# Liquidity Sweeps and Stop Hunts: What to Log

> How to identify liquidity sweeps and stop hunts in your charts, what to record in your trading journal, and how to measure their impact on your win rate.

**URL:** https://traderjournal.app/smc-ict/liquidity-sweeps-stop-hunts-journaling

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# Liquidity Sweeps and Stop Hunts: What to Log

A liquidity sweep (also called a stop hunt) happens when price briefly moves through a level where stop losses cluster — taking retail traders out before reversing in the opposite direction. For SMC traders, these sweeps are often the entry trigger.

## Why Sweeps Matter

Stop losses tend to cluster in predictable places:
- Above previous swing highs (buy-side liquidity)
- Below previous swing lows (sell-side liquidity)
- Above/below equal highs or lows
- At round numbers

When price sweeps these levels, institutions are filling large orders by triggering retail stops. The reversal after a sweep is often the start of the real move.

## Types of Sweeps to Log

| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Equal highs sweep | Price runs through two or more equal highs before reversing |
| Previous day high/low sweep | Price spikes through PDH or PDL |
| Stop hunt wick | A long wick above/below a level with close back inside |
| Asia range sweep | Liquidity built during the Asian session swept at London open |

## What to Record in Your Journal

For each sweep-based entry, log in Notes:

- **Which level was swept** (e.g., "PDL," "equal lows at 1.0850," "Asia range low")
- **Was the sweep a wick or full candle close?** — Wick sweeps with immediate rejection are stronger
- **Timeframe of the sweep** (M15, H1, H4)
- **How much beyond the level** — 2 pips vs 20 pips changes the quality
- **What formed after the sweep** — OB, FVG, ChoCH?

Tag sweep-based trades `sweep-long` or `sweep-short` in Trader Journal.

## Measuring Sweep Quality

After 50+ sweep trades, analyze:

- Win rate for wick sweeps vs close-beyond sweeps
- Win rate when sweep is followed by ChoCH vs no structure shift
- Win rate by session (liquidity sweeps at London open are often different from NY open)
- Average R:R for sweep entries vs non-sweep entries

## Common Mistakes

**Entering immediately on the wick:** Wait for a confirmation — at minimum a candle close back through the swept level. Better: wait for a lower-timeframe BOS or OB after the sweep.

**Calling every wick a sweep:** A sweep requires a clear liquidity pool above/below a notable level. Random wicks in the middle of a range are not sweeps.

## Summary

Liquidity sweeps are one of the most powerful SMC entry triggers, but they require precise logging to know whether they actually add edge to your strategy. The journal tells you — intuition does not.