Liquidity sweep: what it is, and how to test it on your market
A liquidity sweep is when price runs through a level many traders watch, such as equal lows or yesterday's high, and then closes back on the other side. Traders read it as stops being taken before a move the other way. Whether that holds on your market, at your time of day, is something you can test.
What it is
Levels where many traders have stops sit just beyond obvious highs and lows: two lows at the same price, yesterday's high, the edge of the morning's range. When price trades through one of them and quickly closes back, the move through the level is called a sweep, a liquidity grab or a stop hunt.
The word only describes what price did. It says nothing about who was behind it or what comes next.
The exact rule QuantLogic uses
Sweep of equal lows (the long side). Equal highs is the mirror image.
- Two of the last 8 confirmed swing lows sit within 5% of the average daily range (ATR) of each other. The lower of the two is the level.
- Within the last 15 bars, price traded below that level.
- This bar closes back above it, and either its own low went below the level or the bar before closed at or below it.
When is it known? A swing low is a bar whose low is under the 3 bars before it and not undercut by the 3 bars after it, so it is only confirmed 3 bars after it prints. The level exists from then on, never before. The idea fires on the close of the sweep bar. The average daily range is the mean of the last 14 regular sessions' ranges, known before the open.
Versions you can build
- Sweep of equal lows. Through two equal swing lows, close back above.
- Sweep of equal highs. Through two equal swing highs, close back below.
- Sweep of yesterday's low. Through the prior session's low within 15 bars, close back above it.
- Sweep of yesterday's high. Through the prior session's high within 15 bars, close back below it.
- Failed break of the first 15 minutes' high or low. After 09:45 ET, through the opening range and back inside within 15 bars.
What to look at around it
In QuantLogic, every time the idea happened is laid out with the data points around it, so you can see where it held and where it didn't:
Traps when you test it
- Drawing the equal lows after the fact. On a finished chart every pair of lows looks obvious; at the time, the second low was only known 3 bars later.
- Looking at one side only. Test the sweeps of highs as well as the sweeps of lows, and see whether they behave the same.
- Counting the good examples you remember. Every sweep counts, including the ones that kept going.
Build it and test it yourself
Open Sweep of equal lows in Build with QuantLogic. See every time it happened on NQ, ES, Gold or Crude since September 2025, check the long and the short side, add your own filters and run the luck test.
Nothing is proven until it holds live. We give no trading signals and no advice, we never hold your money or your accounts, and we never trade for you.
Questions
- Is a liquidity sweep the same as a stop hunt?
- Traders use both words for the same picture: price runs through a level where stops are likely to sit, then turns. Sweep only describes what price did, not who was behind it.
- Which timeframe does QuantLogic use?
- One-minute bars of the regular session, 09:30 to 16:00 New York time, using only bars that have closed.
- Does a sweep mean price will reverse?
- No. Sometimes price keeps going. That is why you test it on your own market and keep watching it once it is live.
Related setups
Setup library
Liquidity sweeps, break of structure, VWAP, the opening range and more, drawn and explained with the exact rule.
Change of character
The first close through the last swing against the trend, and the retest after it.
Yesterday's high and low
At, through or back from the prior session's high, low and close.
Opening range
A close above or below the first 15 minutes' high or low, or a failed break.
Break of structure
A close past the last swing high in an uptrend, or the last swing low in a downtrend.
Educational content, not investment advice. Futures trading involves substantial risk of loss. See the risk disclosure.