ICT Rejection Block — The Wick PD Array That Shows Exactly Where Price Was Rejected
The Rejection Block is a PD Array defined by significant wick rejection at a key level. It tells you precisely where institutional selling or buying occurred — and it is one of the most precise entry zones in the toolkit.
The ICT Rejection Block is a PD Array identified by a candle with a significant wick at a key structural level — a wick that represents a deliberate rejection of that price area by institutional participants. Unlike an Order Block (which is defined by the body of the last opposing candle), the Rejection Block is defined by the wick — the extreme range the candle reached and was rejected from. The Rejection Block zone is the range of the wick itself, from where the wick began to where it ended.
What Is a Rejection Block?
A Rejection Block forms when a candle produces a long wick that extends significantly beyond the body in one direction, then retreats back to close near the opposite end of the wick. The long wick represents price reaching into an area of institutional interest — but being rejected sharply from that area. The wick itself defines the Rejection Block zone.
A bearish Rejection Block has a long upper wick: price rallied into institutional selling, was rejected, and closed below where the rally began. The upper wick zone (from the close of the candle body to the wick high) is the Rejection Block. When price returns to the wick zone, the same institutional sellers are present — acting as resistance.
A bullish Rejection Block has a long lower wick: price dropped into institutional buying, was rejected upward, and closed above where the drop began. The lower wick zone (from the candle body close to the wick low) is the Rejection Block — support on the retest.
Rejection Block vs Order Block — When to Use Each
Both the OB and the Rejection Block identify institutional interest zones, but they reveal different aspects of institutional activity. The OB (defined by the candle body) shows where institutions were accumulating their position before a move. The Rejection Block (defined by the wick) shows where institutions were defending a specific price level — actively pushing price away from it.
Use the Rejection Block when the significant institutional event is a wick rejection rather than a body-defined displacement. At major swing extremes — the absolute high or low of a session or week — a wick rejection that defines the extreme often creates a more significant Rejection Block than a standard OB because the wick represents the furthest extreme the algorithm reached and definitively rejected.
Trading the Rejection Block
- diamondIdentify candles with significant wicks (wick represents at least 40-50% of the total candle range) at key structural levels.
- diamondMark the Rejection Block zone: from the edge of the body to the extreme of the wick.
- diamondFor a bearish Rejection Block (upper wick): mark the zone from the close/open of the body (whichever is higher) to the wick high.
- diamondFor a bullish Rejection Block (lower wick): mark the zone from the close/open of the body (whichever is lower) to the wick low.
- diamondEntry: when price returns to the Rejection Block zone, watch for a reaction on the lower timeframe. Enter at the midpoint of the Rejection Block zone (CE). Stop beyond the wick extreme.
- diamondTarget: next opposing liquidity pool.
Rejection Blocks at session extremes are particularly powerful. The high wick on the London session high candle often becomes the bearish Rejection Block that limits the New York session rally. The low wick of the Asian session frequently defines a bullish Rejection Block that the London session sweeps before reversing. Marking session wick extremes as Rejection Blocks and using them as resistance/support for the next session gives you reliable, session-to-session structure that most traders overlook.