alpha Capital evaluation?
Yes, as a discretionary method, if it stays inside published rules on simulated funds. We do not grade your sweeps. We grade the account vs evaluation objectives.
Should this replace the glossary page?
No. Glossary = "what is." This page = "how we would actually trade it on an evaluation." Link them. Do not merge them.
Next step
Read What is a Liquidity Sweep? if you still mix it up with BOS.
Then one pair, one session, one definition of grab and reject. Journal every candidate for a block of trades, including the ones you pass on. Do that in simulation before you pay for an evaluation with us.
→ Start an Alpha Capital evaluation · What is a liquidity sweep?
General information only, not personal financial advice. Simulated trading results do not reflect real trading outcomes. Confirm live programme rules before you trade.
