Before every explosive move sits a quiet candle where the real business happened — institutions building the position that caused the explosion. That final opposing candle is the order block: the market's record of where size transacted, and an address price tends to revisit.
Why price returns
Institutions rarely fill everything in one pass; unfilled orders remain at the origin. When price returns, those orders — plus the institution's interest in defending its average — create the reaction. You are not drawing magic rectangles; you are marking documented business locations.
Valid vs decorative
Every chart holds hundreds of opposing candles; almost none matter. A tradeable order block: directly births an impulsive move that breaks structure; ideally forms the origin of a liquidity sweep (the candle that took stops before reversing is doubly meaningful); sits at a sensible higher-timeframe location; and is fresh — each revisit consumes the resting orders.
Refinement and entries
A 4H order block can span 40 pips — an unwieldy entry. Drop to the 15M within that zone and mark the precise origin, often the fair value gap the impulse left. Entries go at the refined zone via limit orders; stops beyond the block's far edge, where the idea is factually wrong. The math follows position sizing as always.
Mitigation, briefly
When price finally trades through a block entirely, the orders are spent — "mitigated". The zone flips from actionable to historical. Keeping dead blocks on the chart is how beginners buy every falling knife; pruning them is chart hygiene.
Education only — not financial advice. Trading carries risk of loss; never trade money you cannot afford to lose.
