In ICT language, liquidity simply means a place where many orders are waiting. Because large traders need the other side for their trades, price is often drawn to these places before a real move begins.
Buy-side and sell-side liquidity
- Buy-side liquidity (BSL) rests above old highs: stop losses of sellers and buy orders of breakout traders.
- Sell-side liquidity (SSL) rests below old lows: stop losses of buyers and sell orders of breakout traders.
- Equal highs or equal lows are especially obvious pools, because so many traders see the same level.
The sweep
A sweep (or "raid") happens when price trades just beyond such a level, takes the orders resting there, and then returns inside. A quick spike above equal highs that closes back below them is a classic buy-side sweep. Many traders read it as a sign that the move up was used to fill selling, not to start a new trend.
Sweep or breakout?
The difference is what happens after the level is taken:
- Breakout: price closes beyond the level and holds there; the old high becomes support.
- Sweep: price closes back inside, often with a large candle, and soon shows a change of structure the other way.
Time matters
Sweeps are most meaningful at session opens and inside the killzones, when large orders come into the market. A sweep of the Asian range high in the London session is a pattern many ICT models are built on.
Liquidity in ICC Charts
The terminal draws BSL and SSL lines at swing highs and lows and marks them with an X once they are swept, so you can see at a glance which pools are still open. The model scanner uses sweeps as a step in models like the Judas swing and the 2022 model. Open the web terminal and switch on the Liquidity layer to try it.
Education only. Trading involves risk; practise on a demo account first.
Open ICC Charts in your browser, free, with the ICT and VSA layers and the model scanner.
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