Liquidity: pools, sweeps and 15-minute levels

Liquidity tools show where resting orders and stops are likely to sit (above swing highs, below swing lows, at equal highs and lows) and mark when price runs through those prices and comes back. AK FlowBook Full has two sets of tools:

• Chart liquidity: EQH/EQL pools, LQ sweep markers and SFP swing failures, built on your chart timeframe.
• The 15-minute liquidity layer: ranked 15-minute swing levels, take marks and SWP sweep marks. It works on 1- to 5-minute charts only.

What happens after a sweep (the LQ-B*/LQ-S* labels and the origin chain) is covered in Liquidity sequences.

EQH and EQL pools

When a new confirmed swing high forms within Equal H/L tolerance (ATR) (0.15 ATR) of the previous swing high, and the two are not too far apart in time, the indicator draws an EQH line at the higher of the two. EQL is the mirror for swing lows.

• Drawn as a dotted line with a small EQH (red) or EQL (green) label, extending right.
• The line disappears as soon as price trades through it. That is the moment the liquidity resting there was taken.
• Shown by default in every marker mode.

Equal highs and lows attract attention because many traders place stops just beyond them.

LQ sweep markers

An LQ marker (small circle) appears when a bar trades below the lowest low of recent bars (Sweep lookback) and closes back above it, with enough volume, a long enough wick and a deep enough close back (green circle below the bar). The mirror above recent highs gives a red circle above the bar.

• Off by default (LQ Liquidity sweeps in the Event Markers group) and hidden in Elite marker mode.
• Spaced by Sweep marker spacing (6 bars).
• Fixed at bar close, and hidden on non-gold or non-5-minute charts while Limit setup markers to XAU/GC 5-minute is on.

The quality conditions come from Sweep minimum volume Z (quality), Sweep minimum wick (ATR, quality) and Sweep reclaim depth. These settings also affect the setup engine, not only the marker.

SFP swing failures

An SFP label appears when price trades beyond the last confirmed swing high or low and closes back inside it, with a wick of at least SFP minimum wick (ATR) and volume above SFP minimum volume Z. Green label below the bar for a failed break lower, red label above for a failed break higher. Off by default (SFP swing failure), hidden in Elite mode, and limited by the same bar-close and XAU/GC rules as LQ.

The 15-minute liquidity layer

This layer reads closed 15-minute candles and draws the swing highs and lows of the 15-minute chart on your 1- to 5-minute chart.

Level classes

A 15-minute candle is a swing high when its high stands above the candles on both sides of it (swing low is the mirror). A swing is confirmed only after the candles that follow it have closed, so levels appear with a short delay. Each swing is ranked:

The label is placed where the swing is confirmed, for example MAJ H, L2 L or m H (H = high, L = low). It can carry a flag:

• ✓50: the swing formed between the middle and the far end of the last leg (a pullback of about half the leg).
• ext: the swing extends beyond the previous swing on the same side.

Untaken levels extend to the last bar. A limited number of recent levels per class is kept.

Take marks

When a later bar trades through a level by at least one tick (Tick unit (price)), the line stops at that bar and a small x HH:mm mark shows the time in UTC, for example x 14:35. That is when the liquidity at that level was taken.

SWP sweep marks

If price closes back inside the level on the take bar or within the next couple of bars, the indicator marks a sweep:

• SWP B <class> (cyan): a low was taken and price closed back above it.
• SWP S <class> (orange): a high was taken and price closed back below it.
• <class> is m, L2 or MAJ. With Include 1m-pivot sweeps in the marks on, sweeps of chart-timeframe swing points are added with class 1m. Despite the name, these are swings on your chart timeframe, so on a 5-minute chart they are 5-minute swings.

A short thick line marks the swept level around the take.

Drawing window

Liquidity-layer drawings appear only in the last Draw marks in the last N bars bars (2,000 by default). Older history is calculated but not drawn, to save drawing space.

How to read liquidity

• A level that is still untaken is a place where stops and resting orders may still sit.
• A take (x) followed by a close back inside (SWP) means the move through the level did not hold on a closing basis. Whether that matters depends on location and on what volume and the next bars do.
• MAJ levels cover a larger stretch of time than m levels, so more traders tend to watch them.
• Combine with the map: a MAJ L sweep at the weekly VAL is a different picture from an m L sweep in the middle of the day's range.

Settings

Education only. Not financial advice. Trading futures and CFDs carries a high risk of loss.