Breaker Block Scanner for Futures
A breaker block is an order block that failed. Price closed through it, the zone flipped, and traders now watch it as the opposite kind of level. This scanner follows order blocks across 16 futures markets, spots the ones that break, and alerts you when price first returns to the flipped zone.
What is a breaker block?
Start with a bearish order block: the last up candle before a drop. If price later rallies and closes above that candle's high, the block has failed. The zone is now a bullish breaker block, and traders watch it as support on a pullback. The reverse happens with a bullish order block that fails: it becomes a bearish breaker, watched as resistance.
The idea is a role reversal. The area where sellers were expected to defend has been taken out, so a return to it is read differently.
Bullish and bearish breaker block examples
Each drawing shows the original order block, the candle that closes through it, and the retest that triggers the alert.
Bullish Breaker block retested
Bearish Breaker block retested
How our breaker block scanner decides what counts
- It starts from valid order blocks (displacement-validated, see the order block scanner).
- The order block breaks when a candle closes through its far side. A wick through it does not count.
- The direction flips: a broken bearish block becomes a bullish breaker and a broken bullish block becomes a bearish breaker.
- The alert fires the first time price trades at least one tick back into the flipped zone after the breaking candle, when that candle closes. Touching only the edge does not count.
What a breaker alert looks like
Alerts read "NQ 5m · Bullish Breaker block retested". The email or Discord version includes the zone, the price and the other structures overlapping it.
Reading breaker alerts with care
A breaker is a level built on a failure, and traders often look for an extra sign that the failure was meaningful, such as a liquidity sweep just before it. The scanner reports the retest. Judging the quality of the break is your call.
Setting up breaker block alerts
Choose "Breaker block" as the alert type when you set up the alert, then your markets and timeframes. A breaker needs an order block to fail first, so alerts come some time after the original block formed.
Some traders pair breaker alerts with order block alerts on the same markets, so they hear about the block first and its failure later.
- Choose the alert type: Breaker block.
- Pick your markets and timeframes.
- Set a direction if you trade one side only.
- Choose email, Discord or both.
- Press Send test.
Breaker block vs order block vs inverse FVG
These three ideas are easy to mix up because they all describe a zone, and two of them describe a zone that has failed. The difference is where the zone came from and what has happened to it.
- Order block: the last opposing candle before a strong move. It has not failed. The scanner alerts when price first returns to it.
- Breaker block: an order block that has failed. A candle closed through it, so its role flipped. The scanner alerts when price first returns to the flipped zone.
- Inverse FVG: a fair value gap that has failed. The zone comes from a three-candle gap instead of a single candle, and it flips the same way.
- The scanner keeps them as separate alert types, so you can follow the ones you trade without hearing about the rest.
The alert this scanner sends
| Alert | Sent when |
|---|---|
| Breaker block retested | After an order block breaks and flips, price trades at least one tick back into the flipped zone for the first time. |
Frequently asked questions
What is a breaker block?
An order block that failed. Price closed through it, so the zone flipped: a failed bearish order block becomes a bullish breaker, a failed bullish one becomes a bearish breaker.
What is the difference between a breaker block and an inverse FVG?
Both are failed zones that flipped. A breaker comes from a failed order block (a candle), an inverse FVG from a failed fair value gap (a three-candle gap).
Why does a breaker block need an order block first?
A breaker is by definition a failed order block. The scanner has to see a valid order block (one that left a fair value gap), then a candle closing through its far side, and only then does it watch the flipped zone for a retest.
Does the breaker block scanner repaint?
No. It only evaluates closed candles, so an alert is never withdrawn. It does arrive after the candle that retested the block has closed.
How does the scanner decide an order block has broken?
A candle must close through the far side of the block. A wick does not break it.
Does the alert fire when the block breaks or when price returns?
When price returns. The alert is triggered by the first retest of the flipped zone.
Learn more and use it on a chart
- ICT trading concepts for futures — Market structure, fair value gaps and liquidity explained for futures traders.
- Open the charting page — The chart tools, including fair value gap and inverse FVG drawing, live here.
Related scanners
- Order Block Scanner — Free live order block scanner for 16 futures markets. Displacement-validated bullish and bearish order blocks, with alerts you can set up.
- Inverse FVG (IFVG) Scanner — Free live inverse fair value gap scanner for 16 futures markets. See IFVG retests as candles close, how a gap flips, and set up alerts.
- CRT (Candle Range Theory) Scanner — Free live CRT scanner for 16 futures markets. See candle range theory sweeps the moment they are confirmed, and set up alerts for them.
- Fair Value Gap (FVG) Scanner — Free live FVG scanner for 16 futures markets. Watch fair value gap retests as candles close, see the rules it uses, and set up alerts.
- Live futures chart scanner — every alert type, updated as candles close.
Alerts are informational and are not trading advice. They show that a pattern was detected, not where price will go, and patterns often fail. Futures trading involves substantial risk of loss.