Price pokes past an obvious swing point far enough to trigger every stop sitting behind it, then reverses hard.
“The confirmation candle, a close back inside the range, is what tells a sweep apart from a breakout. Trade the wick alone, and you're buying every failed breakout on the way down.”Jason Parker · Founder, TradeScalping.com
An obvious swing high or low, the kind marked on plenty of charts, isn't only a level. It's a magnet for the stop orders resting past it. Price pushes beyond that level, enough to trigger the orders sitting there, then reverses and closes back on the other side, often within the same bar or the next one. The traders who got stopped out supplied the volume for the move that ran them over.
| Entry | The close back inside the prior range, after the wick that swept beyond the level |
| Exit | The opposite side of the range the sweep happened in, or the next visible swing point |
| Stop | Beyond the extreme of the sweep wick itself, since a genuine reversal shouldn't need to test that price twice |
An illustrative example built to show the setup’s shape. Not historical price data, and not tied to any specific ticker.
Confusing an actual sweep with a clean breakout. Some pokes past a swing point are the sweep. Some are the start of a bigger move that happens to pass through the same price instead. The confirmation candle, a close back inside the range, is what tells the two apart. Trade the wick alone instead of waiting for that close, and this setup turns into buying every failed breakout on the way down.
None of this works without the framework underneath it. Read risk management next, or run your own numbers in the position-size calculator.
Common questions about trading this setup, answered straight.
Entry comes on the close back inside the prior range, after the wick that swept beyond the swing high or low, not on the wick itself.
The stop sits beyond the extreme of the sweep wick itself, since a genuine reversal should not need to test that price twice.
Confusing a genuine sweep with a clean breakout that happens to pass through the same price. The confirmation candle, a close back inside the range, is what tells the two apart. Trade the wick alone, and this setup turns into buying every failed breakout on the way down.
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