Been trading with order blocks for a while now and honestly it's one of those concepts that actually clicks once you understand the mechanics behind it.

So here's the thing about order blocks - they're basically the final candle before a big impulsive move that breaks market structure. What that means is either the most recent higher high or lower low gets taken out. If price just moves without actually breaking structure, then it's not a valid order block. Price has to respect that structure break for it to count.

When you're looking at supply and demand zones, the untested ones are usually your best bet. An untested bullish order block or bearish order block will give you more reliable reactions than one price has already mitigated through before. The 50% equilibrium point of an order block is typically a strong level where price wants to pull back to before continuing its direction. Once price fills that 50%, you can mark that order block as completed and move on.

Timeframe matters too. A bullish order block on the 4h chart will have way more significance than one on the 15m. I've seen 4h order blocks create thousands in movement while lower timeframes give you much smaller reactions. The higher the timeframe, the more reliable these zones tend to be.

For bullish order blocks specifically - that's your last down candle before the impulsive upside move. Price leaves behind imbalance when it moves, and institutions have big orders sitting at these levels. Price eventually gravitates back to rebalance and fill liquidity. Entry point is at the top of the order block, stop loss sits at or just below the low depending on wick action.

Bearish order blocks work the same logic but inverted - last up candle before the downside impulse. Same concept applies: price needs to return and make things efficient again before continuing lower.

One refinement tip: if a candle follows your order block without fully engulfing it, you can tighten it down to that specific candle rather than the whole previous move. Gives you a cleaner entry.

The key is finding those untested zones and respecting market structure. Once you start seeing where institutions are actually placing orders, the whole thing becomes clearer. If you're in a bullish structure, focus on demand zones and bullish order blocks for longs. Bearish structure? Look for the shorts at resistance. It's really about aligning with what the market is actually showing you.