How Live Flow finds order blocks on NSE F&O stocks

Order blocks are only useful if they are marked the same way every time. Live Flow uses one fixed rule for every NSE F&O stock (plus NIFTY 50 and BANK NIFTY), on every time frame from 1 minute to 1 hour. This page explains that rule. For the idea itself, see what is an order block.

The rule for a bullish block

Live Flow looks at each candle in turn. A candle becomes a bullish order block when all of these are true:

1. It is a down candle: it closed below where it opened.
2. A strong close follows quickly. Within the next three candles, one closes above the block candle's high by at least 1.5 times the average candle size. The average candle size is the average high-to-low range of the last 14 candles, so the test adapts to each stock and each time frame: a ₹3 move means a lot on a ₹100 stock and nothing on a ₹10,000 one.
3. The close breaks the recent highs. That same close is also above the highest high of the six candles before the block.

The zone is the block candle's full range, from its low to its high.

The rule for a bearish block

The mirror image: an up candle, followed within three candles by a close at least 1.5 average candle sizes below its low, and also below the lowest low of the six candles before it.

When a block breaks

A bullish block stays active until a later candle closes below its low; a bearish block until a later candle closes above its high. A wick through the zone does not break it; only a close does. Once broken, the block is shown faded and ends at the candle that broke it.

Repeats are merged

Price often forms several qualifying candles in a row. If a new block on the same side forms within four candles of an earlier one and overlaps it, Live Flow keeps the first and does not list the repeat. That keeps the chart and the alerts list readable.

Time frames: 1m, 3m, 5m, 10m, 15m, 30m, 1h

The 1-minute blocks use the 1-minute candles directly. For the other time frames, Live Flow builds the candles from the 1-minute ones, aligned to the 09:15 open (so 15-minute candles end at 09:30, 09:45 and so on), and applies the same rule to them. A few details:

• Only finished candles count. A 15-minute block can only appear after its candles close. Nothing appears and then vanishes inside a forming candle.
• Earlier sessions give context. For the bigger time frames, candles from earlier sessions are placed in front, so the 14-candle average and the six-candle lookback work from the first candles of the day. Only blocks whose candle is from today are listed.
• Bigger blocks, fewer of them. On a typical session there are hundreds of 3-minute blocks across all F&O stocks, a few hundred 5-minute ones, around a hundred 15-minute ones and only a handful of 1-hour ones.

Where you see the blocks

• Stock cards show the last two hours of 1-minute candles with their 1-minute blocks drawn as boxes, labelled with the side and the minute they formed ("BULL OB 12:23").
• The chart (hover or tap a card) draws the blocks for whichever time frame you pick: green boxes for bullish, red for bearish, faded once broken.
• Order block alerts list every new block on every time frame as it forms. See the order block alerts guide.

How this differs from the buy zone

The buy zone (or sell zone) in a chart's stats uses a related but looser rule on 5-minute candles, so it can differ from the boxes on the 1-minute card. Support, buy zone, target and R:R explains it.

What the rule cannot do

The rule is mechanical: it marks zones consistently, but it does not know about news, results or the wider market. Plenty of blocks break soon after they form. Use them as areas to watch alongside the score, breadth and your own risk limits. Nothing on StoxGud is a recommendation to buy or sell.