Sweeps explained: a beginner's guide

A sweep is price trading through a visible high or low and then reacting. Obvious extremes collect stop and breakout orders, so a run through one can fuel a reversal or a genuine breakout. A sweep is an event, not a signal. Context, confirmation, invalidation, and risk do the deciding.

Other trading vocabularies call this a stop run or a raid. This library says sweep.

Where orders cluster

• Recent swing highs and lows
• The prior session's high or low
• Equal or nearly equal highs and lows
• The range candle's high and low (the range high and range low)
• The edge of a model-timeframe gap

Sweep vs breakout

Both start with price trading through an old extreme. The body close separates them:

• Breakout: the body closes beyond the level. Acceptance outside the range.
• Sweep (reversal read): the body closes back through the swept level, back inside the range. Rejection.

You cannot make this call mid-candle. A rejection-looking wick can become a breakout by the close. Wait for it.

Bullish and bearish sweeps

Bullish: price trades below the range low, fails to hold, and closes back inside above it. Sellers pushed through a known low and could not keep acceptance there.

Bearish: the mirror. Through the range high, no acceptance, close back inside below it.

Neither pattern means price must reverse. Each matters only with location and confirmation.

Location beats the wick

Charts print small sweeps constantly, and most are range noise. A sweep matters at a qualified model-timeframe location, checked in strict order:

1. A confirmed swing high or low that has not been swept
2. An active directional gap
3. The immediately swept opposing reference candle, only when neither of the above exists
4. The trailing 20-model-candle range extreme, FMP+'s final trend-colored blow-off fallback when none of the above qualifies

The fourth test is an FMP+ operational fallback, not a published source rule. Location is a prerequisite, not a bonus point. Next steps: the D2 Sweep for the rule that follows the sweep, and the four-candle fractal model for the full sequence.

Confirmation: the trigger close

After the sweep, mark the open of the last opposing chart-timeframe run into the extreme (for a sweep of a low, the last run down). That is the trigger line. Confirmation is a body close through it on the chart timeframe (for a 4-hour model, confirmed 15-minute closes; the chain continues 15m → 4H → 1D → 1W). A wick through the line confirms nothing. Full rule: the trigger close explained.

Quick checklist

• Range. Which exact high or low was swept?
• Close. Did the body close back inside, or is the candle still forming?
• Location. Qualified model-timeframe location?
• Confirmation. Did the chart timeframe close through the trigger line?
• Invalidation and risk. Defined before entry?

If any answer is vague, there is no setup yet.

FAQ

Does candle color matter?

No. The swept level and where the body closes relative to it define the event.

Can a sweep continue instead of reversing?

Yes. Acceptance beyond the level is a breakout. That is why close-based rules exist.

Is a stop hunt the same thing?

"Stop hunt" assumes a motive charts cannot prove. "Sweep" describes only what you can observe: price through a known extreme, then the reaction.

Futures and leveraged products carry substantial risk; losses can exceed plans around news and thin markets. This is general education, not personalized advice. Fractal Model Pro+ organizes these rules on a chart. It runs the swept level thin and gray to the right edge with a callout, for example 4H low · 7592.00 swept. It does not replace judgment or risk management.