What is market structure?
The skeleton under every chart — trends, ranges, and the swings that define them.
Market structure is the sequence of swing highs and swing lows a market leaves behind. Strip away every indicator and the structure is still there — it is the most primitive, most honest information on the chart, and every other tool is a lens on top of it.
The three states of any market
- Uptrend — a sequence of higher highs (HH) and higher lows (HL). Buyers pay up on each pullback.
- Downtrend — a sequence of lower lows (LL) and lower highs (LH). Sellers hit every bounce.
- Range — highs and lows keep landing in the same zone. Neither side can move the auction; price rotates between the extremes.
Structure answers the first question
Before any entry, ask: what is this market doing? Trending markets reward continuation trades; ranging markets punish them and reward fades. Most retail losses come from applying the right tactic to the wrong state.Reading swings without indicators
A swing high is a peak with lower highs on both sides; a swing low is the mirror image. Mark the last three or four of each on any chart and the state of the market usually becomes obvious. If you cannot tell whether the swings are rising or falling, that itself is information — you are in a range or a transition, and the correct trade is often none.