Rejection Block
Also: rejection order block, bullish rejection block, bearish rejection block
A price high or low formed with long wick(s) on one or more candles where price reaches above (bearish) or below (bullish) the bodies of the candle(s) to run {direction} liquidity before rejecting. The block is framed by the extreme wick high/low and the highest/lowest open or close in the swing. Treated as a {direction} order block. Bearish: wicks run buy side liquidity above bodies before price declines. Bullish: wicks run sell side liquidity below bodies before price rallies.
Identification5
- A swing high (bearish) or swing low (bullish) forms with one or more candles having long wicks that extend beyond the bodies in the {direction} of the sweep.
- For bearish: identify the highest wick high and the highest open or close among candles in the swing — these two levels frame the rejection block range.
- For bullish: identify the lowest wick low and the lowest open or close among candles in the swing — these two levels frame the rejection block range.
- The candle forming the extreme wick can be either a bullish or bearish closed candle — direction of close does not matter for identification.
- Context: bearish rejection blocks are ideally found in major to intermediate term downtrends; bullish in major to intermediate term uptrends.
Entry5
- Aggressive entry (bearish): sell at the low of the rejection block range (the highest open or close level) when price retraces up into it.
- Aggressive entry (bullish): buy at the high of the rejection block range (the lowest open or close level) when price retraces down into it.
- Conservative entry (bearish): wait for price to trade above the highest open or close; if it does not print a new higher wick high, sell on a stop below that level (sell on weakness).
- Conservative entry (bullish): wait for price to trade below the lowest open or close; if it does not print a new lower wick low, buy on a stop above that level.
- 2025 Turtle Soup Deferred Entry context (bearish): after a false breakout / turtle soup stop-hunt above prior highs, the highest up-close candle immediately before the displacement lower IS the bearish rejection block. The deferred entry is placed at or near the closing price of that specific candle when price retraces up to it. This is named the 'Deferred Entry with Rejection Block' — it is a sub-application of the rejection block concept within a turtle soup / false breakout pattern.
Stop2
- Bearish: significant stop loss above the highest open or close reference level (the upper boundary of the rejection block range).
- Bullish: significant stop loss below the lowest open or close reference level (the lower boundary of the rejection block range).
Target3
- Bearish: sell side liquidity below the marketplace.
- Bullish: buy side liquidity above the marketplace.
- Can also be used as a take-profit level for existing positions (e.g., covering a short at a bullish rejection block).
Invalidation2
- For bearish: price trades significantly above the highest open or close (body reference) and continues to a new higher wick high — structure is broken.
- For bullish: price trades significantly below the lowest open or close (body reference) and continues to a new lower wick low — structure is broken.
Inferred Conditions (Unvalidated)
- The wicks highlight the pattern forming; bodies provide the actionable reference levels. Do not anchor entries or stops to the wick extremes alone.
- Price does not need to make a higher high (bearish) or lower low (bullish) in body terms for the concept to be valid — wick sweeps alone qualify.
ICT Quotes
"The wicks highlight the idea of this pattern forming this pattern here shooting above this previous body or previous close is the highest close or highest open in this swing high this candle here drives above it clearing out the buy side liquidity and then rejection basically, what we're seeing is distribution."
"Don't always demand that price gets below the wicks. It's really the bodies of the candle. That closest thing to institutional understanding you're going to get when you're using retail price delivery mechanisms like the platforms we have to trade through for a retail perspective."
"That is the rejection block. It's a bearish rejection block, and right there, just like that."
"this is a deferred entry to a turtle soup. False breakout. Higher, high reversal pattern."
Version History4 versions
ICT YT - 2025-04-22 - 2025 Lecture Series - Turtle Soup Deferred Entry With -Rejection Block.srt
"That is the rejection block. It's a bearish rejection block, and right there, just like that. this is a deferred entry to a turtle soup. False breakout. Higher, high reversal pattern."
2025 application: the rejection block is formally named as the mechanism for the 'Turtle Soup Deferred Entry.' In a false breakout (higher-high reversal pattern), the highest up-close candle before the displacement lower is identified as the bearish rejection block, and entry is taken at or near its closing price on the retrace. This bridges the 2016 structural definition with a specific intraday execution protocol.
30-ICT Mentorship Core Content - Month 4 - ICT Rejection Block.srt
"look at this pattern here. Okay, we're talking about a bearish rejection block. And before we get into it, the ideal setups are found in major to intermediate term down trends. And the bearish rejecti…"
30-ICT Mentorship Core Content - Month 4 - ICT Rejection Block.srt
"once we have the rejection block defined by the highest wicks high and the highest open or close in the swing high that frames the rejection block. And in your mind, you should be viewing it like we h…"
30-ICT Mentorship Core Content - Month 4 - ICT Rejection Block.srt
"a rejection block for the bullish side of the marketplace is obviously in ideal scenarios, it's in major to intermediate term uptrend. And the bullish rejection block is when a price low has formed wi…"
Notes
The rejection block concept originated in the 2016 core mentorship content as a structural price pattern (wick sweeps beyond bodies at swing highs/lows). In 2025, ICT formalized a specific application: the "Turtle Soup Deferred Entry with Rejection Block" — using the highest up-close candle before a displacement lower as the entry level in a false breakout context. The April 22, 2025 lecture is dedicated entirely to this application. The rejection block in the 2025 context is not about the wick structure alone — it is about identifying the LAST up-close candle before the impulsive move lower in a turtle soup pattern. The close of that candle is the actionable entry level on a retrace. See also: turtle-soup.yaml, order-block.yaml, fair-value-gap.yaml