Gold liquidity sweeps fail when the day is a genuine trend day, when the trader enters before a reclaim close, when the level has already been swept and holds no remaining stops, and when the tight stop invites oversizing.
On trend days XAU takes level after level without revisiting them, so counter-trend sweep entries have no structural target; daily context filters these before entry.
Level freshness matters more than level significance — an untested Asian extreme outperforms a weekly high on its fourth visit — and stops need at least a spread buffer beyond the sweep wick.