A gold liquidity sweep is a move that runs the stop orders resting beyond an obvious XAUUSD level — the Asian high or low, the prior day extreme, a $50 round number — then closes back inside within one or two candles. The entry is that reclaim close, the stop sits beyond the sweep wick, and the target is the opposite side of the swept range.
A gold liquidity sweep is a move that runs the stop orders resting beyond an obvious XAUUSD level — the Asian session high or low, the prior day high or low, a $50 round number, or equal highs and lows — and then reverses back inside the range.
Valid sweeps typically pierce by $2 to $8, stall immediately and close back on the original side of the level within one or two candles, which is the entry trigger. The stop sits beyond the sweep wick plus a spread buffer, commonly producing a $4 to $8 total stop distance per ounce, and the targets are the mid-point and the opposite boundary of the swept range.
The setup is session-dependent: the London open between 07:00 and 09:00 UTC and the New York overlap between 13:00 and 16:00 UTC produce the majority of tradable sweeps, while the 21:00 to 23:00 UTC rollover window manufactures wicks that only resemble sweeps.
The sweep and the session breakout watch the same levels with opposite conclusions, so the deciding test is whether a nameable macro driver and a live session are behind the move. On a 100-ounce XAUUSD contract a .00 move is 00 per lot, so an $8 stop is $800 of risk per full lot.