Swing Highs & Swing Lows
The building blocks of structure, stops, and trend definition.
Swing highs and swing lows are turning points on a chart. A swing high forms when price pushes up and then rotates lower. A swing low forms when price pushes down and then rotates higher. These points define structure.
Swings are useful because they show where traders were willing to defend price. They also identify likely stop locations. Stops often build above swing highs and below swing lows, which makes these areas important for liquidity and invalidation.
The timeframe matters. A five-minute swing may be noise inside an hourly trend. A daily swing can influence the entire session. Mark the swings that match your trading timeframe and use them to define trend, risk, and targets.