What is Market Structure?

The pattern of highs and lows that defines trend: higher highs and higher lows up, lower lows down.

Market structure is the skeleton of price movement — the sequence of swing highs and swing lows that defines the trend. An uptrend is a series of higher highs and higher lows; a downtrend is lower lows and lower highs; a range is neither. Reading structure answers the first professional question about any chart: who is currently in control, buyers or sellers?

Structure also defines when that control changes. A Break of Structure (BOS) — price exceeding the previous swing in the trend's direction — confirms continuation. A Change of Character (CHoCH) — price breaking the most recent protective swing against the trend — is the earliest structural evidence of reversal. Every concept in the smart money toolkit (order blocks, liquidity sweeps, fair value gaps) only gains meaning inside this structural context, which is why structure is the first thing we teach.