Why classification matters
"There was a sweep" is not analysis. Which pool was taken, on which side, at what scale — those three answers determine whether a raid is tradable, what it targets, and how much it is worth. ICT methodology classifies sweeps along three axes: side, scope and level type. Master the taxonomy and your trade selection becomes a sorting exercise instead of a guessing game.
Axis 1 — By side: buy-side vs sell-side
Buy-side liquidity sweep
The pool above a reference high — buy stops from shorts plus breakout longs — gets consumed. Price spikes above the high, fills the size of a seller, and reverses down. Buy-side sweeps are how distributions begin and how uptrends end (or pause).
Sell-side liquidity sweep
The mirror image: sell stops below a reference low are the liquidity this framework reads as a large buyer's fill. The market dips below the low, absorbs, and reverses up. The better-known variant: "stop hunts" below support are the classic retail example.
The framework reads the side taken as a directional clue: in this model, the raid takes liquidity on the side opposite the move that follows — an inference, not an observation of intent.
Axis 2 — By scope: external vs internal
External liquidity sweeps
The raid takes a pool outside the current dealing range — the previous day's high, the week's low, a monthly extreme. External sweeps are the ones this framework trades: they take liquidity beyond the range, and the move that can follow targets the opposite side of the range. The hierarchy of these levels is mapped in institutional highs and lows.
Internal liquidity sweeps
The raid takes a pool inside the range — a minor swing high, an intraday equal low. Internal sweeps are the market clearing its path: they matter as entries only when they align with the external story (e.g., an internal low taken while the external draw is on the range high). Trading every internal sweep multiplies small losses on a funded account.
Axis 3 — By level type
- Daily-extreme sweeps (PDH/PDL) — the intraday workhorse; clean risk, clean targets.
- Equilibrium sweeps — raids of the previous day's 50% level; subtler, and relevant in trending contexts where price does not reach the extreme.
- Midnight Open deviations — sweeps that also deviate from the true day open, adding a premium/discount reading to the raid.
- Session-range sweeps — Asia, London or New York extremes taken by the following session; the Judas swing family, governed by strict delivery windows.
- Equal highs/lows sweeps — double tops and bottoms taken in one pass; the stops behind both extremes sit at almost the same price, which can make the reaction sharp.
The taxonomy in one table
- Side: buy-side (above highs) / sell-side (below lows) → directional reading.
- Scope: external (range extremes, tradable) / internal (path-clearing, context only).
- Level: daily, equilibrium, Midnight Open, session, equal extremes → target & window.
One confirmation standard for every type
Whatever the classification, the entry standard never changes: the raid must fail — a close back through the level plus displacement (a fair value gap), with structural agreement from an order block where possible. The taxonomy decides whether the setup deserves your attention; the confirmation decides whether it deserves your money.
Monitoring five level families across three sessions, in server time, without missing a rollover, is not a human job — it is a software job. SWEEP PROTOCOL runs the four tradable engines (daily extremes, equilibrium, Midnight Open, sessions) simultaneously and applies the same closed-bar confirmation to each, so every arrow you see has passed the same closed-bar test.
What this article does not do
- No prediction. A setup that meets every condition described here can fail.
- Weak contexts. Around session opens, scheduled releases and thin hours, levels can be traded through and fills can be worse than planned.
- No recommendation. Nothing here is an instruction to trade a specific instrument or level.