A sweep or a real breakout
How to tell a real move beyond a level from a stop hunt: by the candle close and the speed of the return.
A sweep or a real breakout — what it is?
A sweep and a genuine breakout look identical in the moment: price moves beyond the level. What separates them is what happens next.
A sweep is a move beyond the level with no acceptance and a fast return. The job is done: the orders have been taken, there is no reason to go further.
A genuine breakout is a close beyond the level, continuation, often an imbalance and a subsequent break of structure. Price does not come back.
A sweep or a real breakout — how it is built?
Tell them apart by three signs: did the candle close beyond the level, did price return inside within the next few candles, was there a break of structure after the move out. Two of the three against it means a sweep.
A sweep or a real breakout — common mistakes
Making the decision before the candle closes.
Calling every move beyond a level a sweep: genuine breakouts happen too, and often.
Turning around right after the return, without a CHoCH.
Forgetting to check whether there is liquidity still further along the move.
Related to
Glossary
- Breakout
- price leaving a level with a candle closing beyond it.
- close
- the last price of the period. Considered the most important of the four: breakouts are confirmed by the close.
- imbalance
- a stretch of chart price went through too quickly, without even trading.
- break of structure
- price closing beyond the last structure point **in the direction of the trend**. It confirms continuation.
- candle
- the element of the chart that shows four prices for a period: open, high, low, close.
- change of character
- the first close **against** the trend. It points to a possible reversal.
Test yourself
Where was liquidity swept below and price came back?
Correct. The app has tasks like this in every lesson — 119 lessons on real charts. Solve in the app →
Not this one. The right answer is the other chart. The app has tasks like this in every lesson — 119 lessons on real charts. Solve in the app →