Been trading order blocks for a while now and honestly it's one of the most reliable setups once you understand what you're actually looking at. Let me break down what's been working for me.

So order blocks are basically the last candle before price makes a big impulsive move that breaks structure. If you see a higher high get taken out or a lower low get taken out, that's your signal price is about to move. But here's the thing - if price just moves without actually breaking structure, that candle doesn't count as a valid OB. Structure break is mandatory.

The key insight I've learned is that newer untested zones are always better than ones price has already tested. Makes sense right? If price already came through and rejected it, why would it react the same way again? An untested supply or demand zone will give you the reaction you're actually looking for.

One rule that's saved me countless times: watch the 50% equilibrium point of your order block. Price tends to gravitate there before continuing in the overall direction. When price fills 50% of the OB, you can basically mark that as complete and move on to the next one. No point staring at dead zones.

Timeframe matters a lot here. If you're seeing bullish market structure, you should be hunting for long trades at demand zones and bullish order blocks instead of shorting bearish setups. Same logic applies flipped for bearish structure. Higher timeframe OBs hit different too - a 4-hour bullish order block setup will have way more significance than a 15-minute one.

Let me talk about what I actually do with bullish order blocks. A bullish order block is that last down candle before price rips upside and breaks structure. You get this momentum surge that leaves price imbalance behind. Institutions have placed orders at these levels and price wants to come back and rebalance, fill liquidity, and let more orders get placed before continuing higher.

Entry is clean: go long at the top of the bullish order block. Stop loss sits at the low or just below depending on wicks. I usually add a few pips buffer if I want to account for any spike-ins. That's it. Simple structure.

Bearish order blocks work the exact same way but inverted. Last up candle before price tanks and breaks structure downside. Heavy momentum down, price imbalance left behind, institutions have orders waiting. Price comes back to rebalance and fill that liquidity before continuing lower. Entry at the top of the bearish order block, stop loss below.

One refinement technique that's helped me filter out noise: if you had what looked like your OB but the next candle didn't fully engulf it, zoom in and refine down to that actual momentum candle instead. Gets you tighter and more accurate.

The whole system clicks once you stop fighting market structure and just trade with it. Find your untested zones, identify your bullish order block setups on your timeframe, manage risk properly, and let the institutional flow do the work. That's been the consistent edge for me.