# Rejection Block

Also known as: vacuum block.
A Smart Money Concepts / ICT concept (Order blocks) in the LuxAlgo Library, with 1 indicator implementation.

## What is a Rejection Block?

A rejection block is the ICT array built from a wick rather than a candle body. When a [swing high](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/swing-high-low/) forms on a long upper wick, typically as the stops resting above an old high get taken, the span from the top of the candle's body to the extreme of the wick is marked as a bearish rejection block. The bullish version mirrors it: a swing low with a long lower wick, marked from the bottom of the body down to the low.

The concept belongs to the ICT catalogue of premium and discount arrays, the framework's inventory of zones price is expected to respect, where it fills the wick-shaped gap in a set otherwise built from bodies and imbalances. Its natural habitat is the aftermath of a raid: an old high swept, a [liquidity pool](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/liquidity-pool/) drained, and the wick left behind as the record of who bought the top and got stranded there.

The read is that the wick is where late participants were filled at the worst prices and immediately stranded; if price trades back into that span, those levels may be defended: resistance inside a bearish rejection block, support inside a bullish one. One naming caution: the vacuum block is not a synonym; in ICT vocabulary that name refers to a separate, gap-based array, not a wick zone.

Grading follows the usual SMC logic. A rejection block earns weight from the prominence of its swing, the size of its wick relative to recent bars, the quality of the sweep that produced it, and the company it keeps, a wick zone overlapping a [fair value gap](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/fair-value-gap/) or sitting at the right side of the dealing range reads better than one floating alone. Like every array, it is a candidate reaction zone with a defined invalidation, not a promise; wicks get run through like any other level when the flow disagrees.

## How to identify a rejection block

The bearish case at a swept high is described; mirror every step for the bullish case at lows.

1. Find a prominent swing high whose candle (or adjacent candles) printed a long upper wick, ideally the wick that swept an obvious prior high or [session extreme](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/session-liquidity/).
2. Mark the zone from the top of the candle body to the wick's extreme; that span is the rejection block.
3. Wait for the market to leave the area and establish the new direction; the zone is traded on return, not on formation.
4. Stage entries inside the wick span on the revisit, with the stop just beyond the wick's extreme, the zone's natural invalidation.
5. Prefer revisits that occur inside a favored time window such as a [killzone](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/killzones/) and agree with higher-timeframe bias.
6. Treat body acceptance beyond the wick extreme as the failure case: the zone is spent, and the old extreme's role likely flipped.

## How traders use it

- As an entry refinement after a sweep: once a [liquidity sweep](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/liquidity-sweep/) of an old high or low is in, entries are staged inside the wick zone on the return, with the stop just beyond the extreme. The wick gives a tighter band, and a tighter invalidation, than a full-candle zone.
- As a target near old extremes: rather than demanding the exact old high or low trade, profit objectives are trimmed to the near edge of the prior extreme's wick, on the view that a reaction can arrive before the precise level prints.
- As a wick-based cousin of the [order block](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/bullish-bearish-order-block/), the same defended-zone logic with different anatomy: the order block uses the body of the last opposite candle at a move's origin, the rejection block uses the wick at a rejected extreme, and some traders use it to tighten entries where a full order block would be too broad.
- In confluence stacks: a rejection block overlapping a [fair value gap](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/fair-value-gap/) or the deep end of an [optimal trade entry](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/optimal-trade-entry/) retracement concentrates several of the model's reasons at one price band.
- For framing continuation targets: once the zone holds and the reversal leg runs, [standard-deviation projections](https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/standard-deviation-projections/) of the leg that formed the wick give the model its measured objectives.

## Rejection Block vs neighboring ICT arrays

- **Bullish/bearish Order Block** (https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/bullish-bearish-order-block/): The order block is the body of the last opposing candle at a move's origin; the rejection block is the wick at a refused extreme. One marks where the move launched, the other where the raid died, and the wick version usually offers the tighter zone.
- **Breaker Block** (https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/breaker-block/): A breaker is a failed order block reclaimed by the other side, a role-reversal structure. The rejection block involves no failure and reclaim; it is the direct residue of an extreme being rejected, traded from the same side that rejected it.
- **Fair Value Gap** (https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/fair-value-gap/): The FVG is a three-candle imbalance inside a fast leg; the rejection block is a single extreme's wick span. They frequently overlap after a sweep-and-reverse, and the overlap, wick plus imbalance at one band, is exactly what SMC confluence stacking looks for.

## FAQ

### What is a rejection block in ICT trading?

A zone drawn from candle wicks at a swing extreme. At a swing high with a pronounced upper wick, the area between the top of the body and the actual high is the bearish rejection block; at a swing low, the lower wick forms the bullish one. It marks where an extreme was rejected, a level watched for a reaction if price returns.

### What is the difference between a rejection block and an order block?

Anatomy and location. An order block is the body of the last opposite candle at the origin of an impulsive move. A rejection block is the wick at a rejected swing high or low, usually formed after liquidity was taken. One marks where a move launched; the other marks where an extreme was refused. Both are traded as potential reaction zones; neither is guaranteed to hold.

### Is a rejection block the same as a vacuum block?

No, despite occasional conflation in community content. In ICT vocabulary the vacuum block is a gap-based array, a span associated with an untraded jump such as an event gap, while the rejection block is strictly the wick span at a refused extreme. Keeping the names straight matters because the two zones form differently, sit in different places, and carry different expectations.

### How large should the wick be to qualify?

There is no fixed tick count; the wick earns the label relative to context. It should be conspicuous against recent bars, belong to a genuine swing extreme rather than mid-range noise, and ideally record a sweep of resting liquidity. A modest wick on a minor swing is just candle anatomy; the concept is reserved for extremes where meaningful positioning was stranded.

### Where exactly is the entry within a rejection block?

Convention varies by aggressiveness. Conservative treatments wait for price to trade into the zone and show rejection before committing; tighter executions rest orders at the zone's near edge (the body side) or its midpoint, with everyone's stop just beyond the wick extreme. The zone's appeal is precisely that the distance from any of those entries to invalidation is small.

### Do rejection blocks work on all timeframes?

The anatomy is fractal and prints everywhere, but the reliability follows the usual SMC gradient: zones born from higher-timeframe swings that swept meaningful liquidity carry more weight, and intraday applications lean on session context and killzone timing to filter the many cosmetic wicks. A weekly rejection block at a multi-month high and a one-minute wick are the same drawing with very different standing.

## Implementations in the Library

- Rejection Block (LuxAlgo): https://www.luxalgo.com/library/indicator/rejection-block/

## Related concepts

- Bullish/bearish Order Block: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/bullish-bearish-order-block/
- Breaker Block: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/breaker-block/
- Order Block Anatomy & Refinement: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/order-block-anatomy-and-refinement/
- Propulsion Block: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/propulsion-block/
- Reclaimed Order Block: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/reclaimed-order-block/
- Mitigation Block: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/mitigation-block/

---

Source: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/concept/rejection-block/ (LuxAlgo Library, the encyclopedia of trading & technical analysis). Free to use with attribution: https://www.luxalgo.com/library/license/