Wick Refinement (Entry Precision)
The real institutional interest that powered a move often hides in the wick of the originating candle — refining your entry to the wick gives tighter stops and better R:R
When you identify the candle that caused a supply or demand break, the entire candle range might be too wide for an efficient entry. Wick refinement means narrowing your zone to just the wick portion of the originating candle, where the actual institutional decision was made. A candle's wick represents the price levels where interest entered and reversed direction. By refining to the wick, your stop loss gets tighter (just beyond the wick extreme) and your R:R improves significantly — a trade that was 1:3 with a full candle zone might become 1:6 with wick refinement. Refine when: the wick is significant, reaches into previous structure, and you need tighter risk. Don't refine when: the wick is tiny (1-2 pips), the body is clearly where the action was (large engulfing candle with tiny wicks), or you're already tight enough.
✓How to Recognize
- •Check if the originating candle has a significant wick that extends into previous structure
- •Place entry at the edge of the wick zone, stop just beyond the wick extreme
- •Inside bars at key levels are an exception — use the full inside bar range, not just the wick
- •Wick refinement works best when the wick "reaches into" a previous supply, demand, or liquidity level
⚡How to Avoid
- →Refining to the exact pip of the wick — give yourself room (the wick is a zone, not a line)
- →Ignoring the body when it is clearly where the action was (large-bodied candles with tiny wicks)
- →Not accounting for spread on wick-refined entries — tight zones need spread consideration
- →Over-refining by dropping multiple timeframes — refine on your execution timeframe, not lower