An order block is the last opposing candle range before a move strong enough to break structure. The theory says large resting orders were filled there; the measurable claim is that price tends to react when it returns. The retest of that zone on its first clean return is the trade.
- 1Last opposing candle before the move
- 2Displacement — breaks a structural point
- 3First clean return to the zone
What the engine actually checks
“Looks like one” is not a rule. Detection requires every hard criterion and scores the confluences — fail a hard criterion and it is not this setup, it is a hope with a nickname.
Hard criteria — all required
- ▪A displacement leg that breaks a structural point — no structural break, no order block.
- ▪A clearly identifiable last opposing candle immediately preceding that displacement.
- ▪The zone untested since formation — the first return is the tested trade.
Confluences — weighted, not required
- ▫Displacement strength measured as an ATR multiple.
- ▫The displacement swept liquidity before moving — sweep-then-displace is the A-grade shape.
- ▫Higher-timeframe alignment with the displacement direction.
- ▫Zone freshness — a block tapped four times is spent, not strong.
Trading it
- 1Where you are wrongA close beyond the far side of the block. The zone is the trade; once price closes through it the premise that resting orders defended the level has been tested and answered. Stops placed in the middle of the zone are inside the noise the pattern expects.
- 2EntryThe first clean return into the zone. Not the second, not the fourth — the block grammar treats a level as spent after it has been consumed, which is the opposite of the classical "the more touches the stronger" instinct and is the single biggest adjustment for traders arriving from support-and-resistance.
- 3ObjectiveThe next opposing structural point, or the liquidity resting beyond the previous swing. Measured-move projections are less useful here than in classical patterns because the entry is defined by structure rather than by a geometric shape.
Worked example — real numbers
entry at the block, invalidation below it, target at the prior swing high. A valid formation offering under about 1.5R is still a valid formation and still not worth taking — valid and worth it are different questions.
Size this trade against your account →The scoreboard
Resolution by grade, market and timeframe — because a single blended number would let strong contexts carry weak ones, which is how every invented “success rate” in this category is constructed.
| Grade | Market | Timeframe | Resolution | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Crypto | 15m–1H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| A | Crypto | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| A | FX | 15m–1H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| A | FX | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| A | Indices | 15m–1H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| A | Indices | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| B | Crypto | 15m–1H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| B | Crypto | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| B | FX | 15m–1H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| B | FX | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| B | Indices | 15m–1H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| B | Indices | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| C | Crypto | 15m–1H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| C | Crypto | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| C | FX | 15m–1H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| C | FX | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| C | Indices | 15m–1H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
| C | Indices | 4H | collecting | no resolved sample yet |
Where this traps people
Order Block Retest vs Supply and demand zone
They frequently mark the same area. The difference is the entry requirement: a supply/demand zone is drawn from a base before a strong move, an order block requires that move to have broken structure. The order block definition is narrower and therefore falsifiable, which is the only reason it can be scored.
Drop your chart and the engine checks it against the same hard criteria listed above — the ones it uses on every scan. First read is free and needs no account.
Questions traders actually ask
- What is an order block in trading?
- The last opposing candle range before a move strong enough to break structure — the last down candle before an upward displacement, or the reverse. Whether institutions intended anything there is unknowable; whether price reacts on its first return is measurable, and that is what gets scored.
- How do you identify a valid order block?
- Find the displacement first, then step back to the last opposing candle before it. If nothing structural broke, there is no order block — just a big candle. The zone is that candle's range, and it counts only on its first clean return.
- Order block vs supply and demand zone — what is the difference?
- A supply or demand zone is any base preceding a strong move. An order block additionally requires that the move broke a structural point. The narrower definition is what makes it checkable rather than a matter of where you drew the box.
- Do order blocks work on all timeframes?
- The logic holds anywhere, but lower timeframes produce far more candidates and far more noise. The scoreboard splits by timeframe band rather than blending, because a 15-minute block and a daily block are not the same claim about the market.
- Why does the first retest matter more than later ones?
- Because the premise is unfilled resting orders. Once price has traded back through the zone, whatever was there has largely been consumed — which is why freshness is scored and why a well-tested block grades lower rather than higher.
Learn it · scan for it
More in Smart Money Concepts
Find a order block retest on your own chart
The criteria above are the ones the engine runs. Point it at a symbol you care about and see whether what you are looking at actually qualifies — free, and without an account.
Grade a chart free