Liquidity Sweep Scanner for Futures

What is a liquidity sweep?

Stop orders tend to cluster just beyond obvious highs and lows, such as yesterday's high or the low of the Asia session. A liquidity sweep is a move that pushes through such a level, triggers those orders, and then reverses so that the candle closes back on the original side. The wick beyond the level is the sweep. The close back inside is the rejection.

A sweep of a low is read as bullish, because the sell stops under it have been taken and price came back up. A sweep of a high is read as bearish. That is an interpretation, not a rule: price can sweep a level and carry on.

Bullish and bearish liquidity sweep examples

The horizontal line is the level being swept. The blue line marks the candle that swept it and closed back on the original side, where the alert fires.

Which levels does the scanner watch?

Each level is the last completed one, so it changes as sessions and bars finish. Session times are New York time and follow daylight saving.

• Previous 1H high and low: the last completed hourly bar.
• Previous 4H high and low: the last completed 4-hour bar.
• Previous day high and low: the last completed CME trading day, which runs from 6:00 pm to 6:00 pm New York time.
• Previous Asia session high and low: 7:00 pm to 3:00 am New York time.
• Previous NY session high and low: 9:30 am to 4:00 pm New York time.

How our liquidity sweep scanner decides what counts

• The candle trades beyond the level and closes back on the original side. A candle that closes beyond the level has broken it. That is not a sweep and there is no alert.
• Reaching the level exactly is not enough. Price has to trade beyond it.
• Only the first sweep counts. If any earlier candle has already traded beyond a level since it formed, that liquidity is considered taken and the level is skipped.
• A candle can only sweep a level from a longer timeframe. A 5 minute candle can sweep the previous 1H high, a 1 hour candle cannot. Day and session levels can be swept on any chart from 1 minute to 4 hours.
• When one candle sweeps several levels on the same side, the alert names the most extreme one: the highest high or the lowest low. If two levels sit at the same price, the higher-ranked one is named (day, then NY, then Asia, then 4H, then 1H), and the others are listed in the alert as also swept.
• A candle that sweeps a high and a low at the same time has no clear direction and is ignored.
• Closed candles only, so an alert is never withdrawn.

What a liquidity sweep alert looks like

The public scanner shows lines like "NQ 5m · Bullish Liquidity sweep of Previous Asia session low". An alert sent to your email or Discord adds the price of the level that was swept and any other levels the same candle took out.

How traders use liquidity sweeps

A sweep is usually treated as context, not a trigger on its own. Traders often wait for something to happen after it, for example a fair value gap forming as price reverses, or a rejection candle at the sweep, and they compare it with the direction of the higher-timeframe trend. The scanner tells you a sweep happened. What you do with it is your own plan.

Setting up liquidity sweep alerts

Choose "Liquidity sweep" as the alert type when you set up the alert, then your markets and timeframes. Sweeps of the 1H and 4H levels only appear on charts shorter than that level, and the 5 and 15 minute charts are a common place to start. On the 1 minute chart you will hear about many more.

• Choose the alert type: Liquidity sweep.
• Pick your markets and timeframes.
• Set a direction if you trade one side only.
• Choose email, Discord or both.
• Press Send test.

The alert this scanner sends

Frequently asked questions

What is a liquidity sweep in trading?

Price trades beyond an obvious high or low, taking the stop orders resting there, and then closes back on the original side. It is also called a stop run or a liquidity grab.

What is the difference between a sweep and a break?

In a sweep the candle closes back on the original side of the level. In a break it closes beyond the level. The scanner alerts only on sweeps.

Which levels does the scanner sweep-check?

The previous 1 hour, 4 hour and trading day highs and lows, and the previous Asia and New York session highs and lows.

What are the session times?

Asia is 7:00 pm to 3:00 am New York time, New York is 9:30 am to 4:00 pm New York time, and the trading day runs 6:00 pm to 6:00 pm. All follow daylight saving.

Why does an alert name only one level?

When one candle sweeps several levels on the same side, the alert names the most extreme one, the highest high or lowest low, and lists the others as also swept.

Can a 1 hour chart sweep the previous 1 hour high?

No. A candle can only sweep a level from a longer timeframe, so a 1 hour chart checks the 4H, day and session levels instead.

Is the London session included?

Not at the moment. The scanner watches the Asia and New York sessions.

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.

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