ICT Order Blocks: Find Where Smart Money Enters the Market
By Forexiz Team
Retail traders enter the market based on what they see. Institutional traders move the market based on what they need. Order Blocks reveal those institutional needs — price zones where banks and hedge funds placed massive orders that moved the market. When price returns to those zones, it often reacts again.
What Is an Order Block?
An Order Block is the last opposite-coloured candle before a strong impulsive move. In simple terms: before a big bullish move, find the last bearish candle. That candle's range is the bullish Order Block. Before a big bearish move, find the last bullish candle — that's the bearish Order Block.
The logic: institutions can't fill their entire order at once without moving the market against themselves. They accumulate positions gradually. The Order Block marks where they were buying before pushing price higher (or selling before pushing it lower).
Identifying a Bullish Order Block
- Find a strong bullish impulse move — a sharp rally that breaks structure (makes a higher high).
- Look back to the last bearish (red) candle before the impulse began.
- Mark the high and low of that candle — this is your bullish Order Block zone.
- When price retraces back to this zone, expect buying pressure.
Identifying a Bearish Order Block
- Find a strong bearish impulse move — a sharp drop that breaks structure (makes a lower low).
- Look back to the last bullish (green) candle before the impulse began.
- Mark the high and low of that candle — this is your bearish Order Block zone.
- When price rallies back to this zone, expect selling pressure.
Not every Order Block is valid. The strongest Order Blocks are those that caused a break of market structure (BOS) — meaning the impulse move made a new swing high or low.
How to Trade Order Blocks on Forexiz
Open any instrument on Forexiz and switch to the 1H or 4H chart. Identify the current trend direction. Then look for pullbacks into Order Block zones that align with the trend.
Long trade from a bullish Order Block
- Market is in an uptrend (higher highs and higher lows).
- Price pulls back into the bullish Order Block zone.
- Wait for a bullish confirmation candle (Hammer, Bullish Engulfing) inside the zone.
- Enter long. Stop Loss below the Order Block low.
- Take Profit at the previous swing high or 2× the risk.
Short trade from a bearish Order Block
- Market is in a downtrend (lower highs and lower lows).
- Price rallies into the bearish Order Block zone.
- Wait for a bearish confirmation candle (Shooting Star, Bearish Engulfing) inside the zone.
- Enter short. Stop Loss above the Order Block high.
- Take Profit at the previous swing low or 2× the risk.
Refining Order Blocks
Use higher time frames for context
Mark Order Blocks on the 4H or Daily chart, then drop to the 15m or 1H for your entry. This multi-time frame approach gives you the institutional context from the big picture and the precision from the small picture.
Look for mitigation
An Order Block that has already been revisited and price passed through it is "mitigated" — the institutional orders were filled. A mitigated Order Block is weaker the second time. Fresh, unmitigated Order Blocks are the strongest.
Combine with Fair Value Gaps
When an Order Block overlaps with a Fair Value Gap (an imbalance in price action), the zone becomes even more significant. Institutions left both unfilled orders and unfilled price — a magnet for a return move.
Common Mistakes
- Trading every Order Block without considering the trend direction — always trade with the trend.
- Entering immediately when price touches the zone without waiting for confirmation.
- Using Order Blocks on very low time frames (1m, 5m) — noise creates false signals.
- Ignoring the Order Block after it has been mitigated — don't trade the same zone twice.
Practice identifying Order Blocks on historical charts in the Forexiz demo account. Scroll back through EUR/USD or Gold and mark every Order Block you see. Then observe what happened when price returned to those zones. This exercise builds pattern recognition faster than any theory.