Been trading order blocks for a while now and honestly this concept changed how I approach the market. Let me break down what actually works when you're reading price action.

So order blocks are basically the last candle before a big impulsive move that breaks market structure. Think of it as the final setup before price decides to move. If you see a higher high get taken out or a lower low gets broken, that's your signal that something's happening. But here's the thing - if price just moves without actually breaking structure, that candle doesn't count as a valid order block.

The key insight I've noticed is that fresher zones work better. An untested supply or demand area, or an untested bullish order block, tends to give cleaner reactions than zones price has already been into multiple times. There's this 50% equilibrium point on order blocks that acts as a natural level where price likes to bounce before continuing. Once price fills that 50%, I mark that order block as complete and move on.

Timeframe matters a lot here. If you're seeing bullish market structure, you want to be hunting for longs at demand zones and bullish order block setups, not shorting into supply. Same logic flips for bearish structure. Higher timeframes give you more reliable zones too. A 4-hour bullish order block can produce way bigger moves than a 15-minute one.

For actual entries, a bullish order block forms when you get that last down candle before momentum explodes upside and breaks structure. Price leaves behind imbalance that needs to get rebalanced. Large orders get placed at these levels and price gravitates back to fill the liquidity gap. Your entry sits at the top of that order block, stop loss right at or just below it. You can tighten it a few pips below if you want to account for wicks or spike-ins.

Bearish order blocks work the same way but opposite - last up candle before downside momentum breaks structure. Price will come back to rebalance and fill orders. Entry at the top, stop loss below.

One refinement technique I use is zooming in on where exactly the momentum entered. Sometimes you get a candle that doesn't fully engulf the order block, so I refine down to that specific candle instead of using the whole move. Keeps things cleaner.

This approach has been solid for me across different market conditions. The concept is simple but execution matters. If you trade this way, you'll start seeing these setups everywhere on your charts.