After Asian session highs or lows are swept, the entry signals for the London and New York sessions are not invalid—in fact, this is the critical moment to wait for an entry signal. Asian session highs and lows are essentially liquidity pools, not directional references. Once price sweeps these stop-loss levels, the true directional signal will appear during the London and New York sessions.
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Step 1: Understand the role of "Asian session sweep" in the SMC framework
First, understand the real role of the Asian session in the daily structure. It is not a basis for your directional bias, but rather a "bait" set by institutions.
What to do: Identify the current characteristics of the Asian session—whether it formed a narrow consolidation range or already established clear session highs and lows.
How to do it:
The Asian session (typically 08:00–16:00 Beijing time, or equivalent) is characterized by low volatility and narrow range. Its main job is to build liquidity—forming clear highs and lows that institutions will later target to sweep.
The London session (approximately 15:00–20:00 Beijing time) will actively sweep the Asian session high or low. This action is called "manipulation" or "liquidity sweep."
Completion criteria: You have clearly identified the Asian session highs and lows, and whether price has already touched and pierced one side.
Step 2: Wait for "close confirmation"—distinguish a sweep from a genuine breakout
The sweep itself is not important; how the candle closes after the sweep is the core of the signal.
What to do: Check the close of the candle that swept the Asian high or low.
How to do it:
Conditions for a valid sweep: After price pierces the Asian high or low, the candle body closes back inside the Asian range. This indicates the sweep was only to take out stop orders, and price is likely to move in the opposite direction.
Conditions for an invalid sweep (true breakout): After piercing, the candle body also closes outside the Asian range. This means a genuine breakout has occurred, the Asian range has been effectively broken, and you should consider following the breakout direction rather than waiting for a reversal.
Completion criteria: Confirm that the sweep is a "wick piercing, body closing back inside" false breakout pattern.
Step 3: Validate entry direction using higher timeframe structure
After the Asian session is swept, whether the London/New York session signal is valid depends on whether it aligns with the higher timeframe (HTF) bias.
What to do: Identify the current higher timeframe direction, then decide which side to trade after the sweep.
How to do it:
If price sweeps the Asian low (sell-side liquidity is taken) and the daily or 4-hour chart is still in an uptrend structure, look for long opportunities—after sweeping the stops below, price often reverses upward.
If price sweeps the Asian high (buy-side liquidity is taken) and the daily or 4-hour chart is in a downtrend structure, look for short opportunities.
If the sweep direction is aligned with the higher timeframe direction (e.g., in an uptrend, price sweeps the high and continues up), this could be a trend continuation signal, not a reversal.
Completion criteria: You have clarified the relationship between the sweep direction and the HTF bias, and determined your entry direction.
Common reasons for failure
Many traders immediately chase the breakout after the Asian high is swept, ignoring the "close confirmation" step. A significant number of London/New York sweeps are false breakouts designed to clean out Asian session stops before reversing. Trades entered at the high or low often get trapped in the opposite direction.
Verification method after completing the operation
On your chart, confirm the full signal sequence: Asian session forms a range → price sweeps the Asian high/low → the candle body closes back inside the range → a clear CHoCH (Change of Character) or FVG (Fair Value Gap) appears in the opposite direction as entry confirmation. Once this sequence is complete, the reliability of the entry signal increases significantly.
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Next steps
After confirming the entry signal, place your stop loss beyond the extreme of the sweep candle (below the swept low or above the swept high). This is where institutions took out the stops; if price returns to this level, your defense has failed. The target can be the opposite boundary of the Asian range or a logical structural level for the day. If price sweeps and then continues to break through the Asian range with the body closing outside, abandon the reversal idea and trade in the direction of the breakout.
