Reading Market Structure: Highs, Lows and Trend

Market structure is a description of how price has moved: a series of swings up and down. Reading it helps you describe the current conditions before you think about any trade.

Swing highs and swing lows

A swing high is a peak that price turned down from. A swing low is a trough that price turned up from. Marking these on a chart gives you a simple map.

Uptrend, downtrend, range

• Uptrend: price keeps making higher highs and higher lows.
• Downtrend: price keeps making lower highs and lower lows.
• Range: price moves sideways between a floor and a ceiling without clear progress.

When structure changes

If an uptrend stops making higher highs, or breaks below its last higher low, the picture has changed. That is not a prediction. It is a signal to slow down and reassess.

How to practice

Open a chart, zoom out, and mark the swings you can see. Then label the structure in a sentence. Doing this repeatedly builds the habit of describing before deciding.

Educational content only. It does not predict future price moves.