Intraday Sessions & Sweeps
An open-source, clutter-free intraday market microstructure framework designed for TradingView. It maps global session liquidity anchors across the 24-hour UTC day without lagging indicators or misleading automated trade signals.
---
## The Philosophy: Why No "Buy / Sell" Arrows?
Most retail session indicators clutter the chart with premature "LONG" and "SHORT" labels. Extensive empirical backtesting across tens of thousands of crypto trading days reveals a hard reality: **mechanical bar-crossing signals hold near-zero edge after fees and slippage.**
A single bar closing back inside a session boundary does not constitute genuine structural absorption; in late sessions or weak volume environments, it frequently turns into a "dead-cat bounce" before another aggressive continuation leg.
**This script strips out all algorithmic execution suggestions.** Instead of pretending to be a black-box trading bot, it serves as a pure, objective structural coordinate map. It highlights where institutional resting orders reside, tracks when liquidity is swept, and lets you evaluate price action with zero visual noise.
---
## The Three-Phase Intraday Cycle (UTC)
Crypto markets trade 24/7, but institutional volume follows three distinct geographic regimes:
```
[ Asia Session: 00:00–08:00 UTC ] --> [ London Session: 08:00–16:00 UTC ] --> [ New York Session: 16:00–24:00 UTC ]
Anchor Formation Liquidity Sweep Delivery & Retest
```
1. **Asia Session (00:00–08:00 UTC) — Anchor Formation**:
* Characterized by lower relative volume, allowing price to establish clean daily balance boundaries.
* Resting liquidity (stop-loss clusters and breakout buy/sell stops) naturally pools immediately above the Asia High and below the Asia Low.
2. **London Session (08:00–16:00 UTC) — Liquidity Sweep**:
* European capital enters the market. London frequently probes beyond the Asia boundaries to absorb resting liquidity pools.
* In range-bound environments, this manifests as a liquidity grab rather than a sustained macro expansion.
3. **New York Session (16:00–24:00 UTC) — Delivery & Resolution**:
* Wall Street open brings maximum daily liquidity. The market retests the swept levels to determine whether the sweep was an authentic breakout or an institutional liquidity sweep.
---
## Key Features & Visual Architecture
* **Three-Color Segmented Asia Lines (00:00–24:00 UTC)**:
At 08:00 UTC (Asia close), the script locks the definitive Asia High and Asia Low, projecting horizontal dashed lines spanning the entire 24-hour UTC day, color-coded by the active session:
* **Green Dashed Segment**: Asia Session (00:00–08:00 UTC)
* **Yellow Dashed Segment**: London Session (08:00–16:00 UTC)
* **Red Dashed Segment**: New York Session (16:00–24:00 UTC)
* **Deduplicated First-Sweep Markers**:
* `SWEEP H`: Triggers exclusively on the **first** London breach of the Asia High.
* `SWEEP L`: Triggers exclusively on the **first** London breach of the Asia Low.
* Prevents label stacking and keeps your chart pristine during volatile multi-bar probes.
* **Minimalist Status Dashboard (Top-Right)**:
* Tracks the active UTC session in real time.
* Displays live sweep conditions (`Inside Range`, `Asia High Swept`, `Asia Low Swept`, or `Both Swept`).
* Shows the absolute point range established during the Asia session.
---
## Recommended Execution Workflow (SOP)
* **Timeframes**: 15-minute (`15m`) or 30-minute (`30m`).
* **Timezone Setting**: Ensure your chart's display timezone is set to **UTC**.
1. **00:00–08:00 UTC (Asia)**:
* **Hands off**. Allow the initial auction to establish the daily boundary.
2. **08:00–16:00 UTC (London)**:
* Watch how price interacts with the yellow dashed levels.
* Note if `SWEEP H` or `SWEEP L` appears. Avoid blind momentum chasing into newly swept extremes.
3. **16:00–24:00 UTC (New York)**:
* Look for price to re-engage the swept level (red dashed segments).
* **Validation Requirement**: Do not execute on a simple price touch. Look for order flow absorption (e.g., delta divergence, high volume with failure to push further, or multiple bar rejections) before positioning for mean-reversion toward the Asia range midpoint or the opposite boundary.
---
## Risk Disclaimer
This open-source indicator does not provide financial advice or automated trading execution. Session boundaries act as liquidity references, not guaranteed reversal zones. Always align intraday auction dynamics with higher-timeframe market structure and apply strict risk management on every trade.
---
## The Philosophy: Why No "Buy / Sell" Arrows?
Most retail session indicators clutter the chart with premature "LONG" and "SHORT" labels. Extensive empirical backtesting across tens of thousands of crypto trading days reveals a hard reality: **mechanical bar-crossing signals hold near-zero edge after fees and slippage.**
A single bar closing back inside a session boundary does not constitute genuine structural absorption; in late sessions or weak volume environments, it frequently turns into a "dead-cat bounce" before another aggressive continuation leg.
**This script strips out all algorithmic execution suggestions.** Instead of pretending to be a black-box trading bot, it serves as a pure, objective structural coordinate map. It highlights where institutional resting orders reside, tracks when liquidity is swept, and lets you evaluate price action with zero visual noise.
---
## The Three-Phase Intraday Cycle (UTC)
Crypto markets trade 24/7, but institutional volume follows three distinct geographic regimes:
```
[ Asia Session: 00:00–08:00 UTC ] --> [ London Session: 08:00–16:00 UTC ] --> [ New York Session: 16:00–24:00 UTC ]
Anchor Formation Liquidity Sweep Delivery & Retest
```
1. **Asia Session (00:00–08:00 UTC) — Anchor Formation**:
* Characterized by lower relative volume, allowing price to establish clean daily balance boundaries.
* Resting liquidity (stop-loss clusters and breakout buy/sell stops) naturally pools immediately above the Asia High and below the Asia Low.
2. **London Session (08:00–16:00 UTC) — Liquidity Sweep**:
* European capital enters the market. London frequently probes beyond the Asia boundaries to absorb resting liquidity pools.
* In range-bound environments, this manifests as a liquidity grab rather than a sustained macro expansion.
3. **New York Session (16:00–24:00 UTC) — Delivery & Resolution**:
* Wall Street open brings maximum daily liquidity. The market retests the swept levels to determine whether the sweep was an authentic breakout or an institutional liquidity sweep.
---
## Key Features & Visual Architecture
* **Three-Color Segmented Asia Lines (00:00–24:00 UTC)**:
At 08:00 UTC (Asia close), the script locks the definitive Asia High and Asia Low, projecting horizontal dashed lines spanning the entire 24-hour UTC day, color-coded by the active session:
* **Green Dashed Segment**: Asia Session (00:00–08:00 UTC)
* **Yellow Dashed Segment**: London Session (08:00–16:00 UTC)
* **Red Dashed Segment**: New York Session (16:00–24:00 UTC)
* **Deduplicated First-Sweep Markers**:
* `SWEEP H`: Triggers exclusively on the **first** London breach of the Asia High.
* `SWEEP L`: Triggers exclusively on the **first** London breach of the Asia Low.
* Prevents label stacking and keeps your chart pristine during volatile multi-bar probes.
* **Minimalist Status Dashboard (Top-Right)**:
* Tracks the active UTC session in real time.
* Displays live sweep conditions (`Inside Range`, `Asia High Swept`, `Asia Low Swept`, or `Both Swept`).
* Shows the absolute point range established during the Asia session.
---
## Recommended Execution Workflow (SOP)
* **Timeframes**: 15-minute (`15m`) or 30-minute (`30m`).
* **Timezone Setting**: Ensure your chart's display timezone is set to **UTC**.
1. **00:00–08:00 UTC (Asia)**:
* **Hands off**. Allow the initial auction to establish the daily boundary.
2. **08:00–16:00 UTC (London)**:
* Watch how price interacts with the yellow dashed levels.
* Note if `SWEEP H` or `SWEEP L` appears. Avoid blind momentum chasing into newly swept extremes.
3. **16:00–24:00 UTC (New York)**:
* Look for price to re-engage the swept level (red dashed segments).
* **Validation Requirement**: Do not execute on a simple price touch. Look for order flow absorption (e.g., delta divergence, high volume with failure to push further, or multiple bar rejections) before positioning for mean-reversion toward the Asia range midpoint or the opposite boundary.
---
## Risk Disclaimer
This open-source indicator does not provide financial advice or automated trading execution. Session boundaries act as liquidity references, not guaranteed reversal zones. Always align intraday auction dynamics with higher-timeframe market structure and apply strict risk management on every trade.
Disclaimer
The information and publications are not meant to be, and do not constitute, financial, investment, trading, or other types of advice or recommendations supplied or endorsed by TradingView. Read more in the Terms of Use.
Disclaimer
The information and publications are not meant to be, and do not constitute, financial, investment, trading, or other types of advice or recommendations supplied or endorsed by TradingView. Read more in the Terms of Use.