RB: Rejection Block
Also known as: RB, wick block, ICT rejection block, shadow block
What is it?
A rejection block is a price array drawn from the wicks at a swing high or swing low rather than from the candle bodies. On a swing high you mark the zone between the highest body close and the highest wick; on a swing low, between the lowest body close and the lowest wick. It is the part of the move price visited but refused to accept. An order block uses the body of the last opposing candle, so it sits inside the range. A rejection block sits above it, in the spike nobody was willing to trade at.
The shaded band is the rejection block: 38,940 to 39,080, the ground price visited but never closed in. Price returned to 39,020, held, and delivered 480 points down.
That makes it the array to use when price never comes back far enough to reach the order block - the wick zone is often the deepest retracement a strong move allows. On US30 4-hour, a swing high printed with the highest close at 38,940 and the highest wick at 39,080. The 38,940 to 39,080 band was the rejection block. Two sessions later price pushed back to 39,020, stayed inside the band, and turned down 480 points, with the invalidation only 60 points away above the 39,080 wick. The reason it works as an entry area is the same reason it printed: the wicks mark where the opposite side stepped in hard enough to reverse the candle before it closed.
Traded well, it gives a tight stop just beyond the wick extreme. Traded badly, it becomes an excuse to fade every long wick on the chart, and most long wicks are not rejection blocks. Your capital is at risk on any entry taken from one.
Why it matters: It gives you a tradeable zone in the wicks above a swing high or below a swing low, for the strong moves that never retrace deep enough to reach the order block.
It supplies an entry area and a tight invalidation when price refuses to retrace to the order block, but it is a shallower, lower-evidence array than the block itself.
Real-world example
On US30 4H, the swing high closed at 38,940 with a wick to 39,080; price returned to 39,020, held inside that band, and turned down 480 points with a 60-point invalidation.
How SignalBots handles it
SignalBots publishes each signal with its invalidation level, so when a setup is anchored to a shallow wick zone you can see how tight the stop actually is before you size the position. See /risk-warning.
Pro tip
Use the rejection block only when the order block below it never gets touched - if price is already trading back into the body zone, the deeper array is the better entry.
Common pitfalls
Treating every long wick as a rejection block, when the zone only counts at a swing high or low that price actually reversed from.
Frequently asked questions
How exactly do I draw a rejection block?
At a swing high, take the highest close among the candles forming that high as the lower edge and the highest wick as the upper edge. At a swing low, take the lowest close as the upper edge and the lowest wick as the lower edge.
When should I use it instead of an order block?
When price is moving away too strongly to retrace into the block. The rejection block sits closer to the extreme, so it catches the shallow pullbacks a strong leg gives you rather than the deep one it never gives.
Where does the stop go?
Just beyond the wick extreme that defines the block. That is what makes the array attractive: the invalidation is the spike high or low itself, which is usually a small distance from the entry.
Does the wick need to sweep liquidity to count?
It is much stronger when it does. A wick that ran a prior high or an equal-highs cluster before rejecting has a reason behind it; a wick that spiked into empty space is far weaker evidence.
Can a rejection block become support after it acts as resistance?
Yes. Once price closes decisively above a bearish rejection block, the zone is overrun and traders watch it for the flip, the same way a broken order block is watched as a breaker.
Trading involves substantial risk of loss. Historical and backtested results do not guarantee future performance. Read the full risk warning.
