Trend and swings: higher highs, lower lows

What they are

A swing high is a candle whose high stands above the highs of the candles around it: a local peak. A swing low is the mirror image, a local trough. Joined in order, swing highs and swing lows trace the zigzag of a market, and the trend is the direction in which that zigzag is stepping. Higher highs with higher lows describe a rising structure; lower highs with lower lows describe a falling one.

How we compute it

On each chart the engine reads the last 80 closed candles. A swing high is a closed candle whose high is above the highs of the 2 candles before it and the 2 candles after it, and a swing low follows the mirror rule. On the 1M chart, where candles are scarce, 1 candle on each side is enough. The forming candle never creates or confirms a swing.

The engine then compares the last two swing highs and the last two swing lows. Both pairs higher gives Up. Both pairs lower gives Down. Any other mix gives Neutral. A chart with fewer than two swings on a side also reads Neutral and the card marks it "Needs more swings", and a chart with fewer than 15 closed candles shows "History too short" instead of a guess. Public coin pages are stricter: they list only coins with at least 40 daily candles.

One extra rule covers sharp moves. When a closed candle finishes below the last swing low, the chart reads Down; when it finishes above the last swing high, it reads Up, even if only one swing exists on that side. On 1W and 1M the engine uses the latest closed daily candle for this check, so a break does not have to wait for the week or the month to end. A move past a swing whose candle has not closed yet appears as a small ▼ or ▲ marker with the price, and the trend word stays as it was.

Live example

How to read it

Read the five tiles as a set. 1M and 1W describe the large structure, 1D the middle, and 4H and 1H the near one. Up is shown in green, Down in red and Neutral in grey. The charts often disagree, and the disagreement is information: Up on 1W beside Down on 4H describes a short-term decline inside a larger rise.

Neutral is a real reading. It says the swings are not stepping in one direction. The word describes structure only, and RSI sits beside it without changing it.

Common mistakes

1. Reading one chart alone. A single word on 1H says little about 1W, so compare the tiles.
2. Treating Up as a promise. The trend describes swings that already formed. Prices can reverse at any time, crypto trading carries a real risk of losing money, up to the whole amount invested, and nothing here is financial advice.
3. Expecting instant updates. A swing needs candles on both sides before it exists, so the newest swing is always a little behind the market. The break rule narrows that gap without removing it.
4. Counting the forming candle. It can still change, which is why it never confirms a swing.