L5.2 — Case Study: Asian Range Sweep and London Reversal

This case study examines a common gold scenario: the Asian session builds a clean range, London open produces a sharp spike above the Asian high (appearing to be a bullish breakout), then price reverses quickly back through the Asian range and drives down for the remainder of the London session. The initial breakout was a liquidity sweep.

The diagnostic in real time: the break of the Asian high produced a large wick candle that closed back inside the Asian range within two candles. No candle body close above the Asian high was sustained. The structural cue for the short entry was the failure to hold and the first internal bearish BOS on the M15 within the Asian range — not the initial spike.

The lesson: the initial breakout direction is a trap when the break is confirmed only by a wick. The entry was not on the initial move but on the confirmation of the reversal — a lower-risk entry that does not require predicting the sweep in advance. The process of waiting for wick-versus-close confirmation is what separates the trader who caught the reversal from the one who chased the breakout.