Market structure
Market structure is the sequence of a price's highs and lows over time, which shows its current direction. If each new high and each new low steps upward, that is an uptrend: higher highs and higher lows. If both step downward, it is a downtrend. If they stay roughly level, the market is sideways.
Highs and lows
A price chart looks like a random, jagged line until you stop looking at the whole shape and start looking at its steps. Every price line is a series of turns: a point where it stops rising and turns down, called a high, and a point where it stops falling and turns up, called a low.
The rule
Compare each new high with the one before it, and each new low with the one before it. A higher high is a peak above the previous peak, and a higher low is a trough above the previous trough. Both stepping upward is an uptrend. A lower high and a lower low, both stepping downward, is a downtrend. Highs and lows that overlap with no clear step is a sideways market.
Why one number is not enough
A single price point, the number you see when you open an app, tells you almost nothing. A price that fell today could be in a long uptrend that is simply pausing, or in a genuine downtrend. You can only tell direction from the sequence of steps, never from one number.
What it does and does not do
Reading market structure is not a special skill of seeing the future. It is a habit of looking at what is already on the screen, based only on steps that have already happened. A sideways reading is not a failure to read; it is an honest reading. Maetis does not give trading advice.
Reading a chart (hypothetical numbers)
You open the full chart and mark each high and low. High one sits at ₹240, and high two at ₹258, clearly above it. Low two at ₹232 sits above low one at ₹220. Both the highs and the lows are stepping upward, so you name it an uptrend.
Common questions
- What is market structure?
- The sequence of a price's highs and lows over time, showing its current direction.
- What is a higher high?
- A peak in price that sits above the previous peak. A higher low is a trough above the previous trough.
- How do I know a downtrend?
- Both highs and lows step downward: lower highs and lower lows.
- Does market structure predict the next move?
- No. It describes what the price has already done, based only on steps that have happened.