Sweep: a wick past the range edge
A sweep is when price wicks beyond the top or bottom of a range and closes the candle back inside the range. Prices beyond the edge were not accepted in that candle. If the close stays outside the edge, the move is not a sweep but a breakout candidate.
What is a sweep?
When price moves back and forth within a range for a while, its upper and lower bounds become clear. If a candle reaches beyond one of them and closes back inside the range, a long wick is left reaching past the edge. This is called a sweep.
The term is often explained as a "liquidity sweep": orders waiting beyond the edge are assumed to have been triggered. The chart does not prove this. All the chart shows is that price went beyond the edge, could not stay there and returned to the range.
A sweep rests on the same idea as a false breakout. The difference is that a sweep is defined against the edge of a range, not a swing point or a single level.
The parts of a range
- RH (range high): the upper band of the range, where price has reacted from above.
- EQ (equilibrium): the middle line of the range. It shows which half of the range price is in.
- RL (range low): the lower band of the range, where price has reacted from below.
RH and RL are read as bands, not lines. A sweep is measured against the band's outer edge.
Three outcomes at the range edge
When price moves past the upper edge of the RH band, three different pictures can follow. The same holds the other way round for RL.
Sweep
The wick clearly clears the band's upper edge and the close comes below the edge. Prices beyond the edge were not accepted.
Breakout candidate
The close comes above the band's upper edge. This is not a sweep; it may be the range breaking upward and is read together with the next candles.
Edge touch
The wick reaches the edge but does not clearly clear it. This is not a sweep but a test of the band.
What it shows, what it does not prove
What it shows
- That prices beyond the edge were not accepted in that candle
- That the range boundary is still an area where price reacts
- A way to tell a sweep from a breakout by the close
What it does not prove
- That orders sat beyond the edge or were "collected"
- That price will travel to the other edge of the range
- Who moved price beyond the edge, or why
The MarketLevelMap view
How it relates to zones
In MarketLevelMap's Price Action view a sweep is marked by these rules.
- Sweeps are looked for against the analysis's RH and RL bands, not against swing points.
- RH sweep: the wick clears the band's upper edge by a small ATR margin and the close returns below the upper edge. RL sweep: the wick clears the lower edge and the close returns above it.
- If the close stays outside the band, it is not a sweep.
- Only closed candles are scanned, and only those after the bands became known.
- On the chart the Sweep mark sits above the candle at RH and below it at RL; the "Structure" table lists it with a Sweep RH or Sweep RL badge.
- The RH and RL bands stay as they were at the time of analysis; sweeps are recalculated up to the last closed candle.
Often confused with
For general information only. Not investment advice.Last updated: