**Liquidity grabs** are one of the most misunderstood—yet most predictable—price behaviors. If you’ve ever wondered why price hits your stop loss perfectly and then instantly reverses, you have experienced a liquidity grab.
This guide explains how **smart money hunts liquidity**, why these sweeps happen, and how you can use the **Sweep & Go Strategy** to enter high-probability trades with sniper accuracy, avoiding the common traps.
1. What Is a Liquidity Grab (Stop Hunt) and Why It Happens
A liquidity grab (or **stop hunt**) occurs when price purposely moves beyond a key high or low to trigger a cluster of **stop losses** before reversing strongly in the opposite direction.
**Mekanisme Inti:** Institusi menempatkan posisi bernilai jutaan. Untuk mengisi pesanan besar ini, mereka membutuhkan *counterparties* (likuiditas). **Stop losses retail** menyediakan likuiditas tersebut. Harga mengambilnya → mengisi pesanan institusional → berbalik arah.
SVG 1: Anatomi Kolam Likuiditas (Sasaran Smart Money)
2. The Sweep & Go Strategy (Trading the Reversal)
The safest and most effective method is waiting for the sweep to complete, and **then** entering on confirmation of the reversal. This strategy follows a 3-step institutional logic:
- **Purge:** Price sweeps the liquidity (e.g., above an old high).
- **Shift:** Price instantly rejects the area and breaks internal market structure (confirmation).
- **Entry:** Enter on the retest of the resulting imbalance (FVG/OB).
SVG 2: Sweep & Go Mechanism (The 3-Step Execution)
3. Risk Management: Structural Stop Loss Placement
Trading sweeps requires strict **risk management** to ensure you are not the counterparty liquidity.
- **Avoid Tight Stops:** Using too tight stop losses is the #1 mistake. Give the trade room to breathe.
- **Confirmation is Key:** Never enter before the price has fully rejected the sweep zone (wait for candle close confirmation).
- **Structural SL:** Your Stop Loss must be placed structurally **beyond the sweep wick**. This is the point of invalidation.
SVG 3: Structural Stop Loss Placement (Avoiding Re-Sweep)
4. Risk Quantification and Final Discipline
Always respect the math. Your survival depends on consistency, not luck.
- **Fixed Risk:** Risk **1% to 2%** of capital per trade. Use the Risk & Reward Calculator to validate your minimum 1:2 RR.
- **Position Sizing:** Calculate Lot Size based on the structural SL distance before entry.
- **Timeframes:** Use HTF (H4, D1) to identify major **liquidity pools**, and LTF (M5, M15) for **precision entries** after the sweep.
Final Thoughts
Liquidity grabs are not random spikes — they are deliberate actions by institutions to collect orders and fuel major price moves. By mastering the **Sweep & Go Strategy**, you step ahead of 90% of retail traders who consistently get trapped at highs and lows. Monitor the structural flow of the market via the Realtime Market Dashboard.
