Liquidity Grab

[ᚱ ᛁ ᚢ ᛅ ᚱ ᛏ ᛁ ᛅ ᛋ]

Hi @antwerks

Hope all is well. I have a question, and perhaps others may be wondering the same thing.

Let’s say you are working with a liquidity grab on the 15-minute time frame, and let’s say you have the ability to drill down to the 1-minute time frame. What would you look for? ATR expansion/contraction? CVD? Volume pressure?

 

[atcsam]

E — all the above. I try to capture each of those signals across three studies:

1. Adaptive V13 → ATR Regime + Microstructure Shift​

Covers the volatility and structure side:

• ATR expansion / contraction
• Volatility regime shifts
• Micro CHOCH
• Structure flips
• Trend acceleration / deceleration

This is my “ATR + microstructure” layer.

2. Overwatch → Pressure, Absorption, and Intent​

Handles the orderflow‑by‑proxy side:

• Volume‑pressure imbalance
• Effort vs result
• Absorption
• Trap behavior
• Environment context

This is my “pressure + intent” layer.

3. Climax‑Traps → Liquidity Events + Exhaustion​

Handles the extremes:

• Liquidity grabs
• Exhaustion wicks
• Volume spikes
• Trap signatures
• Reversal zones
• Displacement extremes

This is my “liquidity + exhaustion” layer.

 

[antwerks]

Yes, I’d drill into the 1-minute for exactly those things, but I would not use just one. On a 15-minute liquidity grab, I want the 1-minute to answer one question:

Was that sweep actual acceptance through the level, or a stop-run that immediately lost sponsorship?

That means I’m looking for a short list of very specific confirmations.

What I care about most on the 1-minute
1. Immediate response after the sweep
This is the biggest one.
After the liquidity grab, does price:

• snap back inside the prior range quickly or
• keep accepting beyond the level?

If it re-enters fast and cannot continue, that is your first real clue the sweep was a trap, not a breakout.

2. Volume spike on the sweep, then failure to continue
I want to see:

• large volume on the grab
• but poor follow-through on the next 1 to 3 candles

That often means:

• stops got triggered
• aggressive traders chased
• but real continuation demand/supply was not there

3. 1-minute ATR expansion into the sweep, then contraction

Yes, ATR matters.
A good reversal-style liquidity grab often looks like:

• volatility expands sharply into the stop-run
• then immediately compresses as the move stalls
• then price rotates back

If ATR keeps expanding after the sweep and price keeps accepting, that is less likely to be a clean fade.

4. CVD / delta divergence
This is useful if you have good data.
What I want to see is:

• price makes the sweep
• CVD pushes hard with it
• but price cannot hold the extension

That tells me aggressive market orders hit, but they were absorbed.

So yes, CVD divergence / absorption is one of the best confirms if your feed is reliable.

5. Tape speed / candle efficiency
I care a lot about whether the candles after the sweep are:

• large and directional or
• wicky, overlapping, hesitant

A real trap often gives:

• impulsive sweep
• then messy, inefficient candles
• then reversal back through micro structure

6. Micro reclaim / breakdown level
After the grab, I want a 1-minute structure trigger, like:

• reclaim of the pre-sweep high/low
• reclaim of VWAP or a micro pivot
• failure of the last impulse leg

That is often the actual execution trigger.

My priority order
If I rank them:

1. Price acceptance vs rejection after the sweep
2. Volume spike with poor follow-through
3. Micro structure reclaim / failure
4. CVD / delta absorption
5. ATR expansion then stall/contraction

What I’d want for a bullish reversal after a downside liquidity grab

• flush below the 15m low
• 1m volume spike
• little or no downside continuation
• fast reclaim back above the swept low / prior micro range
• CVD still negative or heavy selling, but price holds anyway
• then 1m higher low

That is a much better long than just buying the first flush.

For a bearish reversal after an upside liquidity grab
Same thing flipped:

• poke above the 15m high
• 1m volume spike
• no clean continuation
• quick rejection back below the level
• aggressive buying absorbed
• lower high on 1m, then breakdown

So, yes, I’d look at ATR expansion/contraction, CVD, and volume pressure, but the most important thing is still whether the 1-minute accepts or rejects the sweep. The best liquidity grabs show volume/volatility expansion into the stop-run, weak follow-through, absorption, and then a fast reclaim of micro structure.

Try this rewritten Liquidity trap detector that looks for what we just talked about. TOS has some limitations so this is as close to "perfect" I can get.

# =========================================
# Liquidity Trap Detector v2 - Price Overlay
# Filtered stop-hunt / sweep markers on price chart
# Adds volume, ATR/range expansion, reclaim quality, and confirmation
# =========================================

declare upper;

input sweepLookback = 10;
input volumeLength = 20;
input volumeSpikeMult = 1.5;
input atrLength = 14;
input rangeExpansionMult = 1.2;
input minReclaimPercent = 0.20;
input showLabels = yes;
input showConfirmation = yes;
input confirmationLookback = 3;

def na = Double.NaN;
def c = close;
def o = open;
def h = high;
def l = low;
def v = volume;

# -------------------------
# Reference liquidity
# -------------------------
def sweepRefHigh = Highest(high[1], sweepLookback);
def sweepRefLow = Lowest(low[1], sweepLookback);

# -------------------------
# Volatility / range filters
# -------------------------
def tr = TrueRange(h, c, l);
def atr = Average(tr, atrLength);
def barRange = h - l;
def rangeExpanded = barRange > atr * rangeExpansionMult;

# -------------------------
# Volume filter
# -------------------------
def avgVol = Average(v, volumeLength);
def volSpike = v > avgVol * volumeSpikeMult;

# -------------------------
# Reclaim depth / rejection quality
# -------------------------
def reclaimAmountHigh = sweepRefHigh - c;
def reclaimAmountLow = c - sweepRefLow;

def reclaimHighOK =
    h > sweepRefHigh and
    reclaimAmountHigh >= barRange * minReclaimPercent;

def reclaimLowOK =
    l < sweepRefLow and
    reclaimAmountLow >= barRange * minReclaimPercent;

# -------------------------
# Core sweep logic
# -------------------------
def rawSweepHigh =
    h > sweepRefHigh and
    c < sweepRefHigh and
    c < o;

def rawSweepLow =
    l < sweepRefLow and
    c > sweepRefLow and
    c > o;

def sweepHigh =
    rawSweepHigh and
    volSpike and
    rangeExpanded and
    reclaimHighOK;

def sweepLow =
    rawSweepLow and
    volSpike and
    rangeExpanded and
    reclaimLowOK;

# -------------------------
# Confirmation logic
# -------------------------
def recentMicroLow = Lowest(low[1], confirmationLookback);
def recentMicroHigh = Highest(high[1], confirmationLookback);

def highTrapArmed =
    if sweepHigh then 1
    else if highTrapArmed[1] == 1 and !sweepLow then 1
    else 0;

def lowTrapArmed =
    if sweepLow then 1
    else if lowTrapArmed[1] == 1 and !sweepHigh then 1
    else 0;

def confirmHighTrapRaw =
    highTrapArmed[1] == 1 and
    c < recentMicroLow;

def confirmLowTrapRaw =
    lowTrapArmed[1] == 1 and
    c > recentMicroHigh;

def confirmHighTrap =
    confirmHighTrapRaw and !confirmHighTrapRaw[1];

def confirmLowTrap =
    confirmLowTrapRaw and !confirmLowTrapRaw[1];

# -------------------------
# Plot prior sweep reference levels (optional visual context)
# -------------------------
plot RefHigh = sweepRefHigh;
plot RefLow = sweepRefLow;

RefHigh.SetDefaultColor(Color.DARK_RED);
RefLow.SetDefaultColor(Color.DARK_GREEN);
RefHigh.SetStyle(Curve.SHORT_DASH);
RefLow.SetStyle(Curve.SHORT_DASH);

# -------------------------
# Sweep arrows on price chart
# -------------------------
plot StopHuntAbove =
    if sweepHigh then h + atr * 0.15 else na;
plot StopHuntBelow =
    if sweepLow then l - atr * 0.15 else na;

StopHuntAbove.SetPaintingStrategy(PaintingStrategy.ARROW_DOWN);
StopHuntBelow.SetPaintingStrategy(PaintingStrategy.ARROW_UP);

StopHuntAbove.SetDefaultColor(Color.RED);
StopHuntBelow.SetDefaultColor(Color.GREEN);

StopHuntAbove.SetLineWeight(3);
StopHuntBelow.SetLineWeight(3);

# -------------------------
# Confirmation arrows on price chart
# -------------------------
plot ConfirmShort =
    if showConfirmation and confirmHighTrap then h + atr * 0.30 else na;
plot ConfirmLong =
    if showConfirmation and confirmLowTrap then l - atr * 0.30 else na;

ConfirmShort.SetPaintingStrategy(PaintingStrategy.ARROW_DOWN);
ConfirmLong.SetPaintingStrategy(PaintingStrategy.ARROW_UP);

ConfirmShort.SetDefaultColor(Color.ORANGE);
ConfirmLong.SetDefaultColor(Color.CYAN);

ConfirmShort.SetLineWeight(3);
ConfirmLong.SetLineWeight(3);

# -------------------------
# Optional labels
# -------------------------
AddLabel(showLabels,
    if sweepHigh then "FILTERED STOP HUNT ABOVE"
    else if sweepLow then "FILTERED STOP HUNT BELOW"
    else if confirmHighTrap then "CONFIRMATION: SHORT BIAS"
    else if confirmLowTrap then "CONFIRMATION: LONG BIAS"
    else "NO FILTERED LIQUIDITY SWEEP",
    if sweepHigh then Color.RED
    else if sweepLow then Color.GREEN
    else if confirmHighTrap then Color.ORANGE
    else if confirmLowTrap then Color.CYAN
    else Color.GRAY
);

AddLabel(showLabels,
    "Lookback: " + sweepLookback +
    " | Vol x" + volumeSpikeMult +
    " | Range x" + rangeExpansionMult,
    Color.DARK_GRAY
);

 

[antwerks]

@atcsam i HAD TO REWRITE IT TO MAKE IT AN UPPER SO TAKE ANOTHER LOOK