Rejection Block Trading: The ICT Wick-Based Entry Explained

A rejection block is an ICT concept that identifies institutional activity hidden inside candle wicks. While order blocks focus on candle bodies, rejection blocks focus on the wicks — specifically, the wicks of candles where price was aggressively rejected from a level.

Most traders ignore wicks. They see a long upper wick and think "sellers rejected price." ICT traders see the same wick and think "institutions filled orders in that wick — and the zone it created is now a level."

What Is a Rejection Block?

A rejection block is formed by the wick portion of a candle where price was aggressively pushed into a level and then sharply rejected. The zone created by this wick becomes a future level of interest — price returning to this zone often produces a reaction.

Formation Rules

A valid rejection block requires:

1. A candle with a significant wick — the wick should be at least equal to the candle body in length. The larger the wick relative to the body, the stronger the rejection.

2. The wick represents a liquidity event — the push into the wick zone grabbed liquidity (triggered stops) before reversing. This is not just any wick — it is a wick that swept a significant level.

3. The rejection was institutional — the reversal from the wick should show displacement (strong candle bodies in the reversal direction). A weak, drifting reversal does not indicate institutional rejection.

Bullish Rejection Block

• A candle with a long lower wick at or below a support level
• Price was pushed down aggressively (grabbing sell-side liquidity)
• Price snapped back up and closed well above the wick low
• The zone between the wick low and the candle body low becomes the rejection block
• When price returns to this zone in the future, it acts as support

Bearish Rejection Block

• A candle with a long upper wick at or above a resistance level
• Price was pushed up aggressively (grabbing buy-side liquidity)
• Price snapped back down and closed well below the wick high
• The zone between the wick high and the candle body high becomes the rejection block
• When price returns to this zone, it acts as resistance

How Is a Rejection Block Different From an Order Block?

These two concepts are related but distinct:

Feature	Order Block	Rejection Block
Based on	Candle body	Candle wick
Represents	Last opposing candle before displacement	Aggressive rejection from a level
Zone	Body of the OB candle	Wick of the rejection candle
Signal	Institutional positioning before a move	Institutional rejection of a level
Entry	On retest of the OB body	On retest of the wick zone

Order blocks tell you where institutions positioned before a move. Rejection blocks tell you where institutions violently rejected price. Both are valid entry levels — they just capture different aspects of institutional behavior.

In practice, rejection blocks often form at the same levels as order blocks. A candle that creates an order block (last opposing candle before displacement) might also have a significant wick that forms a rejection block. When both overlap, the level is particularly strong.

How Do You Trade Rejection Blocks?

Step 1: Identify the Rejection

Look for candles with wicks that are at least as long as the body, formed at significant levels:

• Session highs/lows
• Previous day's high/low (PDH/PDL)
• Swing highs/lows
• Fair value gap boundaries
• Liquidity pools

The rejection should show immediate displacement in the opposite direction — not a slow drift, but a sharp, committed reversal.

Step 2: Mark the Zone

For a bullish rejection block:

• Zone top: the low of the candle body (where the body ends and the wick begins)
• Zone bottom: the wick low (the extreme of the rejection)

For a bearish rejection block:

• Zone bottom: the high of the candle body
• Zone top: the wick high

The zone is typically narrow — it is just the wick portion. This gives you tight stop-loss placement.

Step 3: Wait for the Retest

Price must return to the rejection block zone. The retest might happen within a few candles or after a significant move. The key is that when price reaches the zone, you look for a reaction.

Step 4: Enter with Confirmation

At the rejection block zone, look for:

• A reversal candle (pin bar, engulfing, or doji) forming at the zone
• A lower timeframe change of character confirming the reversal
• A new fair value gap forming in the reversal direction

Entry: at the close of the confirmation candle or on a limit at the consequent encroachment (50% mark) of the rejection block zone.

Stop loss: beyond the rejection block zone (beyond the original wick extreme).

Target: the origin of the rejection move, or the next structural target in the reversal direction.

When Do Rejection Blocks Work Best?

At session extremes. When the daily high or low is formed by a candle with a massive wick, the rejection block zone is a high-probability level for the following session.

After liquidity sweeps. A sweep of a previous high/low that creates a rejection candle leaves a rejection block at the sweep level. This combines two institutional signals: the sweep (liquidity grab) and the rejection (directional commitment).

At higher timeframe levels. A rejection block on the daily chart is more significant than one on the 5-minute chart. The higher the timeframe, the more institutional capital is represented by the rejection.

During the manipulation phase of AMD. The AMD model predicts a fake-out before the real move. The fake-out candle often has a large wick — that wick forms a rejection block that confirms the manipulation has occurred.

When Do Rejection Blocks Fail?

Rejection blocks fail when:

The rejection lacked displacement. A candle with a long wick but no strong follow-through is not a genuine institutional rejection — it might just be low-liquidity noise. The reversal from the wick should be aggressive and sustained.

Higher timeframe trend opposes. A bullish rejection block on the 15-minute chart during a clear daily downtrend is fighting the dominant force. The rejection block might hold briefly but eventually break.

The rejection block zone is too wide. Wicks that span a huge range create zones that are too wide for practical trading — your stop loss becomes too large for reasonable R:R. Ideal rejection blocks have tight, well-defined zones.

Multiple retests. Unlike order blocks (which can be retested once), rejection blocks tend to weaken with each retest. The second retest is less reliable than the first. If the zone has been visited three or more times, consider it spent.

What Is the Summary for Rejection Block Trading?

Rejection blocks are the wick-based counterpart to order blocks. They capture where institutions aggressively rejected a price level — pushing into it to grab liquidity and then snapping back. The wick zone becomes a future level that price reacts to on retest.

Trade them by marking the wick zone, waiting for price to return, confirming with a reversal pattern or lower timeframe structure shift, and entering with a stop beyond the wick extreme. They work best at session extremes, after liquidity sweeps, and at higher timeframe levels. They weaken with each subsequent retest.